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A few weeks ago I used my column to talk about why James Toney can, but won’t, beat Randy Couture at UFC 118. I still feel that Toney’s chances of winning are much greater than what the odds-makers believe. Toney comes into this fight with plenty of “hype," mostly coming from his own mouth. He also has approximately six months of training in wrestling, hoping that will be enough to negate the decorated Greco-Roman wrestling fighter Randy Couture. With that said, after viewing segments of Toney’s training camp, I can’t help but feel Toney is out of shape and in for a brutal beating.
I just do not believe Toney will be in shape for this fight. After watching training segments of Toney with MMA trainer Trevor Sherman, it became quite obvious that Toney is no where near ready for what Couture will bring Saturday Night. Toney looked slow, sluggish and down right amateurish when shown grappling with Sherman. After watching this, the one thing that re-played in my mind was “if Toney looks this bad against Trevor Sherman, it's going to be lights out alright, with Toney being on the receiving end of a KO.”
Randy Couture is by no means a great fighter in today's MMA game. That is to take nothing away from what he has accomplished in his MMA career, but today, at 47 years old, he is hardly a relevant force in any weight class. Randy has been through many wars in the Octagon and his aged body is evidence of the beatings he has taken. Still, Couture is an MMA veteran who knows how to fight and knows how to win; James Toney is a Boxing veteran who is embarking in a completely different sport and trying to defeat an experienced master at that sport.
Just as Michael Jordan, not only the greatest basketball player of all time but the greatest athlete period of all time, tried his hand at a new professional sport, James Toney is attempting the same. The end result will be the same: failure. There is no doubt that if Randy Couture strapped on the boxing gloves and went 12 rounds with Toney that James would win via KO fairly quickly, but on the contrary it should be noted that most likely the reverse of that situation will happen Saturday night when Toney steps into the cage with Captain America.
I still believe that James Toney has slightly better than a puncher's chance against Couture. I think his footwork and pocket presence will pose problems for Couture, but not major ones, and he could possibly end the fight by clipping Couture. One thing is for sure, if Toney wins against Couture it will be because he’s utilized his MMA training, and not his boxing pedigree. But in all reality, it should be "lights out" Saturday night... for James Toney.
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