UFC 48: Payback Preview
Phil Baroni vs Evan Tanner
Jun 14, 2004
PHIL BARONI (Photo Gallery):
American wrestler; boxer; two-time Junior College All-American;
Teenage National Bodybuilding Champion; Toughman contest winner;
North American Grappling Association Submission Wrestling
Tournament Champion; 4-0 (4 KOs) as amateur boxer; 10-0 (10 KOs) as
a club fighter; 7-0 (7 KO) as a kickboxer; World Mixed Martial Arts
Alliance veteran; Vengeance at Vanderbilt veteran; trains with Marc
Laimon, Ricardo Pires and One Kick Nick, with a record of 6-3 in
MMA; making his 5th appearance (2-3) in the UFC.
HISTORY: Phil began wrestling in 7th grade and won the Teenage National Bodybuilding Championship in high school. It was then that he added boxing and kickboxing in addition to his wrestling. Phil went 4-0 (4 KO) as amateur boxer, 10-0 (10 KO) as a club fighter and 7-0 with 7 KOs as a kickboxer. His background is a perfect blend for MMA and you may remember Phil also competed in the glorious Toughman contests on FX cable television. He began fighting MMA in 2000. Outside of the UFC Phil fought in the Vengeance at Vanderbilt 9 event, winning by TKO and again at Ken Shamrock’s World Mixed Martial Arts Alliance: Mega Fights 1, winning his bout by KO in just over a minute.
In his Octagon debut at UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk against
Curtis Stout, Phil’s endless self promotion actually made fans care
about a preliminary bout between two unknowns. He returned to UFC
34 to face Lindland and lost a majority decision. Phil looked good
at times but fatigue got the best of him late in the first round
and he really just held on from there on out. At UFC 37: High
Impact, Baroni seemed to have conquered his stamina demons.
He was caught in an exchange on the feet and appeared to be on his way out when Suloev mistakenly delivered an illegal knee to the face when Baroni was on three points and drew a foul. Phil returned after taking mere moments to clear his head and pounded Amar into the side of the cage, getting the win via ref stoppage. At UFC 39: The Warriors Return, Phil did exactly what he said he’d do: KO Dave Menne in just seconds. Phil lost the rematch to Matt Lindland at UFC 41 and then the controversial stoppage at UFC 45 brings us to the present.
Lindland almost made a huge mistake by attempting to stand and trade with Baroni. Matt’s stand-up was not good then. Lindland took some shots in that round and nearly brought Baroni back into the fight. When it went to the ground, Lindland was still controlling the pace but he was starting to gas and his strikes were ineffective. Both fighters were tired when stood up but the momentum was swinging in the favor of Baroni. Late in the round, Phil landed a solid knee that forced Matt to go for a takedown but Baroni was able to stop it and had Lindland’s head between his legs. The pace slowed as both fighters were spent and it looked like if Baroni had one more burst of energy and strikes, he may have stolen the bout. He won the third round but it was a case of too little too late and Lindland won a decision. The rematch also went the distance with Lindland winning a unanimous decision there.
Baroni/Amar Suloev: Baroni came out and really just bounced around for the first minute of the fight. Suloev wasn’t much busier, landing just two leg kicks in the same span of time. Finally 90 seconds into the bout, Amar puts together a combination of strikes and throws a head height roundhouse kick that Baroni blocks. Suloev throws a jumping knee that lands square in the face of Baroni and has him wobbling. The Russian fighter cups Phil’s head to finish him with strikes, landing a right hand and right roundhouse kick to the head. He follows with wild combinations to bring Phil down but he’s still standing.
Baroni falls forward to his knees and out of instinct, Suloev knees Baroni in the face while he’s on both knees. It is a foul. Surprisingly, Baroni tried to fight through it and even took Suloev down before Big John was able to break them and assess the foul. Baroni elects not to use the five-minute rest allowed after a rule infraction and they begin again. They clinch with Baroni scoring an uppercut inside and Suloev getting a textbook takedown and landing in mount. He rolls to his back and then tries to sink an armbar but Baroni gets up and strikes down, eventually getting side mount and finishes him with strikes on the mat. Suloev looked terrible after the short pummeling and Baroni relished in the victory, rubbing it in his face.
Baroni/Dave Menne: With this one, it’s going to take longer for you to read this than the fight lasted. They felt each other out quickly and Phil tagged him with an overhand right and Dave stumbled. Baroni followed him to the corner and unleashed wave of punches that left Menne KO’d while still holding on to the chain link fence. Baroni came out saying he wanted to KO Menne early and he did just that, dropping the former UFC champion in just 18 seconds.
Baroni/Evan Tanner: Phil’s pre-fight comments set the tone stating “Tanner’s jaw will be in the 6th row. Catch it and I’ll autograph that b**ch for ya.” Same old Phil. To begin the bout, Tanner threw a leg kick and Baroni fires a short right hand that seemed to stun Evan. They fight in the corner with Baroni tagging Tanner with rights and Evan seeking a takedown. Short hard punches did serious damage to Tanner’s face and the bout was halted to check him out. They allow it to continue and Phil goes back to work. He blasts Tanner with another right and Evan desperately tries to get in the clinch. Tanner works knees in tight and Baroni answers with punches to the head. A shaky Tanner fires a leg kick and clings to the side of the cage. They clinch again with Tanner working kicks to the legs and body and Baroni firing at his head. Phil starts to look tired, like he’s punching himself out and Evan brings him to the mat via double-leg takedown. Tanner eventually goes to mount and begins to elbow Baroni’s face. He sits back and pounds on Phil, but many of the blows are blocked. However, some are getting through and referee Larry Landless asks Phil if he wants out. After the fight, Phil claims he thought Landless was saying “do you want to keep going.” The bout is stopped and Baroni lashes out and punches Landless in the face twice. At least Phil had the class to apologize for his actions but the slap on the wrist suspension from fighting and the scolding he got from Dana White may not have been enough. Apparently, Landless suffered some consequences as well for just doing his job.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: Physically, his wrestling skills are his greatest attribute but you can’t talk about Baroni without mentioning his heart. It is hard to believe but it is actually bigger than his mouth. He’s in every fight and though he comes off like a punk, you have to respect his determination and desire to be a champion. He’s a strong guy, having been a competitive bodybuilder, but he seems to gas when pushed beyond the first round. This is still a problem as it may have cost him early in the Tanner fight. And as far as a ground game, he’s one-dimensional. The only submissions you’re likely to see out of Phil are a front or guillotine choke and a rear-choke. He’s all about the striking.
HOW HE CAN BEAT TANNER: On the feet. The strikes he was throwing were connecting and Tanner looked rocked on more than one occasion. If he can keep the momentum going from last time and not run out of gas, he’ll KO Tanner early in the bout.
EVAN TANNER (Photo Gallery ): American freestyle fighter; originally self-trained; USWF competitor and president; Pancrase Neo Blood Tournament winner; PSDA veteran; Gladiators veteran; trains with Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, Randy Couture and the rest of Team Quest; with a record of 28-4 in MMA; making his 10th appearance (7-2) in the UFC.
HISTORY: Tanner was always a good athlete and originally started training martial arts from books and tapes. In high school he competed in pole vaulting and wrestling. Wrestling quickly became his sport and he won the Texas State Championships as a junior and senior. He was successful enough in smaller shows like the Steve Nelson’s USWF (which he eventually bought) and the PSDA to get on the Pancrase circuit in 1998 through then manager Phyllis Lee. They still wore the long boots (making leg locks easy) and threw open-hand strikes but the bouts were serious. Evan fought 24 Pancrase-style bouts (22-2). Under the Pancrase banner, Tanner battled UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa, DEEP veteran Kousei Kubota and WVC competitor Justin McCully to win his Neo Blood tournament title. He returned two months later to defeat Kiuma Kunioku at the 1998 Anniversary show.
Evan then faced Leon Djik (European Cage Fighting) and Ryushi Yanagisawa (RINGS/K-1) in his remaining Pancrase matches. Early in his career Evan split a pair of matches with PRIDE and World Vale Tudo Championships fighter Heath Herring and at one time a “rubber match” was in the works … and shame on you if you didn’t think that meant a third fight. One of the battles with Herring as well as a win over Travis Fulton (UFC 20 & 21) took place in the USWF. He debuted in the UFC in 1999 (the same year he almost left the sport to follow Buddha) and has fought regularly there fairly for the past four years. Tanner has beaten many quality fighters in the Octagon including Darrell Gholar (UFC 18, win by rear choke), Valeri Ignatov (UFC 19, win by elbows to the face), Lance Gibson (UFC 29, win by strikes from the mount), Homer Moore (UFC 34, win by armbar) Elvis Sinosic (UFC 36, win by cut stoppage) and Christopher Haseman (UFC 38, win by decision). His only Octagon loss at the time was to “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz in a bout for the light heavyweight title at UFC 30.
It wasn’t much of a fight and Tanner didn’t have a chance to show anything against his toughest opposition to date. He beat Pride veteran Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch at a charity event in February of last year and lost to Rich Franklin at UFC 42 two months later. His most recent was against Phil Baroni at UFC 45 and it set the stage for our controversial rematch at UFC 48.
Tanner/Lance Gibson: Evan Tanner defeated Lance Gibson, Sr. at UFC 29/Ultimate Japan 3. Tanner did most of his damage from side mount where he was able to deliver knees to the face and use his patented elbows on the mat. Gibson was striking effectively from the bottom but Tanner was able to change up his strikes and eventually overwhelm him. He finished him with strikes from the mount late in the first round. Gibson did a good job of striking from the bottom.
Tanner/Tito Ortiz: This was Tito’s night to shine. Ortiz got his left arm under Tanner's when they clinched and was able to secure a body lock. He lifted Evan up and slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. Tanner’s head bounced off the ground and caught the top of Tito’s head, effectively receiving an unintentional head butt and knocking himself out. Tito jumped on top and started punching but Evan was already out and McCarthy stepped in to end it before Ortiz committed an act of murder.
Tanner/Elvis Sinosic: Elvis wanted to take it to the ground early, as you might expect from a jiu-jitsu fighter, but it didn’t work in his favor. Tanner was inside Elvis’ guard and against the fence. Sinosic moved up the fence for an arm bar but Tanner recognized it. He unleashed a series of elbows and forearms to the face that opened up a nasty cut in the middle of his forehead. The blood wasn’t flowing too heavily but due to where it was located, the cut had the potential to run into the eyes if it got bigger and the fight was stopped.
Tanner/Rich Franklin: Franklin was ready for Tanner and knew his stand-up game very well. Evan likes throwing knees in the clinch but Franklin knew how to defend them and it went downhill from there. Franklin landed a series of right hands that dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before things got worse.
Tanner/Phil Baroni: Discussed under the Phil Baroni bio.
Also worthy of note, Tanner faced: Paul Buentello (win/submission), Heath Herring (win/TKO-loss/submission), Dennis Reed (win/submission), Ikuhisa Minowa (win/submission), Justin McCully (win/TKO), Ryushi Yanagisawa (win/submission), Leon Dijk (loss/TKO), Travis Fulton (win/submission), Darrel Gholar (win/submission), Valeri Ignatov (win/TKO), Homer Moore (win/submission), Christopher Haseman (win/decision) and Shannon Ritch (win/submission).
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: Tanner has always had good submission abilities with numerous victories via choke or limb constriction. In addition, he has developed a solid ground-and-pound game with very dangerous elbows in close. He likes to throw knees to the head and body from side mount as well. As for a weakness, it is likely his hands. He was exposed a little against Rich Franklin and Phil Baroni. Evan throws good knees in the clinch and has a few KOs on his record but the ground is a safer bet for him.
: Bring him down immediately. He already has the solution to this problem. He can’t afford to stand and trade with Phil. When on the feet, Baroni needs to watch out for the knees in the clinch but the rest of Evan’s stand-up game can be nullified with solid striking. However, Baroni has shown no desire to learn or ability to apply submissions and that is where Tanner is most comfortable. If he can take a few shots to ground him and bring Phil to the center of the cage, He should be able to seize a limb or choke him out.
MY PICK: Another tough pick. My heart says Tanner and my instincts say Baroni. If there was ever a team that could get Evan ready to beat Phil, it is Team Quest. Lindland alone is a fountain of information here. Hopefully they told him to take him down IMMEDIATELY. I feel it will be Tanner TKO in the 1st Rd.
DOWN THE ROAD:
Tanner/David Loiseau: Both like to throw elbows in the clinch and though Tanner is more seasoned on the mat, Loiseau may be more aggressive.
Tanner/Ricardo Almeida: I don’t necessarily like the match-up for Tanner but it would be nice to see the seriously improved “Big Dog” fighting in the U.S. again.
Baroni/Lee Murray: Two guys who love to talk and love to scrap and love to talk. ...
Baroni/Falaniko Vitale: Niko is 2-0 since fighting Lindland in the rematch last November. This includes decision win over Dave Menne. Zuffa seemed high on him before so maybe they’ll bring him back to submit Phil.
HISTORY: Phil began wrestling in 7th grade and won the Teenage National Bodybuilding Championship in high school. It was then that he added boxing and kickboxing in addition to his wrestling. Phil went 4-0 (4 KO) as amateur boxer, 10-0 (10 KO) as a club fighter and 7-0 with 7 KOs as a kickboxer. His background is a perfect blend for MMA and you may remember Phil also competed in the glorious Toughman contests on FX cable television. He began fighting MMA in 2000. Outside of the UFC Phil fought in the Vengeance at Vanderbilt 9 event, winning by TKO and again at Ken Shamrock’s World Mixed Martial Arts Alliance: Mega Fights 1, winning his bout by KO in just over a minute.
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He was caught in an exchange on the feet and appeared to be on his way out when Suloev mistakenly delivered an illegal knee to the face when Baroni was on three points and drew a foul. Phil returned after taking mere moments to clear his head and pounded Amar into the side of the cage, getting the win via ref stoppage. At UFC 39: The Warriors Return, Phil did exactly what he said he’d do: KO Dave Menne in just seconds. Phil lost the rematch to Matt Lindland at UFC 41 and then the controversial stoppage at UFC 45 brings us to the present.
Baroni/Matt Lindland: These two have fought twice, at UFC 34 and
UFC 41. The second match-up was the more entertaining bout and the
one dissected below. Lindland had superior conditioning and it was
the difference here. Baroni showed heart but was outclassed and
virtually running on fumes in the second round. Matt’s wrestling
was key as he took Baroni down frequently and he did his best work
from the side mount. Baroni threw a lot of potent strikes but the
positioning battle was dominated by Lindland. Matt was able to trap
Baroni’s arm and throw strikes without having to defend them. All
Phil did early was make it hard for Matt to operate and try to
frustrate him on the mat. Late in round two, he started to get his
wind again. He was able to break free of a rear-naked choke and
pound Lindland but it was too late to save that period. In round
three,
Lindland almost made a huge mistake by attempting to stand and trade with Baroni. Matt’s stand-up was not good then. Lindland took some shots in that round and nearly brought Baroni back into the fight. When it went to the ground, Lindland was still controlling the pace but he was starting to gas and his strikes were ineffective. Both fighters were tired when stood up but the momentum was swinging in the favor of Baroni. Late in the round, Phil landed a solid knee that forced Matt to go for a takedown but Baroni was able to stop it and had Lindland’s head between his legs. The pace slowed as both fighters were spent and it looked like if Baroni had one more burst of energy and strikes, he may have stolen the bout. He won the third round but it was a case of too little too late and Lindland won a decision. The rematch also went the distance with Lindland winning a unanimous decision there.
Baroni/Amar Suloev: Baroni came out and really just bounced around for the first minute of the fight. Suloev wasn’t much busier, landing just two leg kicks in the same span of time. Finally 90 seconds into the bout, Amar puts together a combination of strikes and throws a head height roundhouse kick that Baroni blocks. Suloev throws a jumping knee that lands square in the face of Baroni and has him wobbling. The Russian fighter cups Phil’s head to finish him with strikes, landing a right hand and right roundhouse kick to the head. He follows with wild combinations to bring Phil down but he’s still standing.
Baroni falls forward to his knees and out of instinct, Suloev knees Baroni in the face while he’s on both knees. It is a foul. Surprisingly, Baroni tried to fight through it and even took Suloev down before Big John was able to break them and assess the foul. Baroni elects not to use the five-minute rest allowed after a rule infraction and they begin again. They clinch with Baroni scoring an uppercut inside and Suloev getting a textbook takedown and landing in mount. He rolls to his back and then tries to sink an armbar but Baroni gets up and strikes down, eventually getting side mount and finishes him with strikes on the mat. Suloev looked terrible after the short pummeling and Baroni relished in the victory, rubbing it in his face.
Baroni/Dave Menne: With this one, it’s going to take longer for you to read this than the fight lasted. They felt each other out quickly and Phil tagged him with an overhand right and Dave stumbled. Baroni followed him to the corner and unleashed wave of punches that left Menne KO’d while still holding on to the chain link fence. Baroni came out saying he wanted to KO Menne early and he did just that, dropping the former UFC champion in just 18 seconds.
Baroni/Evan Tanner: Phil’s pre-fight comments set the tone stating “Tanner’s jaw will be in the 6th row. Catch it and I’ll autograph that b**ch for ya.” Same old Phil. To begin the bout, Tanner threw a leg kick and Baroni fires a short right hand that seemed to stun Evan. They fight in the corner with Baroni tagging Tanner with rights and Evan seeking a takedown. Short hard punches did serious damage to Tanner’s face and the bout was halted to check him out. They allow it to continue and Phil goes back to work. He blasts Tanner with another right and Evan desperately tries to get in the clinch. Tanner works knees in tight and Baroni answers with punches to the head. A shaky Tanner fires a leg kick and clings to the side of the cage. They clinch again with Tanner working kicks to the legs and body and Baroni firing at his head. Phil starts to look tired, like he’s punching himself out and Evan brings him to the mat via double-leg takedown. Tanner eventually goes to mount and begins to elbow Baroni’s face. He sits back and pounds on Phil, but many of the blows are blocked. However, some are getting through and referee Larry Landless asks Phil if he wants out. After the fight, Phil claims he thought Landless was saying “do you want to keep going.” The bout is stopped and Baroni lashes out and punches Landless in the face twice. At least Phil had the class to apologize for his actions but the slap on the wrist suspension from fighting and the scolding he got from Dana White may not have been enough. Apparently, Landless suffered some consequences as well for just doing his job.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: Physically, his wrestling skills are his greatest attribute but you can’t talk about Baroni without mentioning his heart. It is hard to believe but it is actually bigger than his mouth. He’s in every fight and though he comes off like a punk, you have to respect his determination and desire to be a champion. He’s a strong guy, having been a competitive bodybuilder, but he seems to gas when pushed beyond the first round. This is still a problem as it may have cost him early in the Tanner fight. And as far as a ground game, he’s one-dimensional. The only submissions you’re likely to see out of Phil are a front or guillotine choke and a rear-choke. He’s all about the striking.
HOW HE CAN BEAT TANNER: On the feet. The strikes he was throwing were connecting and Tanner looked rocked on more than one occasion. If he can keep the momentum going from last time and not run out of gas, he’ll KO Tanner early in the bout.
EVAN TANNER (Photo Gallery ): American freestyle fighter; originally self-trained; USWF competitor and president; Pancrase Neo Blood Tournament winner; PSDA veteran; Gladiators veteran; trains with Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, Randy Couture and the rest of Team Quest; with a record of 28-4 in MMA; making his 10th appearance (7-2) in the UFC.
HISTORY: Tanner was always a good athlete and originally started training martial arts from books and tapes. In high school he competed in pole vaulting and wrestling. Wrestling quickly became his sport and he won the Texas State Championships as a junior and senior. He was successful enough in smaller shows like the Steve Nelson’s USWF (which he eventually bought) and the PSDA to get on the Pancrase circuit in 1998 through then manager Phyllis Lee. They still wore the long boots (making leg locks easy) and threw open-hand strikes but the bouts were serious. Evan fought 24 Pancrase-style bouts (22-2). Under the Pancrase banner, Tanner battled UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa, DEEP veteran Kousei Kubota and WVC competitor Justin McCully to win his Neo Blood tournament title. He returned two months later to defeat Kiuma Kunioku at the 1998 Anniversary show.
Evan then faced Leon Djik (European Cage Fighting) and Ryushi Yanagisawa (RINGS/K-1) in his remaining Pancrase matches. Early in his career Evan split a pair of matches with PRIDE and World Vale Tudo Championships fighter Heath Herring and at one time a “rubber match” was in the works … and shame on you if you didn’t think that meant a third fight. One of the battles with Herring as well as a win over Travis Fulton (UFC 20 & 21) took place in the USWF. He debuted in the UFC in 1999 (the same year he almost left the sport to follow Buddha) and has fought regularly there fairly for the past four years. Tanner has beaten many quality fighters in the Octagon including Darrell Gholar (UFC 18, win by rear choke), Valeri Ignatov (UFC 19, win by elbows to the face), Lance Gibson (UFC 29, win by strikes from the mount), Homer Moore (UFC 34, win by armbar) Elvis Sinosic (UFC 36, win by cut stoppage) and Christopher Haseman (UFC 38, win by decision). His only Octagon loss at the time was to “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz in a bout for the light heavyweight title at UFC 30.
It wasn’t much of a fight and Tanner didn’t have a chance to show anything against his toughest opposition to date. He beat Pride veteran Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch at a charity event in February of last year and lost to Rich Franklin at UFC 42 two months later. His most recent was against Phil Baroni at UFC 45 and it set the stage for our controversial rematch at UFC 48.
Tanner/Lance Gibson: Evan Tanner defeated Lance Gibson, Sr. at UFC 29/Ultimate Japan 3. Tanner did most of his damage from side mount where he was able to deliver knees to the face and use his patented elbows on the mat. Gibson was striking effectively from the bottom but Tanner was able to change up his strikes and eventually overwhelm him. He finished him with strikes from the mount late in the first round. Gibson did a good job of striking from the bottom.
Tanner/Tito Ortiz: This was Tito’s night to shine. Ortiz got his left arm under Tanner's when they clinched and was able to secure a body lock. He lifted Evan up and slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. Tanner’s head bounced off the ground and caught the top of Tito’s head, effectively receiving an unintentional head butt and knocking himself out. Tito jumped on top and started punching but Evan was already out and McCarthy stepped in to end it before Ortiz committed an act of murder.
Tanner/Elvis Sinosic: Elvis wanted to take it to the ground early, as you might expect from a jiu-jitsu fighter, but it didn’t work in his favor. Tanner was inside Elvis’ guard and against the fence. Sinosic moved up the fence for an arm bar but Tanner recognized it. He unleashed a series of elbows and forearms to the face that opened up a nasty cut in the middle of his forehead. The blood wasn’t flowing too heavily but due to where it was located, the cut had the potential to run into the eyes if it got bigger and the fight was stopped.
Tanner/Rich Franklin: Franklin was ready for Tanner and knew his stand-up game very well. Evan likes throwing knees in the clinch but Franklin knew how to defend them and it went downhill from there. Franklin landed a series of right hands that dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before things got worse.
Tanner/Phil Baroni: Discussed under the Phil Baroni bio.
Also worthy of note, Tanner faced: Paul Buentello (win/submission), Heath Herring (win/TKO-loss/submission), Dennis Reed (win/submission), Ikuhisa Minowa (win/submission), Justin McCully (win/TKO), Ryushi Yanagisawa (win/submission), Leon Dijk (loss/TKO), Travis Fulton (win/submission), Darrel Gholar (win/submission), Valeri Ignatov (win/TKO), Homer Moore (win/submission), Christopher Haseman (win/decision) and Shannon Ritch (win/submission).
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: Tanner has always had good submission abilities with numerous victories via choke or limb constriction. In addition, he has developed a solid ground-and-pound game with very dangerous elbows in close. He likes to throw knees to the head and body from side mount as well. As for a weakness, it is likely his hands. He was exposed a little against Rich Franklin and Phil Baroni. Evan throws good knees in the clinch and has a few KOs on his record but the ground is a safer bet for him.
: Bring him down immediately. He already has the solution to this problem. He can’t afford to stand and trade with Phil. When on the feet, Baroni needs to watch out for the knees in the clinch but the rest of Evan’s stand-up game can be nullified with solid striking. However, Baroni has shown no desire to learn or ability to apply submissions and that is where Tanner is most comfortable. If he can take a few shots to ground him and bring Phil to the center of the cage, He should be able to seize a limb or choke him out.
MY PICK: Another tough pick. My heart says Tanner and my instincts say Baroni. If there was ever a team that could get Evan ready to beat Phil, it is Team Quest. Lindland alone is a fountain of information here. Hopefully they told him to take him down IMMEDIATELY. I feel it will be Tanner TKO in the 1st Rd.
DOWN THE ROAD:
Tanner/David Loiseau: Both like to throw elbows in the clinch and though Tanner is more seasoned on the mat, Loiseau may be more aggressive.
Tanner/Ricardo Almeida: I don’t necessarily like the match-up for Tanner but it would be nice to see the seriously improved “Big Dog” fighting in the U.S. again.
Baroni/Lee Murray: Two guys who love to talk and love to scrap and love to talk. ...
Baroni/Falaniko Vitale: Niko is 2-0 since fighting Lindland in the rematch last November. This includes decision win over Dave Menne. Zuffa seemed high on him before so maybe they’ll bring him back to submit Phil.
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