Baroni Back in UFC; Strikeforce, UFC Sniping Continues

Onetime UFC-associated athlete Phil Baroni appears to be back in the fold: Sherdog.com reports that the former middleweight is close to signing a new deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Baroni has been an inconsistent commodity over the years: after surging with some lip-splitting victories in 2001-2002 -- including a KO over Dave Menne that that turned Menne’s eyes from blue to green -- the fighter ran into conditioning walls and was set loose overseas, where he notched some impressive wins against durable talent. Most recently, he’s earned a 3-1 mark at 170 lbs.

Already, there’s speculation Baroni could be an indication that the UFC will begin grabbing talent from new rival Strikeforce as soon as their contracts allow; Strikeforce countered the rumors late Thursday by circulating a release that spun the transaction as a “release” of Baroni, with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker hoping “he can revive his career” somewhere else. Yeah. Nothing to see here. Move along.

If the UFC’s strategy is simply to out-spend Strikeforce, then Coker’s company has some serious problems. Unless CBS intervenes with some major-money deals for star talent like Cung Le, it’s entirely possible they’ll become what the UFC once was to PRIDE: a cash-strapped farm system.