Source: http://www.examiner.com
As much as Randy Couture’s fight against James Toney at UFC 118 on August 28 isn’t about the sport of mixed martial arts vs. boxing, for most MMA fans, it pretty much is. Sound minds and forward thinkers will easily dismiss that argument, as we all should. A fight may be a fight, but the two are absolutely separate and completely different sports. Toney and Couture might think they are repping for their respective sports when they jump into that octagon, but they aren’t, even if people think they are. Pardon me if I sound a bit confusing right now.
Seems to me that the UFC has a full-on campaign marketing this fight as their stand against boxers who maligned and challenged their legitimacy. There’s almost a sense of over-confidence to a certain extent. Rightfully so, Toney is coming to enemy territory against one of it’s most decorated figures in Couture. Odds-makers have Toney as a 6-1 underdog heavily relying on the MMA fans’ thinking that Toney can’t possibly have enough ground and overall grasp of MMA to defeat a veteran like Couture. For the most part, all people give Toney, figuratively and literally, is a puncher’s chance for an upset victory.
Maybe. We’ll see. But one thing’s for sure. This will be THE EVENT, both boxing and MMA fans will be watching on August 28.
So why is it that boxing and MMA seem to have it out against each other? I’m embedded deep enough in both sport to objectively acknowledge that there is some form of mild animosity and rivalry between both sides. And quite frankly, a lot of it has got to do with ignorance and arrogance.
A lot of the hardcore boxing fans and experts consider MMA as a brutal fad that has captured the Caucasian market ribbing it as ‘NASCAR with 4 0z. gloves’. You got to understand, not since Rocky Marciano has there been a legit White American heavyweight boxing champion, and MMA critics would say this is an outlet for the white athlete to find a place to excel after becoming afterthoughts in sports they used to dominate like boxing, basketball and football. Don’t take my word for it. Bob Arum, who is arguably the biggest promoter in boxing, has called MMA a sport for ‘skin heads’ and ‘red necks’. Veteran boxing writer Michael Marley, whom I consider a good friend, has had his share of vile comments toward the sport.
Marley wrote, prior to UFC 100 last year,
“No, UFC is for the young, the virile, the stupid.
It’s for men who like to see men on top of each other as though they were doing a screen test for gay porno movies.
I’m open-minded. I get a charge out of watching Gina Carano kick butt and take names.
I enjoyed seeing the You Tube videos of Kimbo Slice whupping winos and crackheads in Miami boatyards and back alleys.
But I won’t pay to watch UFC 100 this Saturday night, no way, Don Jose Sulaiman.
You couldn’t pay me $50 to watch it…up the bribe to $100 and we can talk.
The few MMA events I’ve attended, I thought I was at a Ku Klux Klan Youth rally.”
I remember having to respond to Marley’s article defending the sport of MMA and simply dismissing this rivalry and criticism aimed at each other from both sides as a case of comparing apples and oranges.
But that was then. About three weeks ago, I jokingly mentioned UFC 118 to Marley and Toney’s involvement on top of the fact that it was going down in his home state of Massachusetts. To my surprise, Marley responded by asking me how to obtain credentials to cover the UFC event. Maybe Marley figured he’d show up for the simple fact that he could write about it the next day and say it was whack, but this is perhaps a moral victory in itself. The hardcore boxing guy that not too long ago said wouldn’t take money to see a UFC fight live is actually curious and compelled enough to see what it really is about. (Marley will be fine. Last time I checked, the Ku Klux Klan still liked white folks. I should know right? I currently live in the same state Klansmen have their headquarters)
And for that, you have to commend UFC president Dana White’s dynamic, aggressive and innovative promotional ways. He has turned the UFC franchise into ‘must see’ TV even prompting mainstream networks like ESPN to cover it as he continue to expand and promote the sport by constantly branching out to new cities and countries.
In terms of production, promotions and how they cater to their fans, the UFC definitely has been kicking boxing’s rear end in the past couple of years. Having the monopoly of most of the sport’s biggest fighters, the UFC constantly gives it’s fans the match-ups they want as opposed to boxing who can’t even make the one fight everyone has been clamoring for in a long time in Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.
On the other hand, Toney has also been given the cold shoulder by many of MMA’s characters. Recently in an interview with our friend up in Mississippi, the hardworking Brad Cooney, Toney scoffed at the lack of respect coming from people like comedian-turned quasi-MMA expert and UFC TV commentator Joe Rogan who was rolling his eyes on Toney at UFC 117 on TV, and condescending interviews from the likes of MMA reporters like Ariel Helwani. Toney said, “You know what, my thing is this. Joe Rogan’s a b**** (expletive syn. female dog)[…] If they’re not going in the ring, or not going in the cage, tell em to shut the F*** up. Excuse my language. He don’t got a business talking about a sport he never did before.” When his MMA knowledge was put on question by the reporter Helwani who pointed out a ‘side check kick’ term Toney coined in one of his previous interviews, Toney sarcastically responded by saying “I don’t know anything about MMA. Tune-in on August 28 and pay your 59.95 or however much you have to pay for it. Tune in to watch and see how much I know,” and added “I don’t know wrestling, I don’t know Jiu Jitsu, all I know is how to fight.”
Toney may talk a lot of trash, but he is also one of the most intelligent and toughest boxers in it’s history. He didn’t come to the UFC to make a fool of himself. I guarantee you the guy is training his butt of and deserves due respect. You got to give it to the guy for wanting to come into a sport and challenge the best right away. And if the UFC truly belittled him, why didn’t they give him a match-up with someone like Kimbo Slice or a lesser fighter since Toney is just making his debut? In actuality, this match between a former UFC heavyweight champion fighting a rookie, would never be allowed in regulations of boxing match-making. But perhaps UFC wants to send boxing and it’s fans a statement, and so some of it’s ‘expert’ fans and reporters can gloat. Then again, Toney did ask for it, but the last thing I want to see is some non-fighting MMA reporter belittling a future boxing Hall of Famer.
It’s what it is really. For the most part, the feeble-minded are those who love making an issue and comparing boxing from the other. As for myself, I will enjoy this match-up for what it is. An intriguing clash between two tough champions inside the cage. And any real MMA fan knows, that inside the cage, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. And as for this whole MMA vs. Boxing rivalry? It’s foolish, since both can be equally admired and respected for the same reasons. Hopefully, regardless of what happens on the 28th, the event would promote better understanding and wash away some of the ignorance.
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