Phil Baroni is facing a lengthy prison sentence after being charged with femicide in Mexico. The former Pride star was arrested on New Yearβs Day after his girlfriend was found dead in a hotel room.
The hotel was in the beach resort of San Francisco and Baroni has been held in custody there ever since calling the police. According to a local reporter he has now been moved to a state prison in Tepic and could be set to spend the next three decades behind bars in Mexico.
Baroni is now in the CERESO Prison in Tepic. One of these facilities in Juarez hit the headlines last week when 19 people died during an escape attempt and police found the inmates were in possession of machine guns:
UPDATE on the Phil Baroni case. The former Pride/SF/UFC fighter has been transported to Tepic, capital of Nayarit,where he is now in a State Prison (CERESO).
His hearing will be on Monday where a judge will determine heβs legal status. If guilty, sentence goes from 30-50 years.
β Carlos Contreras Legaspi π¦ (@CCLegaspi) January 7, 2023
Bleak picture
Carlos Legaspi of ESPN painted a bleak picture of the 46 year oldβs prospects. He has a hearing scheduled for Monday and, given the seriousness of the charges and the fact that Baroni is not Mexican, it seems unlikely he will be granted bail.
Baroni fought six times for Pride in between two separate stints with the UFC. He also fought for Dream and ONE Championship and retired from MMA in 2019 with a record of 16-19.
Since retirement he has looked to launch a career in professional wrestling. He competed on Josh Barnetβs Bloodsport event in 2019 and the veteran heavyweight was convinced that Baroni showed symptoms of CTE:
The news about Phil Baroni is terrible and incredibly tragic as well.
I've known Phil for 2 decades + and at the 1st JB Bloodsport show could see that his personality and behavior was erratic, displaced, and emotionally he was all over the place and it was obvious why: CTE
β πΏππ πππππππππ (@JoshLBarnett) January 4, 2023
Multiple bruises
According to reports in the local media it was Baroni who alerted the Mexican police. The Tribuna de la Bahia stated that it was the American himself who alerted police and said the woman, who has not been named, slipped and hit her head after he threw her into the shower.
The newspaper stated that Baroni admitted he had been smoking marijuana and drinking before arguing with the victim. He claims she admitted to having cheated on him and he responded by trying to force her to have a shower.
According to the newspaper she had multiple bruises on her face and body. After Baroni was arrested authorities noticed that he had red marks around the knuckle area on one of his hands.
Baroni fought six times for Pride winning four of those fights. He also fought twice for ONE Championship and once for Dream with the final fight of his career taking place on a Rebel FC card in Shanghai.
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