Reports: Baroni vs. "Ninja" Signed for EliteXC-CBS Event

Originally posted by MMAjunkie.com Staff [mmajunkie-staff] on Mar 25, 2008 at 3:48 pm in

- News -

Phil Baroni (10-9), who recently came up short in an ICON Sport title fight with Kala Hose, has signed on to fight Murilo "Ninja" Rua (15-8-1) at the May 31 EliteXC-CBS event.

The event, which will likely feature Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson in the night's main event, takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It'll be the first-ever MMA event to air on major U.S. network television.

News of the Baroni vs. Rua fight was first reported by the Internet radio show Cageside Live and has since been confirmed by Sam Caplan of ProElite.com and fiveouncesofpain.com.

Baroni, who dropped a fifth-round TKO to Hose on March 15, recently signed a multi-fight deal with ProElite, Inc., the parent company of EliteXC. However, with his loss to Hose, he's now dropped three of his past four fights.

Rua, EliteXC's first-ever middleweight champ, lost his belt to Robbie Lawler in September. He bounced back for a second-round submission of Xavier Foupa-Pokam at December's Cage Rage 24 show. It was his fourth win in his past five fights.

In addition to Ferguson and Baroni vs. Rua, the May 31 event will also feature a title fight between EliteXC middleweight champ Lawler and Scott Smith. While a guest panelist on this past weekend's edition of "Inside MMA," EliteXC matchmaker Jeremy Lappen also confirmed that Gina Carano is expected to be on the fight card.