The entire “Who will Toney fight first?” debacle has had more spins than a merry-go-round at this point as several people have speculated he’d fight the likes of Kimbo Slice, Chuck Liddell and Brock Lesnar.  Obviously the latter match up would make no sense seeing as Toney hasn’t ever even had a MMA fight, so why would he even get a championship fight in his debut?  But as the names like Kimbo, Liddell and even Couture were being thrown around, interest began to grow.  Slugging it out with the likes of Kimbo Slice or seeing if Toney could survive the wrestling strength of Randy Couture excited MMA fans and fighters alike.  It seems the UFC may try to go with what the fans wanted and give Toney the legendary Randy Couture in only his first ever MMA fight.  Of all the fighters Toney has called out, Couture has remained fairly silent, never going to great lengths to respond to the comments made by Toney although he has acknowledge he would enjoy the opportunity to face him.  Today, via Randy Couture’s twitter account, he posted a story about how the UFC has been working to schedule a fight between him and Toney for UFC 118 in Boston.

Couture is easily one of the greatest fighters to have ever lived and is one of the most recognizable faces within the UFC.  He’s one of only two fighters to hold a championship in 2 weight classes and is leagues above that of Toney when it comes to MMA.  Even at the age of 46, the man is still racking up wins.  Toney comes in at 41 years of age, an unusual age to be making his MMA debut.  A former boxing champion in multiple weight classes, Toney brings heavy hands and will be one of the most decorated boxers to ever make the jump into MMA.  With Toney being a Heavyweight and Couture currently fighting at Light Heavyweight, Randy has stated that he’ll take the fight at either weight.

This is in my opinion one of the biggest risks the UFC has ever taken.  If they do choose to pit Randy Couture against James Toney then they will be pitting not only a fan favourite but  a legend of this sport against a man who has publicly bashed the sport of MMA and the many aspects of the sport for several months now.  If Toney is able to knock out Randy, then it could hurt the sport due to Toney’s arrogant ways and his loud mouth as it would only serve as fuel to Toney’s fire when it comes to him burying the abilities of mixed martial artists.  One thing is certain, this fight is big risk with little reward for Randy Couture.

You can find Randy Couture on twitter @Randy_Couture

Written by FightPros.com Contributor Dylan Routledge.  You can follow him on twitter @Dylan_Geezus

The UFC and James Toney finally negotiated a viable contract amongst the two parties today after months of Toney claiming he belonged in the UFC.  Starting in late 2009, James Toney began to “stalk” Dana White around the world, following him to various UFC events.  Toney was finally cast into the spotlight at the UFC 108 post-fight press conference when he finally tracked Dana down and made his voice heard.  The two would meet behind closed doors but Toney would reject the initial offer, stating that “what the UFC offered was a joke”.  So now one must question, what are the parameters of this contract?  Did the UFC offer more money or is there something more lucrative within the contract that is unbeknownst to fans and media alike at this very moment?  At the age of 41 and well passed his prime, what kinda of impact (if any) can Toney make on the UFC at this point?  At this moment, no opponent or official date are set for Toney’s MMA and UFC debut.

James “Lights Out” Toney is a professional boxer who holds a record of 72 wins (with 44 of them by way of knock out), 6 losses, 3 draws and 2 no contests.  Throughout Toney’s career he has held the IBF Middleweight, Super Middleweight and Cruiserweight championships amongst many of his other accolades.  He started out his boxing career with a plethora of potential and lived up to it for quite sometime.  Following his capturing of the IBF Cruiserweight title Toney would vacate the belt and move to Heavyweight.  From that point on his career wavered in and out of the excellence many boxing fans knew him for.  Coming up on the age of 42 many of his fans have come to wonder how much longer before “Lights Out” would hangs up his gloves for good.  It seems as if he wouldn’t hang up those gloves but instead aspire to trade them in for 6 oz. fingered gloves.

James Toney began to openly criticize MMA and the UFC saying it was “a minor league” and that he could “blow through any of them guys (UFC fighters)”.  James went as far as stating the UFC stood for “Ultimate F**king Chumps or Ultimate Fighting C**ksuckers”.  He’s also recently began to demean the ground aspect of MMA stating that it’s for “little fags” and he “doesn’t want a man on top of him humping him”.    But then came the real head scratcher, Toney’s newly peaked interest to compete in MMA.  He would call out Dana White leading up to UFC 108 demanding that he be given a contract and the chance to fight in the UFC.  Dana White would nonchalantly brush off all of Toney’s advances.  That is until Toney finally cornered him.  James Toney would track down Dana White and finally make his voice heard by the MMA world.  During the post-fight press conference James Toney would speak with the likes of Ariel Helwani of Fanhouse.com and Joe Ferraro of Sportsnet.com and make his presence felt amongst all mainstream MMA fans.

As a result of Toney tracking down Dana White at the press conference they would meet behind closed doors about an opportunity for James Toney to join the UFC Heavyweight roster.  The result of this was James Toney practically spitting in the face of Dana White, insulted by how much money he was offered for a fight.  At that point it became apparent what Toney wanted.  It wasn’t the thrill of the fight, it was the money.  As said by UFC commentator Joe Rogan on numerous occasions “Boxing is a dying sport”.

The big question to be poised is how much will it take for Toney to fight in the UFC and how much longer before he royally pisses off every MMA fan in the world?  As of right now he’s been stating the ball is in Dana’s court and he wants him to put his money where his mouth is.  Obviously to make the deal worthwhile on both sides the UFC would not only have to sign him to a multi-fight deal but lay down some serious cash.  James Toney comes in expecting to make more money then that of Brock Lesnar or GSP but does he deserve that kind of money when making his debut?  Of course not.  It would be seen as disrespectful to all those fighters who have spent several years working their way up the ladder.  One thing is for certain, someone needs to turn James Toney’s “lights out” before he’s given the chance to continue his verbal onslaught towards the MMA community.

Written by FightPros.com contributor Dylan Routledge