Thursday, July 15, 2010 @ 4:16 AM
James Toney in for a rude awakening
Lets start my first post off with a bang.
For those of you who don't know James Toney, he's a former boxing legend, but as of late he hasn't had as much success, so he made the decision to move into MMA. Toney is the first notable boxer to make the move to MMA, Ricardo Mayorga was supposed to be the first as he was scheduled to fight UFC veteran Din Thomas for the Shine Fights organization, but it was later pulled as Mayorga had an exclusive rights contract with Don King Promotions, and DKP refused to let him fight. Though even if it had gone down it would not be on the same level as James Toney, James Toney isn't just making his MMA debut, he's making it in the UFC, the biggest MMA organization in the world, bar none. No amateur fights, no tune up in a smaller organizations against lesser fighters, but against top competition, and who will he be going up against in his first fight? None other than five time UFC champ, Randy Couture. Upon the announcement of his signing Toney has spewed what must be a record amount of trash talk, calling out Couture, Dana White the president of the UFC, and most recently Brock Lesnar, current UFC heavyweight champion. In an interview with mmaweekly.com Toney flattered himself while ripping the current champ. "I couldn’t come in the UFC and fight a bum, or a tune up fight. I have to fight the best. I am the best. I wanted to fight Brock Lesnar, but unfortunately at the time he was sick,” Toney told MMAWeekly. “I will be boxing and UFC champion at the same time,” stated the supposedly insane man. “I’m officially a two-sport athlete". “After I knock out Randy Couture, I’m coming for Brock’s bitch a** next.”, now we will ignore how ridiculous it is to believe that he stands a chance against Couture, or that even if he pulls off a devine miracle that would propel me, and many others to question what divine power placed a bet on Toney, that wouldn't get him an immediate shot at the title. Instead I will be focusing on the three biggest mistakes Toney has made upon his decision to swap his boxing gloves for grappling gloves, and enter the octagon.
1. He entered MMA with absolutely no wrestling background, even though stand up is half the game, the wrestling half has proved to be the much more dominant cog. Again and again we see wrestlers fighting strikers and wrestlers dominating by constantly taking the striker to the mat and scoring points. Those strikers have usually been training in wrestling, or jiu jitsu for years now. One such example is Rampage Jackson, a striker, most recently was dominated on the ground by Rashad Evans in route to a decision loss, and Jackson was even a collegiate wrestler. So why should Toney fair even close to as well as Jackson, who had been wrestling for years, when Toney had been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for only a few months and is fighting possibly the best wrestler in MMA history?
2. He agreed to fight Randy Couture, huuuuuuuuuge mistake. If Toney had come in and agreed to fight someone who was a low level fighter and had mostly a striking base, i.e. Pat Berry or Cheick Kongo, nobody would have thought less of him, infact it would have made him seem much smarter. But instead he agreed to face one of the best in MMA history, and someone who specializes in taking you down and making you hurt. The fact is Toney is coming into this fight as a boxer, and he's facing possibly the best wrestler in MMA history in Randy Couture, but Couture isn't coming into this as a wrestler. Couture while favoring the ground is a complete fighter, showing an affinity towards standing in banging. So Toney's hopes that he can knock Couture out before Couture can bring it to the mat is tarnished even more.
3. He talked trash a limitless amount of trash, not just about Couture, but about his boss, Dana White, and Lesnar, a man who could easily kill him. Toney doesn't seem to realize that he has absolutely no chance in this fight, not against a man like Couture. So his only hope to stay in the UFC would be to lose and still stay in the UFC, but after he referred to Dana White in an interview stating "Give him the message, tell Dana White to excuse these nuts. I'm going to make an example out of him and his fighters... After I knock out Couture, if he wants he can get in there too. Dana White say he want to make an example out of me, I make an example out of everybody else... Dana White, I don't care what he say, he can say whatever he want to say, but his a** too scared to get in the cage. That boy don't fight in a cage", hey Toney, Dana White doesn't fight in a cage because he's busy running the biggest organization in the fastest rising sport in the world. After that whats to stop us from believing that Dana just won't cut him to get what has become a cancer to the sport out of the UFC? White has even gone on to say that he believes Couture will win, excuse me Mr. White but you just tipped your hand.
It has become obvious that James Toney before fighting his first fight has already outstayed his welcome in the UFC, and in the sport. I was one of the people excited to see him fight because of the potential of the match, but after the numerous headlines he has made that weren't about his fighting but instead about him setting a speed record with his mouth it's time to see the door hit him on the way out, that door being Randy Couture.
Dan Wyatt, check out my blog where I'll be posting more personal interest as opposed to mainly sports on this one, http://danthemanwyatt.blogspot.com/.
Also if I messed up on any facts or if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at danwyatt221@yahoo.com
Labels: Brock Lesnar, Dana White, James Toney, MMA, Randy Couture, UFC
