Kimbo vs. Mitrione back on; UFC looks to hedge bet with James Toney

*Please visit FiveKnuckles.com for more mixed martial arts media*

A highly rumored potential match up between street-fighting legend Kimbo Slice and boxing legend James Toney has been scraped for now.

After serious consideration, according to a source close to the UFC, the organization has decided that the ramifications of a Toney win against a name as big as Kimbo (dispite his relative modest MMA abilities) could serve as a big blow to the sport as a whole. 

Instead, it appears that the company will look to pit Toney against either a bonafide star, Randy Couture's name has been thrown out as a possibility, or a no-namer where the risk vs. reward would be more in the organizations favor.

The thought is that if Toney beats a no-name MMA fighter, with little experience, the organization, and the sport, can save face in the ongoing Boxing vs. MMA battle by simply writing the loss off as a warm up fight for Toney.

If Toney losses, however, then one of boxing's elite has lost to a no-namer, further enhancing MMA's viability in the eye's of mainstream boxing fans.

Slice (4-1), meanwhile, is definitively out of the running to face Toney, and will instead square off against Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight battle at UFC 113 on May 8. Slice is coming off of a win over Houston Alexander in his last outing in December at the TUF 10 Finale.

Mitrione (1-0) also last fought at TUF 10 Finale, earning a victory over fellow former NFL football player, Marcus Jones, in the second-round of their scheduled three-round grudge-match.

UFC 113 takes place in Montreal at the Bell Centre on May 8, and will be headlined by a highly anticipated rematch of Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.