There are people out there that believe James Toney is going to defeat Randy Couture at UFC 118. I am not one of them. Rather, I believe that there is very little chance that "Lights Out" lasts more than one round with "The Natural". Does he have a puncher's chance? Yes. But that's not a great chance. Regardless, I believe that Toney's appearance at UFC 118 is likely to improve MMA. Why, you ask?
First, because Toney will bring fans and interest from the boxing world. This will allow a wider variety of combat sports fans to witness what the great sport of MMA has to offer, and that will translate to even higher pay per view sales and more money for everyone involved. Second, Toney's emergence will compel other high level boxers to make the jump. And when these athletes start in at training facilities, it will result in the improvement of stand up fighting in MMA to some degree.
A win-win situation.
Of course, if Couture gets knocked out- which is something I don't believe is going to happen (Randy Couture vs. James Toney prediction)- then that might not be the best thing for the sport. In other words, boxing might be looked at as superior by the masses, which could actually result in less boxers making the jump to MMA (why would they then?).
In the end, the Randy Couture vs. James Toney fight will go down in combat sports history as highly important, no matter what the outcome.
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You know, you’re right! If Toney wins it could be a huge boost for boxing. I won’t likely happen though.
Interesting how wrestlers, kickboxers, and jiu jitsu stylists naturally gravitate to MMA, but few do from the boxing world, especially boxers of name/ranking significance. Maybe after this fight we’ll see a flood of boxing talent swelling the ranks of MMA!
We’ve got several promising boxers in Austin gyms that have told me they’re watching this match closely…