Why I'm Rooting for James Toney to Beat Randy Couture at UFC 118

I’m about half convinced. I still think L-O is being a dick and want to see him suffer for it, though.

And watching him throw throw 3 punches per round until his late round KO comes out of nowhere.

Consider yourself stirred.

Regards,
Kid Nate

j/k – I see your point. I don’t agree, but I see it.

I’m seeing this differently than you. You’re saying you want top athletes to pick MMA over other sports. Why would a boxer KO’ing an MMA fighter lead to that? You’ve stated yourself that a KO would lead to “we’ll see a deluge of second and third-tier pro boxers and aging top tier guys try MMA.” These aren’t top athletes. They’re either middle of the road guys or guys past their prime. The one-percenter athlete is even more likely to choose boxing because MMA is second rate in their eyes.

It’s not just the techniques of boxing, it’s also the high caliber pool of international athletes I lust after for MMA. I have little doubt that athletes like the Klitschko brothers, David Haye or Kermit Cintron had the physical tools, brains and discipline to have made major impacts on the MMA scene had they chosen our sport over boxing. In the case of Haye and Cintron, they’ve also got years of MMA and/or wrestling training under their belts.

My hope is that James Toney can get lucky and catch Randy Couture with a knock out combination. Or even better, survive a couple of rounds of ground and pound and then catch Couture on the feet. I predict if Toney succeeds in winning this fight, we’ll see a deluge of second and third-tier pro boxers and aging top tier guys try MMA.

Rather than trying to get current second and third tier boxers to convert to MMA, how about showing future potential first tier boxers that MMA is actually a more functional combat sport so they will choose MMA instead.

We want athletes training take down defense and boxing from a young age, not athletes thinking MMA is a good back up plan if they really aren’t that shit hot at boxing.

No offence, but cheering for a Toney win (as a way to better MMA) sounds kind of short sighted.

LOL but seriously I agree…Boxers entering MMA would make things much more interesting.

Rashad’s got some nice suits too. They should have a walk off.

Maybe if it was Dela Hoya or Mosely. But not fucking James Toney.

Cordially,

Not A True MMA Fan

I guess I am not a true MMA fan.

I just don’t see how one guy past his prime beating another guy past his prime will inspire more boxers into MMA.

If anything, I think we would see a situation similar to Brock Lesnar in how Bobby Lashley and now Dave Batista come in and turn the situation right back into the joke people thought Lesnar would make it.

I disagree Reginald

Floyd Mayweather would be fucked in MMA. Purely fucked. If he were to fight Jose Aldo, he’d shoulder roll his way straight into a head kick. That’s ignoring leg kicks and takedowns.

There is no greater illustration of why boxers do not get involved in MMA than Remy Bonjaski fighting Ray Mercer in K-1. Even with no takedowns, which totally change the distance and balance of a fighter, Mercer was fucked from the get go and one hit quit against a defensive fighter.

Boxers are premier athletes who are very good at what they do. But I don’t expect Michael Phelps to be on the Olympic water polo team just because he’s a really fucking good swimmer.

But i STILL don’t think this fight happens. Toney has built his name up and he’s going to fake an injury and go back to boxing.

I

Man you’re cold.

But I guess there are worse outcomes… Randy is on his way out anyway. Might as well do some good for the sport.

Regardless of the level of the boxer wanting to make the transition to MMA as soon as they run into that powerhouse wrestler its over. So pick any boxer you like and I’ll give you a wrestler in that same weight division who would drop him on his back and to quote Sonnen “smash a hole in his face.”

This is not exactly the shield I envisioned Captain America going out on.

At first I thought it was a Snowden piece. Now that I realize KN wrote it t he just wants to see Dana get smacked.

he could do well at 135. He was 5’ 10.5", and cut 30+ lbs . The dude was a tough as hell and incredibly fast.

if Toney somehow beats Couture it could easily cripple MMA for quite some time.. its hard enough to get people to believe MMA is a legitimate sport not just this barbaric blood sport. its hard enough for sports fans to watch MMA week in week out because they do not know exactly what their watching & if you have someone like James Toney who is punch drunk beyond the point where its even funny, a man who probably has never been leg kicked hard or tapped in the gym or wrestled for any length of time. if he beats Couture a 5 time UFC world champ a MMA legend it just adds more fuel to the fire the MMA and the UFC is a house for Athletes who just will never quite make it on the mainstream. Couture needs to beat Toney convincingly and send him back to whatever boxing gym he came from. I pray thats the outcome we see at UFC 118

If James Toney doesn’t bring a wave of younger, more well-rounded boxers to the UFC in his wake, he should at least bring his tailor.

I mean just look at the great influx of talent we’ve seen since Ray Mercer KO’d Tim Sylvia. You’ve got James Toney, and….uh…..shit….has Evander Holyfield tried MMA yet?

Anyways, the only good thing that could possibly come out of James Toney beating Randy Couture is the slim possibility that Dana White allows Jon Jones to beat the living piss out of Toney in his next fight.

Come on Nate, we all know you aren’t rooting for James fucking Toney.

but its not primarily composed of professional athletes in other sports jumping ship, and I don’t think it ever should be. Anyone doing that, while they can be successful, will by default not be as skilled in the generalist sport of MMA as someone homebred. It will be nice to bring in new eyes and new markets through them, but the incoming surge of people in MMA will be MMA from the start. There are so many MMA gyms open and opening and so many more people training it as a starting point from an early age or teens. Then the sport will have not only great volume, but great great talent.

I want Toney to win because Dana White will then have to eat crow and that will make me laugh.

Aging boxers is not what MMA needs. All this would do is allow MMA haters to claim boxing is the superior art. Which of course, it isn’t, and a lucky punch from Toney on an aging MMA fighter wouldn’t prove it.

Now Anderson Silva vs. Mayweather—that would be a good fight to bring in boxing fans and show young boxers they can train and be effective in a burgeoning sport.

Because if he wins there will be more comments on my blog!

Aging boxers are men none the less, and if you have the talent and balls to step into the octagon then im all for it. Plus if Tony does some how pull off a win, I believe that the victory may open some other young up and comer boxers to also try there hand at MMA in wich case maybe we can catch some new talent before they are considered an “aging boxer”.

I am in favor of anything that will lead to James Toney vs Brock Lesnar, by any means nessicary, no matter what cost.

If your’e a true MMA fan, you’ll be agreeing with me

I am not a true MMA fan. I don’t care what happens in Japan and I don’t like watching SF. This is just another thing to add to the list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9ax693Bw0

would definitely be the best thing for the sport.

As our own Anton Tabuena pointed out earlier today, the original UFC was based on just this kind of premise — seeing the very best from all the major combat sports disciplines testing themselves and their art against one another.

This is why I want to see this fight so badly. While I am not openly rooting for Toney, I see your point. If Toney is to win, I only hope he manages to do a sprawl or two before KOing Randy.

I dont follow boxing, never have, but I love watching K1, if anything I would like to see the talent influx from kickboxing than retarded ass conceited/pompous boxers

I will cry…..thats captain America!!!! Whatever, I wouldve just fed him to my esay Cain Velasquez, he could have used a little warm up match before killing brock

" Oh you know I hate the jews, so im rooting for the Nazis"
See how retarded that sounds?!?!?!?
Kid nate is a Nazi!!!ugghhhh.now ima feel despondent the rest of the day

Oh i know, ima call shane carwin.lol

I originally felt really confident in Randy. Then I really started thinking about James Toney’s power, with 4 oz. gloves, vs. the power of say, Nogueira, and I got worried for Randy. Seems unlikely to me than Randy’s going to get this to the mat completely unscathed, and that punching power and speed is a problem. Randy’s seemed noticeably slower in the last year, though still very dangerous, and he’s taken some punishment in his day. I realize Toney’s removed from his prime, but still, I imagine he could at least hang with JDS, and I’d pick Junior to destroy Randy. Then I realized that, worst case scenario, Randy gets dropped, Toney is clueless about how to finish with ground and pound, and gets trapped, reversed, and tapped. Thus beginning another whole wave of argument about who “really” won between boxing and MMA…to be continued. I don’t want Toney to win, but I do think this could be interesting, and may attract a few more fights like this, regardless of the outcome, which might spur a better brand of boxing in MMA, and wouldn’t be at all damaging to the sport in terms of mainstream attention.

If James Toney losses, I think we’ll see boxers coming out of the wood work to prove that he was washed up and not a true representative of their sport. Think about it in reverse. If an old MMA guy with not much stand up skills started talking trash and challenged a former boxing champion to a boxing match and got his butt kicked, you have to think that more talented, younger strikers from the MMA world would want to step up and prove to the world that this aging guy does not represent the stand up skills of the top MMA fighters.