Let’s Not Freak Out on James Toney and the UFC . . . Yet

Dana White sounded awfully defensive a little over a week ago while initially confirming reports that boxer James “Lights Out” Toney, a former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion of the world, had signed a multifight UFC contract. “Listen, let me tell you what: I got blasted this week? Let me make this fight [with Toney]. That will get me [expletive] blasted,” White told MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta when he was asked about FiveOuncesOfPain.com’s report of the signing. “I’m the first guy out there going, ‘This is a freak show. Who would put on a fight like this?’ I’m the first guy that would say that. I’m always saying it when freak shows happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

By the time the UFC got around to making an official announcement about Toney (seen above in a very old photo, taken when he was more fit and thinking more clearly), Dana was singing a different tune. “A lot of pro boxers have made a lot of noise about how they would do in mixed martial arts, but nobody on the level of a James Toney has been willing to back up his talk,” White was quoted as saying in the news release. “He’s a legend whose boxing record speaks for itself, and he’s a guy who I’ve got a lot of respect for. Now he’s got every intention of matching that success in MMA, and I think he’s got the right attitude — let’s see if he can do it.”

I actually think Dana is right on with both of his statements: James Toney is the one boxer who is manning up and backing up his words, yes, but considering that he’s a 41-year-old punchy guy who has not beaten anyone you’ve heard of since 2006, maybe the UFC is getting into the freak show business.

Or maybe not. At this point, there’s simply no way of making that judgment. So much depends on the matchmaking for Toney’s UFC debut.

As Freddie Roach, as astute a boxing guy as there is, told Crave Online (link via Cage Potato): “I think they’re using James as a way to say MMA fighters are better than boxers.  If he fights a quality ground guy, once he goes to the ground he’s gonna get killed. But If a guy chooses to stand up with James, James is gonna destroy him.  That’s why they call him ‘Lights Out.’ I really don’t think there’s one fighter in MMA that could stand with James.”

Freddie’s certainly right with his point about ground fighting: If Toney’s trunks hit the mat, he’s done. And Roach may be right with definitively stated opinion about standup fighting as well: Maybe it will be “lights out” for anyone in the UFC who dares to stand and trade with Toney. But it’s that latter question I’d like to see explored.

Initially, when I heard about this signing, I was all for the UFC throwing Toney into the cage with a ground fighter and watching him get ground up. But what would be the point? OK, maybe the point would be to shut up Tony, who on the latest edition of HD Net’s “Inside MMA” said: “I want Brock Lesnar. I’m the heavyweight champion of the world vs. the UFC champion. That’d be a hell of a match.” Setting aside the small factual error regarding Toney’s claim of being “the heavyweight champion of the world” — what world does he live in? — he’s dead wrong about saying it would be “a hell of a match.” It would be a hell of a mismatch, an alarmingly brutal beatdown by the 265-pound Lesnar, who’d take down Toney before Bruce Buffer had landed his 720-degree introduction, and would sit on Toney’s chest and pound away with those hamhock fists until the ghosts of Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano pulled him off. It would be a freak show.

I think Toney, who last boxed at 240 pounds, would fare no better against even a much smaller ground fighter. And I’m not even talking about champions. Could Toney take 205-pounder Randy Couture? Chael Sonnen? What about 185-pounder Demian Maia or 170-pounder Josh Koscheck or even 155-pounder Gray Maynard? Sure, he might catch one of those guys while the fight is standing, particularly if someone (Koscheck?) gets cocky and tries to beat the boxer at his own game. But if any of these grapplers gets a single leg, James is going down, even if he has a significant weight advantage. It would be an embarrassment to Toney and boxing, but would it do anything for the UFC? Everyone already knows that a grappler has the edge on a boxer, don’t they?

More intriguing to me, now that I’ve thought about it, is the prospect of the UFC putting Toney in with a well-rounded striker. Not a guy who just wails away with roundhouse punches, like Chuck Liddell or (please no) Kimbo Slice. Even at 41, James Toney should have enough short, straight punches to turn that bout his way. But what if Toney has to defend against kicks, too? Put him in with Cheick Congo, Gilbert Yvel or Pat Barry, kickboxers all, and James Toney gets to stay in his element — on his feet — while having to adapt to an added dimension of attack. I suspect that if given enough time to train, Toney would learn to counter kicks with straight punches that could disuade any of those kickboxers. But all of them have at least rudimentary ground skills, ready to be utilized if the standup is a standoff. It could be interesting.

On the surface, that type of matchup seems like a long shot. James Toney vs. Pat Barry isn’t going to sell tickets. James Toney vs. Chuck Liddell  might. And the UFC is in business to sell tickets and PPVs. But that’s short-term money talking. The UFC has grown to where it is today by envisioning desired destinations far down the road. And showcasing a style of standup that might stand up to James Toney, even if it’s practiced by fighters with a far smaller profile (and crowd draw) than “The Iceman,” is clearly the sustainable strategy for the UFC. It even comes at a  smaller risk. If James Toney knocks out Pat Barry, the sporting public and even some MMA fans will say, “He knocked out who?” But if Toney KO’s ESPN the Magazine cover boy Chuck Liddell, it would be perceived by the general public as an over-the-hill boxer flattening the top star of MMA. Those who follow the UFC only peripherally probably haven’t noticed Chuck’s descent from the top of his game.

Then again, maybe the businessmen who run the UFC  are thinking another step ahead of the rest of us. There’s no way they’re going to put Toney in with a top guy like Lyoto Machida or Anderson Silva right out of the gate, but maybe they want to build him up as a threat by giving him a first foe he will look good against. This could be tough, as Toney hasn’t looked good against anyone he’s faced in recent years, even in fights he’s won. But if he  steps in against a credible and versatile MMA striker and dominates, maybe even stuffing a takedown attempt along the way, it could build interest for a big bout against a title holder down the road. But not too far down the road. The guy is 41.

So let’s hold off on judging the UFC’s signing of James Toney until we see who his first opponent is. You have to think the UFC has something up its sleeve other than a sleazy freak show.

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