After months of badgering and pressuring UFC president Dana White, professional boxer James Toney finally received what he wanted: A UFC contract. The signing has set both the mixed martial arts and boxing worlds ablaze, and all the talk is about who Toney may face and how well he would do against any of the UFC heavyweights.

Other than the money that can be brought in by a James Toney fight, White has one of two intentions. The first would be to, of course, make Toney into a complete mixed martial artist. If this is the case we will likely see Toney take on a good striker who is at the low end of UFC Heavyweights. Perhaps a fight with Pat Barry, Antoni Hardonk, or even Cheick Kongo could be in Toney’s future.

There is however another option. As many in the boxing world have speculated, perhaps White has signed Toney to a mixed martial arts fight in an attempt to prove that mixed martial arts is superior to professional boxing. If this is the case, this is a rather lame and useless attempt at doing so.

If White is attempting to make a mockery of Toney and the boxing world, it is likely that he will put Toney in with a top tier wrestling or jiu-jitsu fighter. Randy Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira or perhaps even Brock Lesnar would certainly put Toney in his place on the mat. The announcement of Toney’s opponent will tell us everything we need to know about White’s intentions in signing Toney.

Perhaps the more telling fight will be on the May 15th Shine Fights event. Mixed martial arts veteran and submission master Din Thomas will take on former WBC Super Middleweight and Middleweight Champion Ricardo Mayorga. The fight is slightly more interesting due to the fact that Mayorga is still in fighting shape and has been a relevant boxer throughout the last decade. Due to his lack of mixed martial arts experience, it is unlikely that Mayorga, even with his athleticism and skill, will be able to keep the fight standing and will more than likely fall to a first round submission.

Either way, it is clear that the boxing invasion into mixed martial arts has begun. Although the purses available still cannot touch the top levels in boxing, they have steadily grown throughout the last 10 years and are now a viable option for boxers who are not fighting at the elite levels.

Time will tell what effect this has on mixed martial arts. The injection of top level boxers into mixed martial arts will likely force the striking level to finally catch up with that of wrestlers and jiu-jitsu practitioners. For many years, NCAA and Olympic level wrestlers as well as World Champion Jiu-Jitsu grapplers made the transition to mixed martial arts as a way to pay their bills. Now with the improved pay that fighters are receiving it is likely that the next evolution of the sport will contain even more high level boxers and as a result, the striking game will improve rapidly.