James Toney

source: abs-cbnnews.com

James “Lights Out” Toney is not done talking. After losing to Randy “The Natural” Couture at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 118 last Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Toney called out the UFC Hall of Famer to prove himself in the boxing ring.

“My thing with Randy Couture is he is a legend in his sport. He seems like a good person. I don’t know him personally, but from when I meet him, he seems like he’s a great dude, man. And if he is a real man, come put the gloves on,” Toney told Percy Crawford of FightHype.com.


Toney entered the mixed martial arts (MMA) scene after spending months deriding MMA for its substandard levels of striking.

However, the former boxing champion failed to land a single punch as Couture took him to the mat and submitted him at 3:19 of Round 1 via an arm triangle choke.

“The thing is, I did it his way. Now is he willing to come do it my way? Nobody in MMA will do it my way. No one will come to boxing and to try show off their hands with me. Nobody in the MMA world can go blow-for-blow with James Toney,” the former world middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion said.

UFC President Dana White, meantime, said the former boxer lasted longer in The Octagon than he expected.

“I’m sure he was prepared as he could’ve been… Anyone who knows James Toney the last few years, James isn’t the most physically fit boxer. From the day we signed the fight in my office, he lost a lot of weight,” he told told Raj Giri of FightLine.com.

No more boxing vs MMA

White also promised to never put on another boxing versus MMA encounter after Toney’s trouncing.

“It’s unfair to bring in a guy with one discipline no matter if he’s trained eight or nine months. I wasn’t the guy going out and trying to bad-mouth boxing and take boxing down and hurt the sport of boxing. James Toney picked a fight and he got one,” he stated.

“I didn’t try to sell this as, ‘Tune in, you’ll see the most spectacular war’… Anything can happen in a fight. We’re not after boxing,” he continued.

Toney, for his part, vowed to bounce back.

“It felt good. It felt like I hadn’t been inside a boxing ring in almost a year, you know what I’m saying? But I blame myself. It is what it is. I made a mistake and I paid the price for it. I will be back stronger than ever, I promise you,” he told FightHype.com.

He even said that he would rather compete with MMA fighters than boxers.

“At least MMA guys got guts and they will get in a cage with me. The boxing guys are all talk and no walk,” he added.
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Edgar dominates Penn, Couture destroys Toney at UFC 118

Source: By Dave Deibert | http://www.vancouversun.com/
Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Randy Couture could have a future as a fortune teller.
The UFC Hall-of-Famer told the world how his co-main event at UFC 118 versus future boxing Hall-of-Famer James Toney would go: takedown, beat him down. It took all of three minutes, 19 seconds at TD Garden in Boston Saturday night for Couture to make his prediction come true. The former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champ wasted no time ruining the mixed-martial-arts debut of the former boxing world champion, choking him out just past the midway point of the first round in front of a raucous, pro-MMA crowd.

“This is exactly what I trained to do,” said Couture (19-10).
He said he had been working on the finishing move — an arm triangle — for well over a year. If the finish looked familiar to fight fans, there’s a reason why: it was the exact choke current UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar used to beat challenger Shane Carwin in July — a finish Lesnar developed after spending time training with Couture.
Following the match, Couture paid respect to Toney, the trash-talking boxer who backed up his words and got into the octagon. Toney told anyone who would listen — including UFC Dana White, who granted Toney’s wish to fight in UFC — that he had the power to knock out Couture no matter what discipline of fighting the match took place under. At the same time, Couture said the nine months Toney spent training “is real short order to pick up everything you need to know.”
Couture needed just 15 seconds to get a feel for Toney’s stance before shooting for his legs and using his Olympic-caliber wrestling to take him to the mat. Couture spent two minutes ground-and-pounding Toney before looking for the submission. Toney fought off the first choke attempt but once Couture locked it in, Toney had no choice but to tap.
It capped a fantastic August for Couture, who co-starred in the Hollywood blockbuster The Expendables — which has spent two weeks atop the North American box office.
Said Couture, with a grin: “I’ve had a hell of a month.”
Edgar beats Penn, retains lightweight title
Frankie Edgar heard the critics call his first win over BJ Penn a fluke, a bad judges decision, pure luck. With a masterful performance at UFC 118, he proved them all wrong.
For the second time in four months, Edgar defeated the man considered by many — including Edgar himself — to be the greatest lightweight in the history of MMA. After winning a hotly-contested decision at UFC 112 in April, Edgar was much more dominant at UFC 118 in Boston, leaving no doubt there’s a new king in the division.
“I just wanted to make that point,” said Edgar (13-1).
“I feel like I could walk on water.”
All three judges scored Saturday’s match 50-45. After putting on the greatest performance of his life in April to beat Penn once, Edgar topped himself in Boston.
“He really brought the best out of me,” said Edgar.

Much like the first fight, Penn (15-7-1) had little answer for Edgar’s speed and movement. Edgar’s confidence was at an all-time high coming into the match and it appeared to grow with each passing moment at UFC 118. Though Penn had a few moments of control in the fourth and fifth rounds, virtually the entire 25-minute match was dominated by Edgar.
All three judges scored the match 50-45.
“Frankie fought a great fight. He’s the man. I got nothing bad to say. I fought him twice. He walked away with the decision twice,” said a visibly disappointed Penn.
“I’ve really got to go back and think about things.”
In other pay-per-view matches at UFC 118:
– Demian Maia (13-2) took his first step back up the middleweight ladder, easily defeating Mario Miranda (12-2) via unanimous decision in Maia’s first match since losing a title shot versus Anderson Silva in April.
All three judges scored the match 30-27.
– Gray Maynard (10-0, 1 NC) earned his first shot at the UFC lightweight title, at the same time denying a third crack at the belt for Boston native Kenny Florian (14-5). Maynard used his wrestling to dominate the final 11 minutes of the bout, winning a unanimous decision over a heartbroken Florian to determine the division’s No. 1 contender.
Two judges scored the match 30-27, while the third had it 29-28.
“Feeling good, man. Really glad I finally get to the spot where I get the chance at the belt,” said Maynard.
– Nate Diaz (13-5) continued to rise up the welterweight ranks, putting on a clinic against hometown favourite Marcus Davis (17-7). Diaz turned the right side of Davis’s face into a scene from a horror movie before eventually choking the Maine native out at 4:02 of the third round.
“I feel good,” said Diaz. “Marcus Davis is a hell of a fighter.”
In preliminary matches at UFC 118:
– Getting a superstar reaction from the crowd, Joe Lauzon (18-5) put on a superstar performance in the ring. He needed just 2:01 to lock in an armbar and submit Gabe Ruediger (17-6) in a lightweight affair.
– Nik Lentz (21-3-2) was awarded a unanimous decision over Andre Winner (12-4-1) in a lightweight bout. Two judges scored the match 30-27 while the third had it 29-28.
– Putting an end to a three-match losing streak, Dan Miller (12-4, 1 NC) choked out John Salter (5-2) at 1:53 of the second round in their middleweight bout.
– Overcoming a massive first-round cut, Greg Soto (8-1) earned a unanimous decision over Nick Osipczak (5-3) in a welterweight contest. All three judges scored the match 29-28.
– Mike Pierce (11-3) dominated from start to finish his welterweight bout against Amilcar Alves (11-2), finally using a kimura to earn the submission win at 3:11 of the third round.
ddeibert@sp.canwest.com
Twitter.com/davedeibert
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Does James Toney look like he’s in shape for UFC 118?

James Toney working out and making sure that he is well conditioned before the fight with Randy couture on August 28, 2010, UFC 118.
The co main attraction of Edgar vs Penn, Toney can sure deliver a knock out punch but with his weight and big belly will he be conditioned to fight Couture if it goes the distance, Well if Big country can do it, why not him?
Only one week to go to find out, stick around and watch the UFC 118 live streaming

UFC takes home-court advantage as MMA-Boxing rivalry comes to a head on UFC 118: Couture vs Toney

Video Inside

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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