Neither would Jake Paul’s half-hearted wins over decaying ex-UFC stars. Without this single round of action over a decade ago, Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor would possibly not have happened. Rather than drawing a line under the issue, Couture’s victory over Toney has inspired an entire generation of cross-codes clashes. Who would win in an MMA fight between a boxer and a UFC fighter? The UFC fighter, as it turned out.īut combat sports as a whole has never stopped asking this question. Couture would lock in the hold, Toney would tap, and the question was answered. From there it was game over, as Couture ground and mauled Toney’s carcass into shapes it had never been in before in search of a guillotine submission. 15 seconds was all it took for the former UFC heavyweight champion to launch a double-leg takedown of the illustrious boxer. At the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on 28th August 2010, ‘The Natural’ allowed James Toney to stand in front of him for just 15 seconds. White selected Couture knowing he could take the fight to the mat.Ĭouture did take the fight to the mat. Trying to win a striking-based fight with a man who holds boxing victories over Evander Holyfield, Mike McCallum and Iran Barkley would have made no sense. Knowing that Toney was trained in boxing and pretty much nothing else, Couture was chosen due to his status as a world-class wrestler. White branded the Toney fight “a freak show”.ĭespite his concerns, he sent his best man for the job. Not that UFC President Dana White was thrilled at putting one of his fighters in the controversial bout. The veteran conqueror of names like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz made perfect sense as the company’s representative in this bout. On the other side of the fence he found the grand old man of the UFC, Randy Couture. Of course someone who appreciates the sport’s history as deeply as Toney was going to stand up and be counted.
MMA was viewed as the biggest threat boxing had faced in the gloved era. Toney is an avowed boxing purist, as likely to cite Battling Siki and Gypsy Joe Harris in an interview as Sugar Ray Robinson or Archie Moore. While his one-man campaign was dismissed as sour grapes from a notoriously outspoken presence at the time, Toney’s defence of his sport makes perfect sense if you know anything about the man. It was at this point that James Toney began calling out the stars of the UFC, asserting boxing’s dominance over the relative newcomer. MMA was finally seen as credible and was drawing a huge following, partly made up of boxing fans disenfranchised by the politics inherent to that sport. The UFC had shaken off the outlaw image of their unregulated early days. The three-weight boxing champion had been one of the defining fighters of the 90s and early 00s, winning acclaim for his old-school style and world-class defensive acumen.īut boxing was beginning to be eclipsed by the runaway mainstream success of MMA. Precious few boxers of note tried their hand at MMA in the decade that followed. Jimmerson was quickly submitted by future Hall of Famer Royce Gracie.
#James lights out toney free
His decision to fight wearing a single boxing glove, reputedly to enhance his jab while leaving his dominant hand free for bare-knuckle power-shots, made him a laughing stock.
#James lights out toney professional
But in 2010, such ground was relatively uncharted.įringe contender Art Jimmerson had been the first professional boxer to fight in the Octagon, doing so all the way back at UFC 1.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46926332/GettyImages-72942058.0.jpg "james lights out toney")
Heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev walloped ex-UFC champion Frank Mir while the iconic Evander Holyfield was destroyed by MMA star Vitor Belfort in an egregious display. Anderson Silva owns a victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in the squared circle. In 2022, we have grown accustomed to boxers and MMA fighters colliding. A true legend of the sport, Couture is a trailblazer for another reason: his 2010 fight with boxer James ‘Lights Out’ Toney. The two-weight world champion bridged the gap between MMA’s one-night tournament beginnings, winning the UFC 13 heavyweight bracket, and the mainstream juggernaut the company is today. UFC great Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture turns 59 today.
0 kommentar(er)
