Fightline.com: Now speaking of Frank Shamrock, the two of you had a memorable rivalry. What are your thoughts of him today as a former rival, and do you see fighting him again as an option at some point?

Baroni: The guy's a legend, you know? He's a great fighter. What can I say about him? I learned a lot about myself from that fight. I learned a lot in my preparation. I took a lot away from that. I would love to fight him again. I feel like I'm a way better fighter now than I was then. I understand the game a lot more and grew up in that fight. I think I would definitely beat him, but I still think he's a great fighter. I think Frank's a great fighter. There's a lot of guys he can beat. He's right up there. He'd like to fight Nick Diaz again. He's a great fighter, I'd love to fight him.

Fightline.com: Phil, you've paid your dues, you've grown and you've transformed as a person. What's your take on someone like a Brock Lesnar who comes into the sport fresh and is at the top position in the Super Bowl of MMA, as you put it. What's your take, because a lot of guys say he's not a real fighter.

Baroni: He's a real fighter because he's in the UFC and he beat Randy Couture, so how can anyone say he's not a real fighter? He's been wrestling his whole life, [he was an] NCAA Champion. The guy's an athlete. He's a physical specimen. He's not the most skilled guy in the world because he just got in the game, but he's physical and he's a good athlete. I'm friends with Frank Mir, and Frank has all the tools to beat him, but he's a hard fight for anyone. He can beat anyone on any given day. He's got a lot of physicality over a lot of people. He's a tough fight for a lot of heavyweights. He's a giant Shawn Sherk. The guy's tough and he's a real tough guy for guys to spar and deal with. I don't have a problem with him. He just beat Randy Couture. He's a real fighter.

Fightline.com: Outside of fighting. Do you have any goals outside of fighting?

Baroni: I'm not looking at that right now. I'm just focused on my career. I've done that in the past, looked at certain things and opportunities. Really, like I said, for the first time in my career I'm focused on being a real martial artist and becoming a better fighter and putting all of my eggs in this basket. I'm not going to worry about that now. There's no tomorrow, there's no future, there's no past, only the present. And I'm looking at it.