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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC has signed former multi-time boxing World Champion James Toney to a multi-fight contract, according to multiple published reports. FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first to report the signing before Mike Chiapetta at MMAFighting.com confirmed it with UFC President Dana White.
White had met with Toney in Las Vegas earlier this year after Toney repeatedly sought him out to join the UFC. With nothing initially coming out of their meeting, Toney again went to the airwaves, calling White out for not getting a deal done before this contract was signed.
In a professional boxing career that began in 1988, Toney posted a 73-6-2 with one no contest. He won Titles in six weight classes during his career, from middleweight to heavyweight. He'll fight either at light heavyweight or heavyweight, though the latter is the more likely class. White stated he had "no idea" when Toney would make his debut.
Of course, with the very vocal opposition White spouted towards Strikeforce's signing of Herschel Walker, he'll have to deal with similar "freak show" accusations with this signing, but it's something he understood going in, as Chiappetta points out. Following UFC 108, White said, "Listen, let me tell you what: I got blasted this week? Let me make this fight (with Toney). That will get me f****** blasted. 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."
The MMAFighting.com report mentions that Toney has reportedly been training for MMA in preparation of signing with the UFC, and now he'll get his wish sometime in 2010.
Penick's Analysis: This is different from Strikeforce signing Herschel Walker for one key reason, Toney is a longtime fighter while Walker had no history in combat sports. That doesn't absolve White or the UFC from criticism for this signing, but it's not going to be such a freak show that the signing makes no sense for the UFC. This gives Dana White a win-win situation, actually, as the mainstream sports media he criticized for overly covering Walker's Strikeforce fight will react similarly to Toney coming to the Octagon. In addition to the publicity Toney will bring for his fight, and the curiosity factor that will likely lead to a spike in buyrate for whatever card he is on, if he's defeated handily it shows that boxers can't just come in and dominate this sport. Now, Toney could very well knock out his opponent, whomever that may be, but even if that's the case it may be worth the viewers and media coverage to White and the UFC. Either way, I'm not against this signing at all and my curiosity is peaked for what Toney can do in the Octagon, especially if he's matched up against a grappler in his first bout.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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