UFC Signs Boxing Champ James Toney
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Mar 3, 2010 at 5:10 pm ET52 Comments
After months of negotiations, the UFC today signed 41-year-old heavyweight boxing champion James Toney to a multi-fight deal, though details on his MMA and UFC debut have yet to be determined.
The signing was first reported on Wednesday by Five Ounces of Pain and has since been confirmed by UFC President Dana White to multiple outlets.
Toney is 72-6-3 as a pro boxer with 44 knockout victories, including a second-round TKO of Matthew Greer in September in his most-recent bout.
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Ehhhhhhh…..
Pot…meet Kettle. Kettle…meet Pot.
No one can convince me that this is a good thing…the end
I think this announcement came 4 weeks early…
why have the ufc signed him. dont see the point
O goodness
what is going on in mma land first strikefoce and there title fight/joke now this
Can’t really argue with your logic, but at least this guys has some fight experience.
I understand that Dana White has a long-standing relationship with boxers, and that he was a huge fan of the sport in its prime.
And I can understand sometimes making the mistake of mixing business with personal stuff. After all, none of us are perfect, least of all Dana White.
However, allowing someone like James Toney to compete in the UFC because of nostalgic feelings would be like me serving to my high end paying clients a meal of Double Stuf Oreos and and a can of BBQ beans with those little hot dogs cut up into them because it was my favorite lunch when I was in elemntary school.
The same way that guys like Jose Canseco, Herschel Walker, and other aging athletes from other sports make MMA look bad by competing is the same way that the UFC is going to give off a WWE vibe by having this flabby, single-skilled sh!t-talker step into the Octagon.
And “liking” the man doesn’t come into play.
Men like Walker or Marcus Jones might acquit themselves admirably in the cage, and conduct themselves like true sportsman and thereby earn our respect and admiration, but the overall effect to the sport displays the appearance that MMA has become the refuge for past-their-prime athletes looking to score one last paycheck, or once again hear the cheers of the crowd.
Ultimately this is fault of Dana White.
For every good thing he does for the sport, he generally follows it up with something bad.
I was hoping after the lameness of TUF 11 coaches and subsequent post-TUF throwdown, DW had maybe seen the error of his ways.
Obviously I was very wrong.
Welcome to the UFC, James Toney.
Lets just hope you don’t hurt yourself, or the sport, while you’re panhandling for coin, ok?
i don’t see what’s so terribly wrong about this signing. it’s not like toney is a slouch, he is clearly a gifted striker, as proven by his boxing record. all it will be is an interesting experiment. there can’t be that much difference between signing a pro boxer and a K-1 fighter (both purely strikers with little to no ground game) and no one would complain about some K-1 Champ being signed.
WOW
there is a HUGE difference between a K~1 fighter and a boxer… Toney by all accounts is well “washed up” as many boxing fans may well know… Ray Sefo would destroy James Toney
ouch haha just trying to play a little bit of devil’s advocate. things get boring when everyone agrees too much! definitely agree with the sefo comment though. i remember seeing highlights of that guy before he’s beyond scary.
:P
sounds like a fight for kimbo so they can ride that horse till it dies
toney would absolutely murder kimbo
I personally think Toney would Ray Mercer the hell out of Kimbo actually…
Toney would send Kimbo into an early grave. That fight will never happen either. It will be halla interesting to see what UFC heavyweight takes a fight against Toney.
What do you gain by beating him? Not much…but you sure lose a lot if you don’t win.
I read on one site that Dana said he will only let Toney fight at light heavyweight.
As a huge Boxing fan I must say this. This dude was never even the best in any division he fought in during his Boxing career. He was a very very fat and out of shape slob 4 years ago let alone now. He’s not welcome in the boxing community due to his illegal substance abuse. He has a very small fan base. He’s 41 with no MMA experience.
Im not sure where the UFC is going with this one because when he walks in the Octagon around 50 pounds over weight its not going to settle any Boving vs MMA debates. If anything, if somehow he wins, which could be likely if he catches ANY HW with a crisp punch on the button(60 year old Mercer vs Sylvia) it will only hurt the UFC. This isnt benfecial to the UFC at all.
K-1…Ray Mercer…even with all due respect to the man Ray Sefo…THIS is what we’re talking about, and THIS is why signing guys like James Toney is a bad thing.
Mainly because it takes attention away from the sport, and plants it squarely on the sideshow attraction of seeing how long it will take for a flabby old boxer to get his a$$ thoroughly kicking in the cage…
Would you watch him fight Pat Barry, CC or even Duffee? I think you would….
A while ago Roy Nelson said he would fight him, Dana has decided to sign the man, he is the promoter, lets see him promote this guy. Maybe it is a personal challenge for Dana I don’t know but he has done pretty good thus far
I absolutely would, and would pay money to do so. Sefo is an excellent competitor and sportsman, and I could think of a lot worse things to do with my money than paying to see Sefo fight either in a cage or a ring.
And my comment wasn’t meant so much as disrespecting Sefo as it was trying to show how this thing is getting us as fans off-track from what really matters.
Also, if Nelson and Toney fight, instead of being at Mandalay Bay, these 2 should get it on at the buffet line over at the Bellagio…
;)
Who says they haven’t?
after watching those videos that fr702 posted i wanna see him get embarrassed. can u imagine this guy against the champ. ill definately be watchin though.
Please watch inappropriateness. -Bsbiz
Im wondering what people think about this:
What is the difference between Brock Lesnar joing the UFC?
Im not looking for people to dog me out on this, im just asking an honest question.
Quick answers:
1) Lesnar wasn’t as far past his physical prime upon entering the UFC as Toney is.
2) Lesnar had a strong wrestling base coming in, which allowed for him at the very least to have the illusion of being able to hang in the cage.
3) Lesnar’s sheer cavemanhood granted him a degree of respect coming in. Look at that photo of James Toney. Does that look like a man who is going to gain any respect based on his physicality?
4) Toney has had a history of substance abuse issues, while Lesnar has not.
I’m sure theres more, but I think you get the point…
There are plenty more, but you hit the main 4 on the head.
What up LEX SFIITB,
Good points jcohl i completely agree.
I don’t understand how Dana White can criticize strikeforce and hershel walker and then go and sign this dude. It’s unbelievable. I’m speechless. Who in their right mind would sign this guy? WOW. Just WOW! He lookes like he just won the championship at eating bacon ultimate cheeseburgers.
I just saw the videos in the forums and all i have to say is….dude for real? Who is he going to fight? Who can he be matched with? Wow! just wow :D
JAZZ! SF…you know.
I literally LOL’d at the Bacon burger quote! I agree with you Jcohl and I expecially agree with you JAZZ! Dana should expect some heat for this but I have to think he’s doing this to prove some type of point to Toney. Im thinking he wants him to get embarrased.
Well whats done is done there is no point in complaining about how dumb of an idea this is cause its not like anyone cares.
What Im wondering is weather Toney will fight LHW or HW. The guy said he weighs around 220 right now. so its completely possible we couls see him at 205. But by the sounds of he wants to fight HW aswell.
Personally I think he get killed at HW but at LHW where the majority of the fighters like to box he might do allright.
As I posted above, Dana has said the Toney will only fight at light heavyweight.
And to think…..I was doggin Strikeforce earlier today when I read about Overeem’s title defense, now I gotta take all that stuff back. Thumbs down DW
Talk about killing your brand image – it’s one thing to call out Fedor and M-1 as clowns but this seems just as bad or worse as their antics.
Always happy to be wrong.
maybe dana got tired of toney following him around and trash talking. they throw him in with someone who takes him down and pounds him, then dana doesnt have to listen to him anymore. i think the guy has a punchers chance in the first 90 seconds, then he gasses and gets pounded against almost anyone at HW or LHW.
Looks like Kimbo has a future opponent. Someone that would be comfortable standing and throwing, plus sell tickets with his mouth. Can you believe Kimbo will have an advantage on the groud for the first time in his career. Who ever thought we’d say that about Kimbo?
Second time, he clearly had an advantage on the ground over Houston Alexander.
plausible matchup
*sigh* well, I was apprehensive when Lesnar came into MMA and I was proven wrong. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong again in James Toney…I hope not though.
i look forward to hearing the prefight hype between roy “six pack” nelson and james “keg belly” toney. this fight brought to you by bud light. i pick nelson by way of belly bust.
should fight roy nelson, ufc 19 battle of the boobs
Really hard to get behind this, especially with the posted image of Toney…a little harder to get in shape in the mid 40′s, i have doubts about his desire to succeed in MMA…A CASH GRAB ALL AROUND.
Well this should at least get some ESPN attention that Dana wants. I’m curious as to the money he will be paid. I can’t get excited for his fight because we all know its going straight to the ground where he will be useless. Even people like Kimbo, and Kongo would take him down I assume. At LHW though, maybe it will be a little more interesting if he is working really hard on take-down defense….
What kind of spin is Dana gonna try on this one? That’s what I’m most curious for.
Also, how much is he going to pay this guy? This could send a multitude of bad vibes throughout the UFC locker rooms and beyond if a washed up slop of a boxer makes more than a dude who’s been in the UFC for 10 years.
As for the PEDs he took, look at Leben, Sherk, Karo, Franca: all tested positive for banned subtances and none were cut by the UFC, so they have a history of letting these things slide.
And on a similar note, I remember back when I started posting claiming to be a fan of the old PRIDE days and some of their “fun” matches and got some flack for it. “You know”, they would say “MMA isn’t about the spectacle, you’d never see that in the UFC.” And I would say “Many fans love the spectacle once in a while.” So here it is, hell has indeed frozen over. UFC has capitulated to the multitude of indoctrined PRIDE fans and signed on a guy to fight who has no business fighting :P
ps, that was supposed to be one of those smiley sticking out his tongue, not smiling…..
i cant agree more that tony will be looking for a big payday but will be sorely disappointed when he gets submitted in and undercard fight.
Dana Announced This A Few Weeks Ago In A Vlog. He Said He Wasn’t Sure If Toney Was Serious About It And Was Unsure At First But They Were In Negotiation Talks About A Contract. I Wonder If Toney Has Been Training MMA?
Put the shift key down, and slowly back away…
They’ll end up casting him on TUF. It worked with Kimbo, it’ll work here.
I don’t think Toney would be willing to do that, plus the fact that he actually already has a contract makes that even less likely. The point of TUF is to compete for a contract, if you already have a contract, there is no reason to go into the house.
Randy Couture posted on his twitter yesterday that he wants Toney first. I think myself and everyone else will be interested in seeing how long he can keep it standing. Although I think he cant fight anymore and hes 7 years past his prime, but I cant lie, I’m somewhat interested.
I’m thinking that Couture, like the rest of us, have heard just about enough from James Toney, and plans on beating some respect and sportsmanship into him…
I heard heard Toney drew The Undertaker first. Tuff fight.