One month before his mixed martial arts debut against former UFC champion and MMA legend Randy Couture at UFC 118 Aug. 28 accomplished boxer James Toney, 42, shared his views on his opponent and MMA as a sport in a live chat hosted by MMA Fighting July 28.
In spite of Couture's extensive MMA fighting experience Toney is confident that his boxing skills will not only give him an advantage but pretty much cancel out any of Couture's grappling skills.
For Toney, Couture is more of a consolation price since UFC President Dana White would not follow his request to let him fight reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar:
"The person I wanted to fight right off the bat was Brock Lesnar. He's a champion, I'm a champion and I wanted to do it. But they said I couldn't do that. Then they said, "How about Kimbo?" But I said, "That's too easy. That's like kicking a little kid's butt." But then Randy started saying he wanted to fight me, so I said, "OK, you're the first one getting it."
While Toney does not even try to hide his contempt for Couture his remarks indicate that he does not hold the sport of MMA in high regards either:
"In a real sport you've got to be retired before you're in the Hall of Fame? When I fight Randy he won't be Hall of Fame, he'll be Hall of Shame."
Nevertheless, he states that his goal is to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world which begs the question of just why would he want to be a champion of something that he does not even consider to be a 'real sport.'
Yet he suddenly goes on to state that 'MMA is a great sport.' Maybe his boxing career resulted in head injuries that cause short term memory loss since he apparently cannot remember what he said five minutes earlier.
He even thinks that he is a better fighter than UFC Champion Anderson Silva although Silva has well-rounded skills in stand-up as well as on the ground based on his strong background in martial arts.
Toney's reason for switching from boxing to MMA seems to be limited to White's request.
Since he believes that boxers are superior to MMA fighters he certainly is in for a rude awakening on Aug.28.
Comments
I totally agree your point of view. This guy is a joke and I hope Randy will choke him to sleep.
James was a great boxer in his day, one of the best at the sweet science..james could make any man look terrible with his shoulder roll counter punching..he has abused his body tho and has absorbed some punishment over the years..the only shot he has against couture is if randy decides to stay on his feet and swing with James..that won't happen and my best guess is that james will be on his back for most of the brief fight before he gets pounded or submitted....mean while all the mma meatheads including dana white will say awww see boxers aint sh!t
Remember long ago in one of the UFC's first fight card when then fringe Cruiserweight contender Art Jimmerson was submitted by Joyce Gracie in a matter of seconds. Jimmerson actually entered the Octagon wearing one boxing glove believe it or not. Toney shouldn't have ever been considered a great boxer even in his hey day which was at least 15 years ago. Now he's nothing more than a 5'9" 240lb fat man who looks like he eats non-stop and avoids anything resembling roadwork. "Lights Out" haha this guy wasn't that great of a puncher even at middleweight. Couture hasn't anything to fear from Toney and the older Couture is actually the much younger man in this match. Anyone who has ever boxed and wrestled knows that grappling will tire you out in much quicker time than throwing punches and Toney isn't a KO artist so it's going to the ground where fatboy will gas in seconds.
As I commented to someone earlier, I see Toney trying a boxing explosion to try to intimidate Couture which will be quickly stiffled, then a swift front punch-back punch-round kick combination to welcome Toney in to MMA followed by a double leg takedown...you know the rest of the story from there!!!!
Great article Astrid!
This fight is a joke! Have you seen the fight? Toney is clearly a novice at MMA and is not in shape. Let's do the reverse, put an MMA fighter in a boxing fight and let's see who wins... hmmm... I think it's a 50-50 game, MMA fighters has a boxing training while Boxers don't train on MMA, just pure boxing. You can never compare Boxing and MMA and vise versa, they are completely different.
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