Former UFC fighter Phil Baroni has been arrested in Mexico amid allegations that he murdered his girlfriend on New Years Day.
The 46-year-old Baroni reportedly sought out police close to the hotel he was staying at in San Pancho and told them that his girlfriend was unconscious.
When police arrived at the room they found the woman dead under a sheet with bruises visible on both her face and body.
Baroni told police that he’d been drinking and smoking marijuana that afternoon when his girlfriend had confessed to sleeping with another man.
An argument ensued and Baroni demanded that she take a shower, which she refused to do. Baroni then picked her up and threw her into the shower, but she fell and hit her head.
At that point Baroni helped her back to her feet and walked her over to the bed, where she lay down and asked for the sheet to be put over her as she was cold, and also asked for a cigarette and a beer, which he got for her.
However, when he returned to her bedside she was unconscious and so at that stage Baroni left the hotel to get help.
Known as ‘The New York Bad Ass’, Baroni is best known for his time in the UFC between 2001-2005. Despite only winning 3 of his 8 fights he made a name for himself among fans for his hard-hitting striking and brash, cocky personality, including famously KO’ing Dave Menne with a barrage of strikes and then leaping up onto the cage, where he proceeded to beat his chest while repeatedly yelling, “I’m the best eva.”
Baroni failed to live up to that boast though during his career, losing more fights than he won while competing for the likes of PRIDE, Strikeforce, Bellator and ONE FC, and even a brief return to the UFC in 2009 that saw him pick up two more losses.
In the end Baroni retired from MMA after a loss on the regional circuit back in 2019 that took his career record to 16-19.
