News reports coming out of Mexico early this week are about Phil Baroni’s arrest for murder charges. The 46-year-old PRIDE and UFC veteran allegedly beat a woman to death in Mexico, with police reportedly finding numerous injuries to the victim’s face, arms, torso, and legs.
Many, of course, were left in shock, but for former UFC champion Josh Barnett, CTE is an “obvious” factor. In a series of tweets, “The Warmaster” shared his experience about the last time he was with Baroni, whom he described at the time as “erratic, displaced” and “all over the place” emotionally.
It was so tough dealing with him at the show that I couldn’t keep booking him even though I wanted to. He was too much to handle and so scattered. He blew up at me because I hadn’t used him again and I blocked him on social media but there wasn’t much I could do.
— (@JoshLBarnett) January 4, 2023
From that, he made a conclusion.
Oh, just in case for the absolute midwit, moron reply guys who have zero reading comprehension – no, this is not excusing nor defending. I have not and am not making those points. It is simply some personal opinion and context.
If you want to be stupid, go do it somewhere else.
— (@JoshLBarnett) January 4, 2023
Barnett ended his tweets with a reminder to competitors to “be vigilant and watchful,” while clarifying that he was in no way defending Baroni in this situation.
Baroni, who last saw action in 2019, holds a professional MMA record of 16-19. He also had a one-off bare-knuckle boxing fight against fellow UFC veteran Chris Leben in 2018. Baroni lost via first-round TKO.
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