SELL: Pete Sell, known as “Drago,” is a Serra-Longo Competition Team fighter. He trains jiu-jitsu with UFC veterans Nick Serra and Matt Serra and stand-up striking with Ray Longo in New York. Sell is a purple belt in jiu-jitsu with a 5-0 record in MMA. He holds back-to-back victories over UFC 45 veteran and Pitt’s Penn fighter Chris Liguori, beating him the second time by rear-choke and capturing the Ring of Combat super light heavyweight championship title. Pete was scheduled to take part in the next Euphoria MFC event on February 26 before getting the call to the UFC. There he was to face Advanced Fighting Systems athlete John Sivori.

BARONI: Phil Baroni began wrestling in seventh grade and won the Teenage National Bodybuilding Championship in high school. He added boxing and kickboxing to his wrestling and has a 4-0 record with four knockouts as amateur boxer.

Apparently Phil is 7-0 (7 KO) as a kickboxer and 10-0 (10 KO) as a club fighter. Phil also competed in the “glorious” Toughman contests on FX cable television.

He boxes with Derrick Harmon and trains stand-up with K-1 fighter Dewey Cooper. Marc Laimon coaches his ground game and he has Jason Miller, Joe Stevenson and Jay Hieron for sparring partners. The “New York Bad Ass” began fighting MMA in 2000 and has a 5-4 record.

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 knockout in just over a minute.

In his Octagon debut at UFC 30 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 Matt Lindland and lost a majority decision.

At UFC 37 Baroni seemed to have conquered his stamina demons but still looked to be on his way to another loss. Lucky for him, Amar Suloev 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 Phil did exactly what he said he’d do and knocked out Dave Menne in just seconds. Phil lost the rematch to Matt Lindland at UFC 41 and was involved in the controversial stoppage at UFC 45 against Evan Tanner. Tanner came back at UFC 48 to take a unanimous decision over Baroni in the rematch and silenced his critics.

MY PICK: I almost want to go with Sell here. Baroni seems confident and focused, but he always does and has paid for it many, many times. He’s not talking as much smack this time and that is interesting.

If Sell had more experience, I’d side with him but I think a short preparation for his UFC debut may be too much. If he can get Phil to the ground who knows what will happen. However, it is unlikely to get there and you can expect Baroni to be relentless. Baroni by TKO in the first round.