Randy Couture vs. James Toney will co-headline UFC 118 in Boston. Dana White should be ashamed of himself for signing such a farce but I wouldn’t expect less. Now for a self-proclaimed legend, I think Randy Couture should be embarrassed.
When I think of a sport’s legend I think of an athlete who brought honor, integrity, and someone who is an ambassador to his or her sport. A legend is not someone who would bring shame to his or her sport. A true legend of MMA would be standing up and going into a tirade about why this makes MMA look like a joke. Randy Couture on the other hand would rather take the easy win.
I can’t blame Randy Couture for taking the fight vs. James Toney. Captain America has gone 6-5 in his last 11 UFC fights. Randy Couture hasn’t beaten a quality opponent in over five years unless you count the Tim Sylvia fight. Okay counting the Tim Sylvia fight, over three years. He couldn’t hang with the elite in the UFC heavyweight division. He wouldn’t have a prayer with the speedy skilled UFC light heavyweights. Hey, if you’re Randy Couture why not fight a professional boxer who has zero MMA background? What legend wouldn’t?
[adinserter block=”2″]The idea of James Toney fighting in the UFC in 2010 is a beyond ridiculous. In 1994, he would have fit in perfectly with half of the unskilled truck drivers that came and went through the UFC. But this is 2010 and the UFC is supposed to boast the fighters in the world. UFC president Dana White has ripped rival promotions for promoting guys like Kimbo Slice and Herschel Walker claiming that it makes the sport look like a charade. Well it looks like Dana White is bringing the circus to the UFC.
Dana White said the following on Herschel Walker when Strikeforce signed him to fight. “It’s completely disrespectful to the sport.” What would you call this Prez?
The idea of promoting James Toney in the UFC is absurd. Before you compare this to Herschel Walker, keep in mind that Herschel Walker has a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. James Toney has no black belts, hell he has no white belts. And unlike Herschel Walker, we aren’t talking about a world class athlete here. James Toney was a great fighter seven years ago. Over the last several years Toney has fought mismatches and has fought out of shape more times than not. This is a true honest to goodness freak show.
[adinserter block=”1″]Okay so UFC president Dana White signed James Toney. Match him up against one of the guys from The Ultimate Fighter. While it would still be a freak show, it would be slightly more acceptable. But to take a guy that has zero MMA experience and put him in the octagon against a former world champion who you promote as being a “legend” is a travesty and a sham. Dana White ripped Anderson Silva for his embarrassing fight at UFC 112. What in the world does he think would happen by putting James Toney in the octagon against Randy Couture? Will there be anything slightly entertaining to come out of this?
It is really a dark day in MMA. Shame on Dana White and Joe Silva for stealing money from the hard working UFC fans for such a mismatch. Shame on any state athletic commission with integrity for allowing this match to happen on their watch. Most of all shame on Randy Couture for his part in putting such a black mark on a sport he claims to love so much. MMA fans deserve better from their “hero.”
Thanks to MMAJunkie.com for the tip!
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This fight was BS… I dont care how old Couture is, he is still an elite wrestler.. why would you put an elite greco roman wrestler against a washed up boxer.. Both of them are past their prime.. both of them have contrasting styles.. anyone who has watched an MMA fight knows couture is going to take him down or cage-pin his ass and toney isnt going to know how to defend anything on the ground… I am ashamed for even watching the video. Why not at the very least put him against another striker.. do we just want boring fights now in MMA or what?.. They should penalize for people stalling or not trying to finish fights like they did in DREAM… UFC fighters lay and pray too much or cag-pin and look for cheap shots.. K-1 is much more exciting but I think if they implemented some new scoring systems (takedowns not being worth shit cause its kind of easy to take someone down who is kicking or punching hey maybe if they slam them, or it is a damaging or impressive takedown with a smooth transition to a position where you can deal damage… and then you actually TRY to deal damage, sure that should score points) Double and single leg takedowns to kill time by laying there after the fact should be PENALIZED not seen as effective strategy.. holding someone down does not = winning a fight and you see WAY too much of that garbage in the UFC
why dont mma people just stick to mma and stop shittallking about boxing. UFC = bullshit compared to Pride and k-1. I rather watch asians beat the shit out of eachother than watching the same 20 minutes of ground humping. and whosever idea was to put an octogon instead of a square is stupid cus the fights just go around in circles especially on the floor. UFC is SOOOO boring cus people just want to win and choke the other guy out thats why I rather watch pride and Boxing. Dana White and Joe Rogan are huge shit talkers that make up the worst arguments in the MMA Vs. Boxing and always argue with a dumbass who cant think of a counterargument. At least in boxing the person who does the most work gets credit instead of someone beating up someone to a bloody mess but than taps out from a choke. Another reason why UFC is biased is when I saw Forest Griffin fight a boxer. Forest griffin was covered in blood and almost every submission he tried to pull the boxer countered and just slammed forest or punched the mess out of him. The Judges declared forest griffin the winner because he did more grab moves which supposedly = more points while joe rogan complained how the boxer just kept punching. i would like to add http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v… when was this not the boxing vs mma match and the Toney vs Couture was.
MMA fans need to just shut up. Boxing is a legit style to use in MMA (go figure). Besides didn't someone named Brock Lesnar get a main event on his ufc debut with only 1 fight in a small show? Here is some food for thought: how many jiu-jitsu black belts enter mma with 0 training in a striking style such as Muay Thai, Karate, or Boxing? And no one questions it. MMA is more than just the ground. Every fight starts on the feet, not kneeling, not in someone's guard or not with your opponent trapped in a mount. MMA fans are just as guilty of perpetuating the "Boxing vs MMA" mentality as anyone else. In short cut the shi** !! If you don't want to watch the fight, then don't.
Lesnar is a far worse representative of MMA, simply because he is a poor sportsman, in the tradition of Taco Ortiz and Josh Koscheck. They make tons of excuses when they lose, and never let you forget it when they win. Lesnar needs to grow up and stop acting like this is pro wrasslin'. I guess he really can't help it. That dumb blond jock barely has two brain cells to rub together. He makes me ashamed to be from Minnesota. No, I don't think Toney should be fighting Couture, but it's not the big deal you make it out to be.
I have to disagree. I know hardcore MMA fans don't want to hear this but you need some "show" to sell ppvs. Lesnar can sell a show just as good if not better than anyone. He isn't a drug addict, hasn't been convicted of beating his wife, doesn't hump female reporters, and hasn't walked out on the company with the belt. I don't understand why he is such a bad representative of MMA. He is a great athlete who worked himself back from near death to compete in MMA. I honestly think it comes down to the fact that MMA fans are bitter that a pro wrestler walked in and dominated in less than a handful of matches. But at the same time he isn't your average pro wrestler. He was an outstanding wrestler in college. I don't see anything wrong with him.
Questioning Randy's legend status over a fight is weak. Mike Tyson is a legend despite his wrong doing. Many great athletes have to endure bad fights and be apart of other spectacles because they can't let go, need the money, or are under bu11sh!t contracts.
Brett makes a great case on why Randy is not a legend – http://camelclutchblog.com/randy-couture-not-… and I agree with him.
MMA fans = WWE fans. My guess is that mma fans, the vast majority of them, are attracted to mma for the same reasons fans of the WWE are attracted to WWE. The sport appears, and rightfully so, to be within the grasp of less than gifted athletes, which gives the average fanatic hope that, maybe, if they just applied themselves, they too could be a ufc or WWE star.
For crying out loud, you had a unproven street fighter in the three ringed circus (octagon). The current heavyweight champion of the ufc is a former WWE wrestler with five fights and one is a loss. Lesnar also showed that you can be a one dimensional collegiate wrestler with big muscle's, a 2-1 mma record, and win the heavyweight title.
Also, you have an almost 50 year old Ray Mercer who is ranked in the top 23 of the mma heavyweight rankings with a 1-1 record in mma and only a few years in mma to boast as experience. He also knocked out a 33 year old former ufc heavyweight champ in his first fight in mma. Let me repeat. FIRST FIGHT IN MMA! Face it, mma is garbage. Where will you see an mma person that is almost 50 years old, has a 0-0 record, enter boxing, and kayo a legitimate former or current 33 year old heavyweight champ? So unlikely, it may as well be impossible. And, even in boxing where the rankings can be compiled less than competently, and in some cases down right corruptly, where would you find a ranking organization that would rank such a 1-1 mma person in the top 23 simply because they were foolish enough to try their hand at boxing? I think we all know, but fail to admit, that an mma person would never have the skill and talent to pull off what Mercer did but, in the world of boxing.
Now you have a 41 year old boxing legend, albeit way past his better days, entering the world of mma. The examples of Mercer and Toney alone, should show that boxers are the finer more courageous athletes and have already won by showing that mma people are the lesser athlete in both talent and heart.
MMA fans need to recognize MMA for what it is. It's a manufactured fraud, that is the latest fad, that is being peddled to the dim wits of the world.
Dana White is a businessman, that much is clear. He runs the UFC very well as a business enterprise. I begin to have problems with him when he at one moment acts like UFC is the face of MMA, and that he sets the standard for the sport, and at the next moment, he makes decisions which are clearly arranged for his profit, and not for the "respect of the sport". If you are going to be a hypocrite, I'd recommend not doing it in a press release.
Great post Eric.
Amen Alexia! It is funny because for such a smart businessman, I have no idea why he'd do this. Its almost a no-win situation. No way this fight will be good. So if the fight stinks, he looks terrible for promoting such a mismatch. If Toney somehow wins and I don't see it happening, wow does that give boxing a huge boost. If Randy Couture wins it almost makes it look like a bigger joke.
Why is the entrance of Toney into the ufc a shame and the entrance of someone like brock lesnar is seen as something good? Don't point to lesnar's experience as a collegiate wrestler as something good because it makes him even more one dimensional considering the fact that he will never really learn to punch at the level of someone like Toney whereas Toney can learn a minimal amount of ass grabbing and have a chance at employing it with some level of proficiency which makes Toney a munch more credible opponent for other as grabbers as opposed to lesnar a former WWE wrestler..
You, Eric Gargiulo, are just another ass grabbing cheer leader that fails to give credit where credit is due. Toney, in his first mma fight, is taking on a so-called living mma legend, at 41 years old and in the ass grabbers own backyard. Show me a pure, P-U-R-E, pure ass grabber that would attempt the same thing, at the same level of talent, with the same amount of time that was given to Toney but in the world of boxing. Toney has already won by showing the kind of courage and risk taking that not one ass grabber has yet to show at a similar level. My guess is that we will never see it because it's mma's role to house those lesser fighters who don't have what it takes to cut as an elite boxer.