"We're going to make an example of James Toney," stated a confident and smug Dana White as he spoke candidly to the media in attendance at the UFC 116 post-fight press conference. "I hope he's not in here and I don't have to listen to him right now," he continued as he laughed and joked about the intriguing UFC 118 co-main event, a matchup between UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and future boxing Hall of Famer James Toney. Although one might think that he'd try to show a little less favoritism when it comes to his roster of fighters, make no mistake, the outcome of the anticipated showdown is no laughing matter to the UFC President and like WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, he'll do whatever he can to ensure the right man comes out the victor on August 28.
"It's become this whole UFC versus boxing thing," White would proclaim. "James Toney talked a lot of smack, and he picked a fight and now it's going to happen." Indeed, after following White to various UFC events across the country and asking for an opportunity to prove that his experience as a boxer would allow him to hold his own against the best fighters the UFC had to offer, Toney finally got what he wanted when White signed him to a contract earlier this year and lined up his first challenge, former three-time UFC heavyweight and two-time light heavyweight champion Randy Couture. Stepping inside the Octagon for the first time against an accomplished wrestler like Randy Couture would appear to be a tall order for someone who's never had any professional MMA fights, but it's a challenge that Toney himself specifically requested.
So UFC President Dana White went out of his way to oblige Toney and he now hopes that Couture will set an example that no fighter, particularly one with boxing skills, should ever expect to successfully make the transition to mixed martial arts without first sharpening their wrestling skills. Whether or not Toney has any type of ground game has yet to be determined, but White certainly plans on finding out as soon as possible. "Randy Couture called me, and said, 'If James Toney really does fight in the UFC, I want this fight. I want to fight him.' You don't say no to Randy Couture, so we're doing it," White would explain at the post-fight press conference. Apparently, what Randy wants, Randy gets and it looks like the 47-year-old might be looking for any advantage he can get over the multi-division boxing chapion. According to MMAjunkie.com, officials with the UFC revealed that the bout between Couture and Toney will take place at a catchweight that has yet to be determined.
The decision for both fighters to meet at a catchweight seems odd considering that Toney has made it clear that he plans on campaigning as a heavyweight, which has a weight range of 206-265 pounds. Although Couture, a former three-time UFC heavyweight champion himself, last fought as a light heavyweight, weighing in at 205 in his last bout with Mark Coleman and 204 in the fight prior with Brandon Vera, he did fight at heavyweight as recently as August of 2009, losing a unanimous decision to Antonio Nogueira in a bout where he weighed in at 220 pounds. In fact, from March 2007 to November 2008, Couture was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, defeating the likes of much bigger men in Tim Sylvia (263 pounds) and Gabriel Gonzaga (252 pounds) before losing the title to current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, a behemoth of a man who sucks dry just to make the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. Considering that Couture, throughout his career, has faced much bigger opponents than Toney, who started his professional boxing career as a middleweight (160 pounds), it's odd that both he and UFC President Dana White would feel as though a catchweight, particularly one that has yet to be determined with less than 8 weeks to go before the bout, would be necessary. Toney, however, believes he knows the answer.
"They want to make it easy for Randy," Toney would explain during a media function to promote UFC 118. "They're trying to please him." It would appear as though Toney has a valid point. Given Couture's prior history as a three-time heavyweight champion, it certainly does look like Dana White is going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the veteran MMA fighter is victorious on August 28. Having never required a catchweight before for opponents who outweighed him by nearly 40 pounds, it's unclear as to why Couture would now need a catchweight to face Toney, a man he specifically asked to face. Not to mention, when it comes to catchweight fights, Dana White isn't exactly the biggest proponent, passing on an opportunity to pit UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (170 pounds) against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (185 pounds) at a catchweight, citing the difference in size of the fighters on several occasions, and forcing then lightweight champion BJ Penn (155 pounds) to move up in weight to face Georges St-Pierre at the 170-pound welterweight limit early last year. Apparently, when it comes to catchweight fights, as far as Dana White is concerned, they're off limits when it comes to making competitive matchups, but they're perfectly okay so long as somebody has to be made an example of. Toney last weighed in at 217 pounds during his last boxing outing in September of 2009. With this recent announcement, one might assume that either Randy Couture, Dana White or both are hoping to get Toney to focus more on losing pounds and making weight, for a limit that has yet to be determined, than spending time working on his ground skills and game plan.
Perhaps world-class trainer Freddie Roach, who used to work with Toney in the past, said it best. In an interview with Eastsideboxing.com, Roach called into question the UFC's signing of James Toney. "I think the UFC is just trying to say they're better than boxing because if James fought Couture in a boxing match, James would absolutely destroy him, but if he fights him in a UFC/MMA style fight, James does not have a ground game. Once he goes to the ground, it's over. It's completely two different sports and they're just trying to use older boxers to make their sport look better," he commented. Judging from Dana White's comments over the weekend about making an example of Toney, it looks like Roach was right all along.
Be sure to check back soon as we'll definitely get some feedback from James Toney on the matter.
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