Comments on: UFC’s James Toney ploy

By: Mr.Roadblock

Mr.Roadblock — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:54:14 +0000

I forgot about the Olympics 15 years ago. You’re right. Of course he passed a test for that.

Ivan, I’m one of the minority who know who Kermit Cintron is and his wrestling background. I’d love to see a guy like him come into MMA. The word I heard at the time was that Dana wasn’t willing to pay him whet he wanted. Kermit makes a lot more money boxing than he would have in UFC. From a business standpoint, Dana was right. Because Cintron wouldn’t get you the publicity on ESPN (maybe it would since he headlined their failed PPV) or Sports Illustrated and the mainstream press.

Cintron wanted boxing money which is a lot more than even Lesnar makes. Dana was going to pay boxing money for a top boxer to come in and get beat.

I bet Toney gets the Lesnar treatment. Hard fight see if he wins it.

Tushcherer is a perfect opponent for Toney. He’s slow, flat footed and doesn’t have good takedowns. Yeah he can pound you on the ground but he has to get there first. Toney is going to KO someone immediately with a 1-2 or he’s not going to win most likely. You get him in the last 2 minutes of a round and he’s going to need a blood transfusion. But he’s got sweet movement and beautiful punches. Wearing small gloves against an opponent with no head movement (the entire MMA HW division fits that bill) and you’re looking at Mercer/Sylvia II.

By: Alan Conceicao

Alan Conceicao — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:48:21 +0000

James Toney was a drug dealer himself. He readily admits to having sold crack in high school.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:35:57 +0000

And his first manager was a drug dealer who was murdered so that adds another level of shadiness to him.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:31:21 +0000

He has a Kimbo fight written all over him. That’s safe for the UFC because nobody has any respect for Kimbo so if Toney were to beat him they can deflect boxing purists crowing about a boxer beating an MMA fighter by saying “Well, he sucks anyway so we don’t care.” And that fight will do pretty good, which means he’ll be kept around at least until he loses 3 times. They never say no to money.

By: Fluyid

Fluyid — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:14:47 +0000

This is an amazing development.

I believe that they should give Toney a bad matchup for him, get him beat and then release him. Keeping this slurring, half-crazed guy around is not good for business. They’ve signed him so it’s too late to re-think it. Now just make the best of it by getting him on a show ASAP, try and get him beat, cut him and move on.

This is not a smart move by the UFC, imo. There is too much that can go wrong.

By: Alan Conceicao

Alan Conceicao — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:51:10 +0000

I doubt though that Toney has it in his contract that the UFC can wait 12 months to offer a bout. The guy is 41; he’s looking for action right now. Goosen is smarter than that and not looking to screw his guy.

I think people are trying to rationalize it by making it anything other than what it is.

By: A. Taveras

A. Taveras — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:44:54 +0000

Maybe they keep him tied up long enough to hurt, and then pay him to walk away.

Also I’m trying to visualize Toney in the cage with his belly and barely 5′10″ … not pretty.

By: Alan Conceicao

Alan Conceicao — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:30:10 +0000

They’ll have to at least offer him fights in order to keep a valid contract. You can’t just sign someone to a 5 fight contract and then never offer fights.

By: A. Taveras

A. Taveras — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:23:17 +0000

If Toney is still scheduling boxing matches, is there a chance we never see him in the cage? Could White have simply tied him up to keep him off Strikeforce broadcasts while he awaits their demise?

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:37:28 +0000

It has nothing to do with his boxing acumen and everything to do with Toney as a person as well as his condition right now.