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Former multiple time world boxing champion James Toney is interested in making a run in the UFC. From Yahoo! Sports:
"Of all the guys they've tried to bring [over] from boxing, either guy who were shot or too old. James Toney is the real deal," White told Rogers SportsNet's Joe Ferraro. "He's a nasty, mean dude. We're going to sit down and talk tonight."
Dana White's definition of the kind of guy James Toney is currently is a bit...off.
Since 2006 Toney has:
- Fought to an awful draw with the awful Hasim Rahman in one of the worst fights I've ever seen.
- Been outpointed by Sam Peter twice despite Peter not exactly being the kind of boxer that would have ever outpointed Toney in the past.
- Won a split decision over Danny Batchelder who was riding high on a 1-3 streak coming into the fight and has lost 2 more fights since the loss. Many boxing reporters had him losing the fight. After the fight Toney tested positive for steroids for the second time (the first was in 2005 against John Ruiz).
- Had a no contest due to cutting Hasim Rahman with a headbutt early in the fight.
- Won a split decision over Fres Oquendo that many (including SB Nation's Bad Left Hook) had Toney losing by a wide margin.
- Was hurt by 12-5 Matthew Greer in his last fight before stopping him.
So "Lights Out" has not had a clear, good win since a decision over Dominick Guinn in October 2005. That seems to be exactly what my definition of an old, shot fighter is.
James Toney Talks MMA
- A pair of quotes from James Toney speaking to Fight Hype about his desire to fight in the UFC
I’m not really sure what a “death fighter” is, but I am sure that I’ve seen men who have spent their entire lives working on their wrestling skills and not being taken down get put on their backs in the cage. Toney had better be willing to legitimately train to avoid the double leg before he even considers taking a mixed martial arts fight.
Jan 04 4:21p by Brent Brookhouse - 1 comment