Phil Baroni's ONE FC 9 Guest Blog Part 4: 'I guess I'm more like Mark Coleman than I thought'

The following is Phil Baroni's guest blog post for Bloody Elbow as writes about the lead up to his ONE FC 9 bout against a Japanese star from ZST, Nobutatsu Suzuki. The event happens on May 31 in Manila, Philippines. If you missed the earlier editions, you can check it here: PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

It's coming down to the nitty-gritty. Fight camp is almost done, and this is going to be my last hard full week before I take off for Manila.

I've got my cornermen set, and it will be Mike Swick and Greg Surat. All I have to do now is to get my flights and check-in accommodations set up, because I plan on arriving early, then it's party time.

It's funny, man. There have been a whole bunch of reporters and media in and f*cking out of AKA as of late. Tons of media have been filming and setting up shop.

Now, I know all these jokers pretty much, from the dudes that run and report for the MMA websites, to the crew that works for the UFC. I even know the film crew longer than ZUFFA knows these guys. These motherf*ckers were filming my ass in toughman long before I even fought in the UFC. I remember when ZUFFA hired them and I ran into them in Vegas over 12 years ago. Yeah, I know all the faces and they all remember me, probably wondering what the f*ck am I still doing here. ha ha!

Well anyway, my point is that my own "Dana White media scrum" back in the day, after those workouts or whatever, have now turned into a "Hi".

What used to be a line, or even a funny remark about my opponent to get an interview, has now turned into a "Hi", and a quick look away.

Ha ha! Oh f*cking well. I rather just go about my business anyway.

I mean look at these recent interviews about AKA. No mention of my fight. Yeah Gray Maynard is my boy, and I love the guy. I'm happy he is here training with me again as he brings a ton of useful stuff to the team, but that being said, I've been here since 2005. I was the guy who was fighting in the big leagues, and repping AKA in a little show called PRIDE. Remember that? Ever hear of it? Well it used to be big, really f*cking big back in the day. I guess that was when I was young, and I guess I'm not a kid anymore. ha ha!

Nobody on the team even mentioned my win in the last ONE FC. Nobody saw it. Then my DREAM NYE fight, I had no cornerman to go with me. Everyone had the UFC heavyweight championship to worry about. Not some fight on NYE in Japan. I used to think NYE in Japan was a big card which carried some prestige, but WTF do I know?

Really, I don't give a f*ck. I do my own thing. I always have. I guess I'm more like Mark Coleman than I thought. I'm a loner really. But it is what it is, and I just use it as motivation to train harder and push further.

Now I'm getting a bunch of emails and questions from Asian media about the rumors that I signed a deal with Bellator. A bunch of shit stirrers really, ha ha. All media is the same no matter where it comes from, and I guess you are all going to have to wait and see how that turns out.

I might even be too busy training hard to answer any questions or comments about how this stuff got put together. After all these years in the game, all I have to say is that I'm a prize fighter and I'm here to fight for the biggest prize available.

Anyway, it's time to get dressed and go spar. In case you were wondering, I got a chump to KO in Manila on May 31st.

-NYBA, Phil Baroni