James Toney to try his hand at MMA ?!

[Mattyhitman]

That's wierd I read on another site him and Tarver are in the works for a fight at HW with the winner possibily fighting Haye

Chances are it probs aload of bullpoop, a chance to get his name in the media again, who knows Im afraid if he did fancy having a pop at Haye he would be delusional to think he could anything productive imo.

[GAME]

Toney is the last guy I thought would try to go into MMA. I thought he was 1 of the last remaining old skool boxers with natural talent and now he is willing to ruin his rep by getting tapped out in a round by some unknown street fighter. Shameful.

If he cant dedicate himself to getting in shape then I cant see him having the discipline to learn several new combat sports. He will need to master alot of of new things before they throw him to the wolves.

He should fight Hopkins then be done.

[nyc champ]

im more of a boxing fan then a mma but he would get demolished in the mma, reasons you gota have ground game, submission game etc toney dosent have none of that besides stand up

[hitmanhatton]

his stand up too isnt quite right for the ufc... i havent really seen anyone be succesful in mma by being slick and elusive

[ross]

Didnt he train alongside Arlovski at the wildcard?

[holmcall]

Delusional with Dementia

[AirJordanIV]

Toney vs Mercer MMA. Or let him get a run on TUF

[jamiebhoy]

I am new to MMA and have only watched UFC this past year.i have a new respect for these guys, going in a sa boxer alone will not keep you in good stead against an all rounder.

Don't under estimate the MMA guys.

[jon09]

I really hope he is not serious about this. He can still make a little more noise in boxing and finish his career where he is best suited and make more money than he would in mma. Plus I cant see Toney throwing a leg kick or trying to get out of a rear naked choke to save his life. I would love to see him face Hopkins or Haye when its all said and done or even Adamek.

[Mattyhitman]

i havent really seen anyone be succesful in mma by being slick and elusive

Do ya watch much MMA bud , Ok i'll give ya just a few examples of being a slick and elusive MMA artist:-

Anderson Silva - rarely gets hit, cannot remember one fight of his when he has been cut or even slightly marked up. Pretty much dominates his opponents. Dan Henderson being his toughest match to date. UFC Middleweight Champ

BJ Penn - Did ya see his last fight against Diego Sanchez ? Not one mark on BJ's face after 25 mins of fighting, yet Sanchez looked like he got run over by a bus, which then reversed back over his face for good measure.
UFC Lightweight Champ

Lyoto Machida - Now granted his last fight, for me he got beat by Shogun Rua, but before that he had yet to lose 1 rd of MMA action in the UFC, this due to being slick and elusive.
UFC Lightheavyweight Champ



As previously mentioned boxing and MMA are vastly different diciplines and it takes a hell of a lot of dedication to do either form of combat. Im a huge fan of both and can appreciate what these guys have to do to get to the top of their respective sports. I would worry for Toney if he were to enter the Octagon, but as proved recently by Kimbo it can be done, as long as your matched to someone with relative skill set to yours. Put him in with a banger and you have an interesting fight, put him in with a BJJ expert and he's buggered.

[Nameless]

I wonder... Toney a few years ago in such tremendous condition could have done wonders and damages. NOw... I would lean on thinking that the last late bus just went away and that it's too late now.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

i havent really seen anyone be succesful in mma by being slick and elusive

Do ya watch much MMA bud , Ok i'll give ya just a few examples of being a slick and elusive MMA artist:-

Anderson Silva - rarely gets hit, cannot remember one fight of his when he has been cut or even slightly marked up. Pretty much dominates his opponents. Dan Henderson being his toughest match to date. UFC Middleweight Champ

BJ Penn - Did ya see his last fight against Diego Sanchez ? Not one mark on BJ's face after 25 mins of fighting, yet Sanchez looked like he got run over by a bus, which then reversed back over his face for good measure.
UFC Lightweight Champ

Lyoto Machida - Now granted his last fight, for me he got beat by Shogun Rua, but before that he had yet to lose 1 rd of MMA action in the UFC, this due to being slick and elusive.
UFC Lightheavyweight Champ



As previously mentioned boxing and MMA are vastly different diciplines and it takes a hell of a lot of dedication to do either form of combat. Im a huge fan of both and can appreciate what these guys have to do to get to the top of their respective sports. I would worry for Toney if he were to enter the Octagon, but as proved recently by Kimbo it can be done, as long as your matched to someone with relative skill set to yours. Put him in with a banger and you have an interesting fight, put him in with a BJJ expert and he's buggered.

Na i think i know what HMH means.
James Toney's style is completely lost in UFC where as someone with a far more traditional/upright style of say, Mikkel Kessler or Vitali Klitschko would fair better if stand-up was gonna be their thing.

[Beanflicker]

You can't just go into MMA on the highest level with just boxing. Boxing is a huge asset, as guys like BJ Penn and Anderson Silva have shown, but its a whole different ball game.

First of all, there is an entirely different range and stance. You don't fight at punching range like boxing, you fight at kicking range. MMA guys utilize a wider stance to avoid double leg takedowns. Toney won't be able to stand in the pocket with guys like he does in boxing, because they are either going to take him down or put him in a muay thai plum.

Speaking of takedowns and kicks, you need to know how to defend these. Realistically, no one is going to box with Toney. They will either a) shoot for the takedown or b) try to pick him apart with leg kicks. Those leg kicks you see on TV don't look like much, but they're the "bodyshots" of MMA in a sense. They do tremendous damage to the leg if you don't know how to block them, and what good is Toney's punching power if he can't put weight on his leg? Many a boxer in MMA and K-1 have been picked apart and neutrilized by only a handful of low kicks.

Toney is old, he's rather stationary at this point in his career, and he has absolutely no grappling/kicking experience as far as I know. Unless he finds someone stupid enough to trade with him (like TIm Sylvia was against Ray Mercer), then he's going to be in for a rude awakening.

And being that TOney is one of my all time favs and one of the most underrated fighters in history IMO, I really don't want to see him get embarrassed like this.