Toney Works His Angles

Years and years ago, when someone engaged UFC President Dana White on a discussion of boxers who might consider making the jump to mixed martial arts, it was decided that most lacked the ambition.

When the subject of James Toney came up, it was decided that well, fine, all right -- Toney might be crazy enough to do it.

I don’t know about any psychological issues, but Toney is indeed doing it. He fights Randy Couture Aug. 28 at UFC 118 "Edgar vs. Penn 2," and if there’s any trace at all of fear in a non-grappler getting into a cage with a mauling wrestler, Toney isn’t tipping it.

“I punch and I knock people out,” he told the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire. “I'm going in there knowing what everyone in boxing knows: that everybody has a plan until they get hit. I'm a fan of MMA. But these guys hold, kick, scratch when they're in trouble…They can't mess with boxing."

“No one has ever stepped into the Octagon with this type of striking prowess,” says coach Trevor Sherman. And this is the crux of Toney’s marketability in MMA: he’s got the best hands in the sport. Presumably. Maybe. Actually, probably not.

A boxer in an MMA fight in a boxing stance is begging to be kicked or scooped up. If Toney changes his game -- and he’d better -- he’s not going to be as comfortable as he has been in a boxing ring. And no matter how good those hands are, they’re only two weapons. There are kickboxers in MMA who, by virtue of the sheer volume of threats, are probably more formidable standing than Toney. Boxing only works if the other guy wants to box. Couture doesn’t.

What would fry Toney’s synapses is if Couture were able to KO him standing: unlikely, but not impossible considering the nature of the fighting gear. Toney is used to blocking with pillows: a five-ounce glove has a tendency to find its mark a little easier. Couture could also make Toney’s ambulatory status a thing of the past with enough leg kicks. It’s a fight that could be won standing, if Couture were inclined.

That would grate promoter Bob Arum, who reared his raisin head long enough to declare MMA “cockamamie martial arts, guys rolling around on the floor. It’s not even a sport”; Pugmire himself begins the piece by implying the UFC is only ten years old. If Toney is as clueless as we all imagine him to be, he’s not in very exclusive company.