Knockdown Daily 1/5/23: Phil Baroni Arrested In Mexico For Alleged Murder
Welcome to the Knockdown Daily. Here are the latest MMA headlines from the past 24 hours.
What’s New
MMA veteran Phil Baroni was reportedly arrested this week in Mexico on suspicion of murdering his wife. Baroni’s arrest was confirmed by a prosecutor’s office in Nayarit to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report from the local newspaper Tribune de la Bahia claimed that Baroni came in contact with police to report that a woman slipped in the shower and hit her head. Authorities arrived and found a woman bruised and dead.
State officials said that his first hearing for the case will take place Monday.
Baroni, 46, is most known for fighting in the UFC during the early 2000s. He also appeared in notable promotions like Pride FC, Strikeforce, and ONE Championship.
Francisco Trinaldo has departed the UFC roster following a 26-fight run with the promotion.
Trinaldo, 44, has left the promotion after the conclusion of his most recent UFC deal, per Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting.
Trinaldo joined the UFC roster in 2012 through the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.” He had strong campaigns as a lightweight, including a seven-fight winning streak from 2014 to 2016.
Trinaldo had a series of wins broken in October 2022 when he suffered a decision loss to Randy Brown.
A fight between Geoff Neal and Shavkat Rakhmonov is back on the UFC schedule, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN. Undefeated Rakhmonov and veteran Neal will now reportedly meet at UFC 285 on March 4th.
They were originally expected to fight at UFC’s January 14th show.
Daniel Pineda will make his return at UFC’s March 25th event taking on Tucker Lutz at featherweight, as first reported by Nolan King of MMA Junkie.
Lutz will be appearing for the first time since November 2021, when he took his first UFC loss to Pat Sabatini.
Pineda will be fighting for his first win in over two years. His last fight came in late 2020 when Cub Swanson finished him in the second round with strikes.
Critics have been voicing their opinions since footage emerged of UFC President Dana White slapping his wife at a New Year’s Eve party:
MMA Junkie’s Simon Samano came out with an op-ed stating that White should step down from his position in the UFC: “If this was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell or NBA commissioner Adam Silver or MLB commissioner Rob Manfred we were talking about, that’s almost certainly how it would play out.”
Karim Zidan similarly asked if White should be in charge of the UFC anymore in a piece for The Guardian: “His decision to physically assault his wife raises questions about whether the UFC president is fit to continue running the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization.”
MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew highlighted White’s actions in the light of UFC’s Fighter Conduct Policy, which states it “will not tolerate domestic violence”: “Dana White is not a fighter, but he is the face of the organization. Why should the standard be any less for him?” he wrote.
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