[MMA] Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni

[Googintosh]

WEBSITE

Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni

Joey Villasenor vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua

Paul Buentello vs. Carter Williams

Paul Daley vs. Duane Ludwig

Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund

Charles Bennett vs. Victor Valenzuela

Jason Von Flue vs. Luke Stewart

Mike Pyle vs. Aaron Wetherspoon

Eugene Jackson vs. Danny Higgins

Josh Thomson vs. Nick Gonzalez

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I've been waiting for this match for a while. There's a lot of build up and trash talking from both sides. The amount of trash talking rivals a WWE promo. These guys either really despise one another or they're exaggerating to hype the event -- actually I know for a fact Shamrock is doing the latter, but I think Baroni genuinly hates Frank Shamrock. I'll be disappointed if Baroni doesn't clear his medical today, because I'm hoping Shamrock wipes the floor with the "New York [Dumb] Ass" Phil Steroidoni.

I'm picking Rua to defeat Vilasenor, the only other fighters I've seen before on the other cards are Paul Buentello [uFC], and Josh Thompson [PRIDE].

Is anyone else going to watch this?

[Rappy Veteran]

I have never seen an Elite XC event...are they any good?...I have heard about them tho...

[Googintosh]

I haven't seen an EliteXC or Strikeforce event either, but I'm interested in just about any fight with Frank Shamrock.

All I know about EliteXC is the play-by-play commentator is ex-PRIDE commentator Mauro Ranallo, and the color commentator is ex-WWE "wrestler" Bill Goldberg (unfortunately). The same commentating duo used for the most recent K1 Dynamite USA event in Los Angeles, since it was a co-production with EliteXC, among other companies.

[Rappy Veteran]

I haven't seen an EliteXC or Strikeforce event either, but I'm interested in just about any fight with Frank Shamrock.

All I know about EliteXC is the play-by-play commentator is ex-PRIDE commentator Mauro Ranallo, and the color commentator is ex-WWE "wrestler" Bill Goldberg (unfortunately). The same commentating duo used for the most recent K1 Dynamite USA event in Los Angeles, since it was a co-production with EliteXC, among other companies.

Just mentioning Bill Goldberg makes me shudder haha...I mean what does he know about the business?

Still tho it might be worth watching as the main event grudge seems pretty genuine...

[Googintosh]

There's a long video promo about the fight on the ProElite front page, including the undercard matches I believe.

"Phil... you're an idiot. Good luck" :laugh:

[Rappy Veteran]

:laugh: called him a ******...wtf :laugh:

[Googintosh]

The press conference video here [Flash].

Fast forward to 21 minutes, that's when Baroni takes the podium and trash talking begins.

Shamrock laughs and his a big grin while Baroni is trying to sound all serious :laugh:

[Rappy Veteran]

Shamrock better own him :D

[Googintosh]

Wow.

That was better than any UFC PPV in recent memory that I can remember.

Spoilers Below

Shamrock went into the fight with a blown ACL and MCL so he couldn't shoot, and I had a feeling he might lose because of that. Consequently he picked apart Baroni at his own game, striking. He was mocking Baroni during the fight, such as the sleeping gesture he made after rocking him with some punches. Baroni apparently pulled his groin sometime during the first round. In the second round Shamrock choked out Baroni. Frank Shamrock has now destroyed the two biggest trash talkers in MMA, Tito Ortiz and Phil Baroni. But to Baroni's credit, he was pretty gracious in defeat, perhaps demoralized after the loss.

Cung Lee looked like an interesting and flashy striker. But I think its hard to gauge how good he really is, as his opponent only attempted one unsuccessful shoot. Lee landed about three high kicks to the head of Fryklund, some of which where spinning back kicks. Fryklund didn't go down, which makes me wonder, either Fryklund has a strong chin or Cung Lee's kicks don't pack as much power as they could at the expense of being flashy or unorthodox.

Ninja Rua looked good and pretty much dominated the fight. This would have ended faster if they allowed knees and kicks to a grounded opponent. The aggressive Chute Boxe style suffers from strict North American MMA rules.

My only complaint about this PPV were the two colour commentators, Goldberg and Glazer, they were pretty bad. Goldberg doesn't know what he's talking about unless he's reading the script, and Glazer was referring to Rua as "Shogun" for the entire first round. Can the UFC or EliteXC/Strikeforce please hire Bas Rutten for colour commentary, please?

Frank Shamrock def. Phil Baroni for Strikeforce MW Championship (Rear naked choke)

Cung Le def. Tony Fryklund (TKO)

Murilo "Ninja" Rua def. Joey Villasenor for EliteXC MW Championship (KO)

Paul Buentello def. Carter Williams (KO)

Josh Thomson def. Nick Gonzalez (Rear naked choke)

Edson Berto def. Victor Valenzuela (Ankle lock)

Paul Daley def. Duane Ludwig (KO)

Also, former PRIDE fighter Sokoudjou signed a four fight deal with EliteXC.

[Rappy Veteran]

I am pleased Frank Shamrock won I mean Baroni was being a right idiot running up to the fight so to see him lose is pretty good :D

[metallithrax]

Video

WOW. Amazing fight.