Baroni: There are only a few of us left
“You’re about to witness a time where the few who remain will battle to the end. Once we’re gone, the generation of gladiators will be over and never to return.”
Phil Baroni recently did a guest blog for BloodyElbow, ahead of his fight at with Karo Parisyan at Bellator 122 on Friday. The bout will be at 170. After that, Baroni plans to drop to 155.
My camp has gone great. I’m back at OKG, One Kicks Gym. I don’t even know what the f— made me leave in the first place. I f—ing feel at home now. I was homeless for years, and I realize that now.
When I first made my way to the cage, the shit wasn’t totally legal yet. There weren’t any fights in Vegas. There was no mainstream media coverage. There was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow either. It was just a bunch of rough and tough guys who wanted to show the world how tough we were, how great we were, and how big our cock and balls really were.
Today there are only a few of us left. A small few. With B.J. Penn hanging up his gloves, some call it or signify it as an end of an era, but it’s not. There are still a few of us left, a small few from a forgotten untelevised generation.
Ruthless Robbie Lawler, Lyoto Machida, Josh Thomson, Dan Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, Takonori Gomi, Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Paul Buentello, Trevor Prangley, the Nogueiras, Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson, Vitor Belfort, Karo Parisyan, Jason Miller, Anderson Silva, Cro Cop, Mauricio Rua, Frank Mir, and Alistar Overeem. There are a some others that I am forgetting, but there are just a few of us left from that generation.
So if you’re an old fan, savor it. If you’re a new fan, do some research because you’re about to witness a time where the few who remain will battle to the end. Once we’re gone, the generation of gladiators will be over and never to return.
