FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Amadi's Take AMADI: With James Toney, UFC Matchmakers Have Complex Task Ahead of Them

Mar 19, 2010 - 3:43:01 PM

By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Since the announcement of James Toney’s signing with the UFC, everyone has given their two cents about him and who the lucky fighter who gets to challenge him first will be, so I thought I’d shed some light on what it is that may or may not be awaiting him. There are a lot key factors that make selecting an opponent for an MMA debutant difficult, though if you take all of the interest surrounding James Toney into account, UFC matchmakers have a monumentally complex task ahead of them.

James Toney is the highest level professional boxer to ever come over to MMA. He’s going to bring a lot of fresh eyes to the sport, which is a great thing for everyone. It could possibly even eclipse the Hershel Walker debut. It gets MMA fans interested in boxing to an extent, it gets boxing fans interested in MMA, it will certainly garner a lot of media attention and most importantly for the UFC, Toney’s debut will bring in plenty of pay per view buys.

However, a lot of that hinges on the level of competitor he challenges. Different opponents bring different challenges. If he faces a primarily stand up fighter, people will see how well he can defend against kicks and other aspects of stand up fighting that he has yet to experience, but most would expect that is a fight he should most likely be able to win.

Should he face a ground specialist, well, I’ll touch on that later. But, the bottom line is that the quality of Toney’s opponent will reveal what the UFC’s intentions are with the aging pugilist. And ultimately, the whole question of how successful James Toney is going to be completely hinges on what the UFC’s intentions are with him. This may disappoint the rabid anti-boxing fans out there, but I doubt the UFC intends to satiate your blood lust.

Fortunately for his health, but much to the chagrin of Mr. Toney, he likely won’t be getting a Randy Couture or Brock Lesnar quality fighter. The fact that Toney has asked for both of them in recent interviews and TV appearances indicates that he doesn’t quite understand or respect the level of violence that disciplines other than boxing can deliver.

As Joshua Clottey showed the world last Saturday night, it is entirely possible to have a boxing match, take no damage, be outperformed, collect a pay check, and still maintain some dignity for not being knocked out. Against the UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, he wouldn’t find himself protected under the 10 ounce sanctuaries that are standard issue professional boxing gloves like Clottey was against Manny Pacquiao. It would likely be only a matter of seconds before the former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion shot a double leg, and began to explore the innards of Toney’s skull with his fists.

Too many fans seem to be under the impression that because boxers are paid so much more money than MMA fighters that their skill discrepancy must be equal to their monetary discrepancy. Unfortunately for pro boxers looking to make it in MMA, that is not the case.

Historically, pro boxers haven’t had much success outside of their field. Before anyone rushes to remind me that Ray Mercer made short work of a horribly out of shape Tim Sylvia, I should probably point out how Mercer made MMA newbie Kimbo Slice look like an absolute ground wizard in their "exhibition fight," where Mercer was quickly submitted by Slice. Mercer had an even more embarrassing "fight" with world class K-1 kickboxer Remy Bonjasky, where it took just 22 seconds and one headkick for Mercer to think better of his foray into kickboxing. Fighters that also attempted the ill advised "Boxing vs. MMA" concept, excluding the poorly aged Mercer, include Art Jimmerson who was submitted by Royce Gracie and Rubin Williams who was easily outstruck and then submitted by Japanese fight legend Kazushi Sakuraba.

I am absolutely not suggesting that pro boxers have no potential for success in MMA, but the only high level professional striker who has ever had major success in MMA is probably Mirko Cro Cop, and that can be attributed to the killer sprawl he developed while fighting in PRIDE. It ultimately failed him against Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but he was able to cut through many opponents because of his ability to defend the takedown, and because of a defensive competence on the ground. Defending a takedown is an extraordinarily tough thing to do when you’re competing against a grappler who has grappled all of his life, and wants you on your back.

Nate Marquardt is a veteran of 40 professional MMA fights and holds a black belt in jiu jitsu. At one point Nate Marquardt was able to submit 10 of 11 opponents in his career. That went away very quickly at UFC 109 when world class wrestler Chael Sonnen repeatedly took Marquardt down with ease and tried to repurpose Marquardt’s face as a punching bag. Obviously, if Marquardt can’t magically nullify a serious grappling advantage with all of his experience and honed technique, James Toney would be hard pressed to do the same.

Even Chuck “I’m not going to the ground if you begged me” Liddell recently intimated in an interview that he would relish a fight with Toney and would waste no time in taking him down and submitting him. Any MMA fighter knows what is at stake with Toney’s first fight. There is a reason he possesses the moniker “Lights Out.”

Toney, by virtue of his accolades alone, is the most dangerous striker in MMA, without even having to compete in a single contest in the sport. There is no reason to mess with that, when the obvious road to victory is to make the horizontally challenged fighter, well, horizontal.

Without even getting bogged down by the logistics of what fights the athletic commissions are willing to sanction, the UFC’s first choice of opponent for Toney is crucial not only for the decorated boxer, but for the UFC as well. Beyond the “MMA vs. Boxing” discussion that people love to have, there aren’t a lot of people that believe a top level boxer would defeat a top level MMA fighter, in an MMA environment, under MMA rules. Toney seems to believe he can, but against the right opponent, he could wind up seriously injured as a result, and the headline “Professional Boxer Gets Crippled In Cage Fight” probably isn’t what the UFC wants to read on Sunday morning. Ultimately, the UFC has to handle matchmaking James Toney with a degree of care, if they wish to cash in on the name and intrigue he brings before they throw him to the wolves and cash out of the James Toney business.

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