Joe Rogan on James Toney wanting Brock Lesnar

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"What do I think of James Toney? I'm disturbed by his recent speeches. I don't know what's going on with him physically. I guess he wants to fight heavyweight? I heard he wants to fight Brock Lesnar. If that's the case, I think maybe the best thing to do to get this over with is give him Brock Lesnar. The way I look at it: all the respect in the world as a boxer. All-time, really one of the craftiest guys to come along in decades, and a guy who really utilized that old Archie Moore shoulder roll style. He had a real old-timer classic boxing style. Real good at rolling with punches and coming back... He's so skillful as a boxer, but there is so much more to MMA than just boxing. I'm not hearing about him going to American Top Team. I'm not hearing about him going to Team Quest. I'm not hearing about him going to high-level camps. I'm hearing him say he's going to fight Brock Lesnar. I'm hearing one of two things. Either I'm hearing he doesn't give a [sic], he's just here to get paid. Or I'm hearing he is crazy, and he thinks he will stop Brock Lesnar from taking him down by hitting him with a punch. Either one is not good. Because one means he is delusional and doesn't really understand what this is all about, and the other one means he is a guy who is looking for money."  - Joe Rogan (via video blog)

Even though UFC President Dana White does not know why he signed James Toney, the former boxer still needs an opponent.

Toney has been calling out a bunch of former champions like Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell (a.k.a. "Pumpkinhead" Liddell) and, most consistently, Brock Lesnar.

It is very possible that Toney believes that he can use his world-class boxing skills to defeat Lesnar. However, Lesnar's wrestling pedigree is at such a high level, that to avoid a take down - Lesnar's first line of defense - Toney will have to be well-versed in stuffing a take down, and not allow himself to be too vulnerable when striking.

However, Rogan commented that there is a big difference between striking in boxing and striking in MMA.

"You can't throw punches the same way when you're worried about a guy taking you down," Rogan said. "The timing's not the same. You can't stand the same way. If you stand the same way, they're going to kick your legs out and they're gonna take you down easy. You have to change your stance. You have to constantly be thinking about sprawling."

Even if Toney is able to stuff Lesnar's take downs, Lesnar might still have a chance on the feet - although, with Toney's background in the sport, possibly not a very big one. The 6'3" heavyweight champion has a nine inch reach advantage over the 5'10" boxing legend. While Toney's 72-inch arms are very well-skilled in striking, power and movement, he will need to create angles to combat Lesnar's 81-inch reach. Nonetheless, it is, indeed, quite likely that Toney would win a strickly-boxing fight against Lesnar, despite the reach disadvantage.

However, it is extremely unlikely that White will pair Toney up to face Lesnar in his UFC debut. Toney has yet to do any long-term MMA training, which is something that White wants to see before putting anybody inside the Octagon.