Phil Baroni said he somehow got in the middle of a still-simmering feud between future UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn and nutrition guru Mike Dolce, and he’s siding with Penn. 

“I’m more friends with B.J.,” Baroni told MMAjunkie Radio. “ That cat left me hanging a couple of times, Dolce did.” 

Asked for his opinion on the feud, which kicked off when Penn vented about Dolce’s role in his camp for a third fight with Frankie Edgar which ended in a third-round TKO loss, Dolce responded to Penn.  The two have since gone several rounds online with Penn recently promising to punch Dolce on sight. 

One MMAjunkie Radio listener put the blame for the situation squarely on Penn’s shoulders, noting the now-retired fighter’s initial comments on Dolce kicked off the war of words. 

Baroni, however, doesn’t see it that way. 

“F-ck Mike Dolce,” Baroni told MMAjunkie Radio. “ Who is Mike Dolce?  Nutritionist guru from where?  From my toilet bowl.  What does he know about diet?  I mean, really?” 

When asked for a response to Baroni’s comments, Dolce wrote to MMAjunkie via text: “My team has never been hired by Phil in any professional capacity, making the context and timing of these comments very peculiar.  I do wish him all the best in his career.” 

When reminded of Dolce’s work with several UFC champions and high-profile fighters, Baroni was unimpressed. 

“What’s success?  Everybody knows how to cut weight,” he spat. “ I mean, how can you have a scale that’s off?  If you’re the weight-cut guru, have a scale that’s on point.  I would have the correct scale.” 

Baroni (15-18), who most recently fought in July under the Bellator banner and dropped his third straight bout, was referring to Dolce’s explanation for UFC welterweight champ Johny Hendricks’ initial weight miss for a title fight in March at UFC 171.  In an interview with MMAjunkie, Dolce said his scale was tampered with by strangers at a local gym where they were cutting weight. 

But irrespective of his personal past with Dolce, Baroni is of the opinion that the weight-cutting consultant’s stature as a nutrition guru is largely hype.  He compared Dolce, the author of the popular “Dolce Diet,” to Billy Rush, a now-deceased diet consultant known for helping fighters shed weight. 

“It’s the same thing, man,” Baroni said. “ History repeats itself.  Here we go, another Billy Rush.  It’s the gurus, the get-me-down-in-weight, blah-blah-blah.  If you get with a good guy, he’s probably going to win anyway. 

“If you’re in Cain Velasquez’s corner, and he wants to be on a diet, there’s a good chance he’s going to win anyway.  It doesn’t matter what diet he’s on, the Dolce diet, the McDonald’s diet, the taco diet, it doesn’t matter.” 

Baroni ventured that he could have followed in Dolce’s footsteps with the right push. 

“I’m the next diet guy,” he joked. “‘ The Baroni Diet.’  Ask (Mark) Coleman.  I put Coleman on it, and when he (fought Mauricio) ‘Shogun’ (Rua), he looked the best he ever looked, and he said it a couple times.  But I didn’t run with it.  I should have, maybe.” 

A 14-year veteran of the sport, Baroni has fought the bulk of his career as a middleweight and welterweight.  He said he needs no help to cut weight. 

“I think I’m pretty educated,” he said. “ I have a degree in biology, so I know about the human body.  And I was a bodybuilder for awhile, and bodybuilding is as much dieting as it is lifting weights.  So I know dieting, and I do my own.” 

(Pictured: Phil Baroni)

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book.  The show, available on SiriusXM channel 92, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia.  For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.