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Cape Town - If all goes to plan former Pride FC and UFC legend Wanderlei "The axe murderer" Silva will be a Rizin fighter and will be fighting in Japan once again.
Although it's not 100% official, a man who is familiar with both Japan and Silva would like to "knock him out" according to Nick Strickland from MMALatestNews.com.
Phil Baroni, a Strikerorce, UFC, ONE Championship and Pride FC veteran would love the opportunity to put a hurting on the Brazilian. On Monday Japanese promotion Rizen tweeted a picture of Wanderlei Silva sporting a promotional shirt which would add even more fuel to the rumours of him (Silva) signing with the promotion to face Fedor Emelianenko sometime in April/May.
Baroni immediately took to his Twitter to express how he would like to knock Silva out, tweets that have since been deleted. When asked if he has been approached about a possible showdown with the former Pride FC champion, Baroni stated he had been in talks with promotional officials and is open to any real offers.
Baroni (15-18) has not been in action since July 2014 where he was stopped by Karo Parisyan at Bellator 122. A 10-fight veteran with the UFC, Baroni has fought the toughest opponents the world has to offer in some of the greatest promotions around the world including Pride FC, Dream, One Championship, Bellator and Titan FC.
With 10 of his 15 wins coming by way of KO/TKO, "The New York badass" has always put on exciting fights thanks to his do or die attitude. With the obvious itch to fight again, Baroni would make a great addition to Rizin thanks to his previous years fighting in front of the Japanese fans.
