LIer looking to take home the title

BY JOE FERNANDEZ | joe.fernandez@newsday.com

8:42 PM EDT, June 21, 2007

Phil Baroni, who is from Massapequa, will fight Frank Shamrock on June 22nd. (Photo by Tom Casino/EliteXC)

Phil Baroni is looking to bring a title home to Long Island.

The Massapequa product, who is now a professional mixed martial artist, will fight for the first time since October. The 31-year-old former UFC and Pride fighter, who made weight Thursday at 185 pounds, will face Frank Shamrock in a five-round fight for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title on Strikeforce-EliteXC's fight card airing live on Showtime pay-per view. The card begins 10 p.m. Friday from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

If Baroni wins he would be the first Long Islander to win a professional MMA title since East Meadow's Matt Serra earned the UFC welterweight belt in April.

"We're tough," Baroni said about Long Islanders. "We're bred that way. Maybe it's the water and that's why the bagels are so good, but we're just tough."

Baroni, who wrestled at Nassau Community College and was a two-time All-American at Central Michigan, is 10-7 in his professional mixed martial arts career and was 3-5 in the UFC and 4-2 in Pride.

"This is the biggest fight in the sport right now," Baroni said. "This is like [Floyd] Mayweather / [Oscar] De La Hoya."

Frank Shamrock, who owns a 21-8-1 MMA record and is the former UFC middleweight champion, was disqualified in his last fight against Renzo Gracie for landing illegal knees to a downed opponent. Shamrock and Baroni have been known to exchange words via the media.

"We don't like each other," Baroni said. "We haven't liked each other since 2000. I never liked the guy. I think I'm pound-for-pound the best fighter in the game. At my weight class, nobody can stand with me...I'm not letting it go the distance. I'm going to get him out of there, especially in his own backyard."

Baroni now trains and lives in Las Vegas, but he mentioned that he would like to bring the title back home.

"After I win this fight I going to go back home to New York," Baroni said. "I want to go home with the title. Come home with my head up, my chin up, see my family and my friends and erase that past, getting kicked out of high school and not being able to accomplish my goals."