Baroni vs Leben signed for UFC 56 --- it almost was..

[dogofwar]

Fans rarely get to take a peak at what goes on behind the scenes at Zuffa when it puts together fight cards.

UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva works feverishly behind the scenes to put together interesting, crowd-pleasing matchups, while also making sure to fulfill get guys under multi-fight deals the prerequisite number of fights in the allotted time - not always an easy balancing act. Of course, Zuffa President Dana White adds his influence to the card by adding matchups that he deems interesting or exciting for the fans.

During that process, Silva and White propose an untold number of tremendous matchups. Some of the proposed bouts get signed. Others fall apart for whatever reason – money squabbles, injuries, training issues, management rejecting an opponent, etc.

One such proposed fight for UFC that fell apart less than 48 hours ago was Phil Baroni versus Chris Leben at UFC 56, according to the "New York Bad Ass."

"A fight with Leben was in the works for UFC 56. No contracts were signed, but the fight was in the works," Baroni told InsideFighting. "I notified Pride, and they were waiting to hear from Dana White to finalize things. Before that could happen, Leben turned down the fight because he need more time to train, which is completely understandable because it was less than five weeks until fight time."

Chris Leben was unavailable on Wednesday night to comment on the subject, but other sources close to the negotiation also confirmed that Zuffa was considering the fight before the Team Quest standout reportedly declined due to the short notice – a very understandable reason.

Baroni, on the other hand, sees things a bit differently.

"I definitely wasn’t in top shape, either," Baroni admitted. “I had to drop about 40 pounds after taking a couple of weeks off (after his last fight) and then going to Holland for a week and doing what people do in Holland. But I’ll take any fight. I’ll fight anybody, anytime, and in any organization or country. If that means I’ve got to become a road warrior and fight all over the world, that’s what I’ll do."

Whoa. Slow down. A road warrior fighting in multiple organizations? Isn’t Baroni currently under contract to compete exclusively in Pride?

Yes, but the exclusivity clause doesn’t prevent him from taking fights outside of Pride, assuming he receives prior consent from the DSE suits.

"I don’t owe Pride any more fights on my current deal, but I’m still under contract with them until May 2006, which is fine by me," he explained. "At the time I signed it, I was desperate. Beggars can’t be choosers. (DSE Executive Vice President) Yukino (Kanda) knows that I took a huge pay cut fight in Pride. My last multi-fight UFC deal was a three-fight, $150,000 deal, assuming I won all three fights, which I obviously didn’t do. So she’s okay with me fighting outside of Pride because I need the money and Pride wants its fighters to stay active. In fact, when I told Yukino that the UFC fight wasn’t going to happen, she came right back to me with an opportunity to fight Mark Weir in Cage Rage in December."

With the fight officially off as of yesterday, Baroni openly wondered why Zuffa wanted to give him a shot at one of the truly big names from the opening season of "The Ultimate Fighter."

"I don’t understand why the UFC even offered me the fight," he said. "I have to assume that they were bringing me in to lose, although Joe Silva said just he loves making great fights. Joe’s always been straight with me. He’s always been good to me to me, even sending me tapes of Ryo Chonan and Ikuhisa Minowa before my Bushido fights, so I don’t know. But if the UFC was betting on me losing to Leben, then that was the wrong bet. I’m at my best when people are counting on me to lose.

"Then again, maybe they don’t want me to lose. Maybe Leben did something or said something behind the scenes that makes the UFC want to get him beat down. I don’t know the behind-the-scenes anymore. But if that’s the case, then asking me to fight Leben was definitely the right choice."

Wrong bet. Right choice. Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: Baroni-Leben would have been one heck of a good fight.

http://www.insidefighting.com/betwee....aspx?uid=2398

Baroni would have ripped Leben apart. But that would have jut made UFC 56 even bigger.

[j wil]

I love the thought of this fight, but I agree with you--Baroni wipes the floor with Leben!

[dwarfofdoom]

Baroni is set to fight Mark weir in the CR14 Main Event in December.

[nhbfan8080]

It would've a crowd pleasing matchup. But Leben didn't bite and Baroni said he wasn't in good shape.

[scott]

It's good to see that Pride allows their guys to stay active and fight in other promotions.(Kawajiri, Baroni, Mishima, Hansen, Sakurai) Of course, this is unlike another promotion that we know.

[nhbfan8080]

Baroni isnt Pride's top draw. I doubt Pride will allow Fedor or Nog to go waltzing off to UFC.

[scott]

Baroni isnt Pride's top draw. I doubt Pride will allow Fedor or Nog to go waltzing off to UFC.

No, but they let some of their biggest stars fight in other promotions.(Sakurai, Kondo, and Kawajiri) They also proposed to send Kharitonov to the UFC which Dana rejected, and they let a bunch of their fighters go to Europe for the Rotterdam Rumble show, where they were going to let Fedor fight Bob Schrijber.

[gunslinger]

I hate you dog for letting my hopes down, but you give the info good.that would have been the fight I would most want to see on that card

[nhbfan8080]

No, but they let some of their biggest stars fight in other promotions.(Sakurai, Kondo, and Kawajiri) They also proposed to send Kharitonov to the UFC which Dana rejected, and they let a bunch of their fighters go to Europe for the Rotterdam Rumble show, where they were going to let Fedor fight Bob Schrijber.

Pride seems to be more flexible but -

First, Kondo is a long time Pancrase star. Kondo had a few matches in Pride but as a _Pancrase_ rep. Kawajiri is a _Shooto_ rep and will defend his Shooto belt soon. Sakurai has always been with Shooto, Deep and recently Pride.

Pride has an agreement with Deep (and I think Shooto) for some cross-transfer of talent but everyone knows that Deep will function as a feeder organisation.

[Saber]

i wish they would set up an an arlovski- cro cop fight. but i kinda doubt it would work out. although chuck did once fight in PRIDE with dana's commentary.