Amir Sadollah defeated Phil Baroni at UFC 106 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
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Here is how it happened:
UFC 51 was the last time Baroni, a.k.a. The New York Badass, fought in the UFC. Sadollah won The Ultimate Fighter 7 after the new era dawned in the promotion.
The early part of the bout featured clinch fighting. Sadollah landed knees and Baroni worked dirty boxing. Baroni landed a takedown at the midway point of the round and was in Sadollah’s guard, and Sadollah looked more dangerous. Baroni backed out and let the opponent stand up, but Sadollah kept getting the better of the matchup. Sadollah’s fist opened a cut on Baroni’s left cheek, and a knee to the body appeared to take away some of his wind. Baroni tried hard for a takedown in the final moments but ate two big knees to the head for his troubles, giving his cut man plenty of work at the break.
Round Two started with Sadollah working at speed with big leg kicks and Baroni defending in slow motion before settling in and delivering a solid right 44 seconds into the round. Sadollah was all over Baroni, as he punished the veteran with knee after knee but remained patient and did not burn all his energy. Sadollah cruised with a great game plan, needing only to avoid Baroni’s ever-dangerous right hand. Push kicks and punishing leg kicks made it happen through the first three minutes of the round. Sadollah remained patient, content to wear down Baroni by leaning on him. Baroni began to find some timing with his effort going completely into a potential one-punch knockout.
Baroni needed the knockout by the time the bell rang for the third round and tried to set it up with jab-cross combinations that were counter to Sadollah’s punishing kicks. Baroni was gassed but continued to soldier on during the lopsided affair. Sadollah was making no mistakes but was not content to sit back, blasting Baroni with a punch that cut the forehead. Baroni continued to throw punches from the hips like a street fighter, but Sadollah made him look just like an unpolished thug, showing excellent technique with his fists, feet and head. Until the final seconds, Baroni kept loading the right hand for the miracle, which never came.
Sadollah via unanimous decision, 30-27 twice, and 29-28
It is difficult to justify how any judge gave Baroni a round in this fight.
“Just stepping in the ring with someone as tough as Baroni, that’s huge,” Sadollah said. “Most of the points where he punched me in the face hurt throughout the fight. I felt the leg kicks were on part of my game that would work well, and they did.”
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