James Toney is No Freak Show

In the short history of MMA, promotional duties have often taken precedence over true tests of top athletes. We’ve seen Art Jimmerson’s lone boxing glove, Jose Canseco tuck tail against Hong Man Choi, and Kimbo Slice burst cauliflower ears on the road to a questionable victory.

For many, these images came to mind when Dana White announced the multi-fight signing of James Toney. The mental pictures sharpened when Randy Couture was announced as his introductory fight. The cries from the MMA world are still at a deafening volume. The UFC, the undisputed top promotion, has signed an over the hill boxer and put him in a co-main event slot against one of the few legends in our sport.  Before we fans scream in disappointment and agony and call for White’s head on a platter, let’s think about what is actually taking place at UFC 118.

Toney may not be coming from regional MMA shows and worked his way through the rankings but let’s make this very clear: He is a WORLD CLASS BOXER. The UFC, or MMA itself, has never seen such high caliber boxing ever. The great strikers of MMA (Chuck Liddell, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawlor, etc.) would be slaughtered by someone of Toney’s caliber in a boxing match. Simply put, he’s forgotten more about boxing then most MMA fighters will ever know.

Compare this with the amount of great athletes that come from other disciplines which are essential in a cage fighter’s toolbox. Brock Lesnar, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, and Josh Koscheck were all high-level wrestlers without much training in striking. Matt Hughes dominated the welterweight division with extremely suspect stand up ability. Demian Maia has had a successful career so far relying on his top notch Brazilian Jiu Jitsu background. In contrast to the above-mentioned, kickboxers like Cro Cop, Gegard Mousasi, and Pat Barry were welcomed to the sport with open arms despite a lack of experience on the ground.

Although Dana White wants to make an example of Toney by pitting him against Couture, the match-up does have some plus sides for the boxer. Although he has a wrestling background, Couture comes from the clinch heavy Greco-Roman world. Brock style double leg takedowns are not his specialty. Instead of putting an opponent on his back, Couture normally pins his foe to the cage. For a boxer, that’s much better then looking up at the arena lights. Also, he has never been known to be a very dangerous striker. Sure, he KO’d Liddell and scored a dramatic knockdown on Tim Sylvia but they were uncharacteristic and completely unexpected.

Sure, James Toney has had conditioning issues throughout his career. Of course, he’s older and is not in his prime. And yes, he has to take the time to learn crucial aspects of the ground game, but he is no stranger to a sanctioned fight. This is in no way an endorsement of Toney’s trash talk and declarations of being the “Original Ultimate Fighter.”  In all likelihood, Captain America is going to ground and pound and/or choke out the vocal octagon rookie. However, as this sport has shown time and time again, anything can happen. "Lights Out" has a much better chance then the other “freak shows” of MMA.