James “Lights Out” Toney has been hounding Dana White for months now, ambushing him at interviews and posting video blogs demanding entry to the UFC. Dana was reluctant at first but Toney was relentless in his campaigning for a UFC contract, so they sat down one day and crunched some numbers. Toney rejected the offer and began issuing even more video blogs berating Dana and several UFC fighters.
That brings us to his appearance on sports soup. (below)
At this point I figured the Toney situation was over, he already got an offer and rejected it, so I thought he wanted a number in the millions or something. Apparantly I was wrong, Toney signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC today. Toney is 41 years old, with a boxing record of 72-6-3 and has held many championship titles ranging from Middleweight to Heavyweight. He’s rumored to be training with Rampage’s former trainer Juanito Ibarra and he will likely be competing in the Heavyweight division.
His opponent has not been announced yet, probably not even chosen, but I have a feeling we will be seeing Toney square off with his fellow freak show fighter Kimbo Slice. So what do you guys think? Who will be his opponent? Is this pure freakshow? or does Toney have a shot?
We all know power is the last thing to go and Toney has plenty of that.
UPDATE
Dana White had this to say about the signing:
We threw the kitchen sink at Brock when he came in. Are we going to do that same thing with James? I don’t know. To be 100 percent honest with you, all [expletive] aside, I haven’t thought it out. I like James Toney. He’s one of the greatest boxers ever. I have tremendous respect for him. He said he wanted to fight in the UFC and I was interested. Now he’s here and I have to figure out what to do with him. What we won’t do is make a freak show out of it. I’d be the first to scream if someone else did that, so I’m not going to do it.
James is an interesting case. We know how much talent he has as a boxer and he insists he’ll surprise people by how much MMA he knows. I’ve still got some thinking to do. But if we promote him and he does well and that raises his profile and he gets a Klitschko fight and makes a lot of money for himself and Goossen, I’d be cool with that. But James came to me and he literally chased me around the country to do it, so I’m giving him the chance. We’ll get it figured out one way or another.
Toney added his two cents as usual:
Don’t make wise cracks about my weight, because I’ve been working hard and the next time you see me, you’ll be shocked. Dana put his foot in his mouth and said UFC guys are better fighters than boxers. We’ll see. Everyone who knows anything about fighting knows I’m the purest fighter in the game. There ain’t no secrets. I’ve been fighting a long time. I was born fighting. I know what I’m doing. Boxing is still my main focus, but them guys are a bunch of (expletives) and they don’t want to fight. So I called Dana after he put his foot in his mouth and I’m going to prove he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
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Amber
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Now that i think about it… How about Toney vs Buentello?? that could be a fun one hehe.
i think dana wants to see toney get his *** kicked so i think any body who is not going to try to prove something and stand with the guy and give him a straight up ground n pound beating or maybe break a limb would be the guy i put in with him.
You might be right Richard, one thing is for sure though, the first opponent Toney gets will speak volumes about Dana’s plans for him.
Randy Couture want to kick his *** let start it off right let couture be his first fight..
This is such a sad move by the UFC in my opinion.
They signed Toney to prevent Strikeforce from signing him and using him on a CBS show, but it really shows a bit of desperation on the UFC’s part as the “MMA freight train” of 2008-09 is really beginning to level off and slow down.
Doc, that’s true but the thing is, they already jumped the shark by signing Kimbo. So why not Toney? who is actually a great boxer, whereas Kimbo is.. well nothing really.
I think a big factor for Dana was the Walker situation. He was fuming about how ESPN and the media were focused on Walker and not the actual elite MMA fighters.
So he prevented Strikeforce from signing Toney AND got that draw/attention focused back on the UFC. A lot of Boxing fans will be tuning in to see Toney which will equal big numbers and possibly “infect” more future MMA fans.
I think it was a smart move overall, its all about the bucks.
The only question remaining is will Dana try and crush him with a wrestler? or feed Kimbo to him?
people sign pure bjj guys pure kickboxing guys pure judo guys all the time why is it such a big deal when a pure boxer wants to try it out.i agree with bvrasp its a big step up from kimbo.
I say give him Tim Sylvia…
but in all seriousness, aside from Mayorga (has-been)
Toney seems to be the ONLY boxer willing to step into
the octagon (if he ever does and doesn’t get hurt just training MMA). So, why not?
I think he is going to get destroyed by anyone who can keep him up against the cage, nullify his striking, and as soon as he feels a few good Muy Thai kicks in his belly, it’s over.
How bout Toney vs. Roy Nelson…winner gets a cheesburger
James V Cain — Cain will take his hand throwin butt down and pound him into lil pieces – fo sho
You guys are all listing grapplers, and if Dana picks a grappler we all know whats going to happen… Barring a perfectly timed one punch KO, Toney will be on his back and submitted or pounded out in the 1st round, no question.
Obviously nobody can box James Toney, but how about pitting his boxing against someone like Kongo or CroCop? How exciting would that be? 5’10 Toney trying to get past the huge legs of 6’4 Kongo, trying to close the gap, eating leg kicks. That could be great and If you think about it, he’s pretty much outclassed in that sense too. If you’ve never been in a dojo with a guy better than you putting that front kick in your stomach, trust me, you can’t close the gap.
Everyone likes to watch strikers fight, if you take James down you take away the fight. Dana always says he want to put on exciting fights so why would Dana even sign him just to put him on his back immediately? I don’t buy the whole boxing vs MMA thing, Dana doesn’t care about that, all he cares about is money.
The point BV is this …. Toney is talking so much trash on MMA fighters, DANA, the UFC, and his opponents in his newfound combat sports home, that he NEEDS to be humbled by a truely well rounded fighter and especially someone who can NEUTRALIZE his boxing skills.
A fighter like CAIN who btw has the strength of an ox and speed of a gazelle along with good boxing, a decent chin, and SIC ground skills would put Toney in his place, then after he gets humbled, send him some stand up meat to entertain us all…. that’s my point, but initially, the professional boxer V mma fighter issue takes first place in my mind and needs to be dealt with, therefore James Toney NEEDS TO BE DEALT WITH ….
Couture’s speed is on a major decline, his agility and response timing is too slow now, his chin is okay but not near as fresh and granite as Cain, but if he can get Toney up against that cage, we all know what will happen, but it’s risky, so give Toney a young buck who is well rounded like Cain.
Yeah i know what your saying Kansas and I agree that he needs to be put in his place but I also agree with Amir that it shouldn’t be Cain. Why would he condescend to fight a freak show like this? There are so many other guys who would own Toney, pretty much anyone with a ground game.
Not to mention the fact that the commission probably wouldn’t even saction a fight with Cain. Toney might be a great boxer but he has zero MMA fights, that should be a tough one for the commission to swallow.
Are you people crazy? how about some respect for
Cain Velazquez and his title contention slot that he has just earned and was promised?
should everything he’s worked for be thrown completely out the window in favor of a boxer who will get crushed by him in the first round?
Has anyone even confirmed that Toney will be fighting as a heavyweight? he is very small for that weight class if he is.
Why does everyone give boxers so much props in the fighting world? I mean, do UFC fighters not train boxing with
world-class boxing trainers?
I say put Toney in with Liddell, in hopes of Titty backing out somehow due to injury or a swollen meathead.
Amir, I don’t think Chuck is happening, they have this new season of TUF going on, all this money and advertising for him and Tito, etc..
Though I think Chuck would whoop Toney too, not because of his striking, because of his wrestling skills. Chuck would easily take Toney down and and bust him wide open in the 1st round.
Likely Titty Ortiz/Chuck Liddell 3
post-fight comments/excuses:
1) My wife Jenna’s breast implant ruptured, squirting me in
the eye during training.
2) The pain meds my doctor gave me for my back were expired
3) While I was training up in Big Bear, a bald eagle
attacked me and I couldn’t really train the way I wanted
to.
Obviously…that is why I wrote:
“IN HOPES of Titty backing out somehow due to injury or a swollen meathead”
If Toney vs. Kimbo becomes an actuality, does anyone think Kimbo will win? I think he has a very good chance.