DFW: Toney is done in the UFC
“It’s been a fun ride with James,” UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC 118 post-fight press conference. “It’s…
“It’s been a fun ride with James,” UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC 118 post-fight press conference. “It’s been very interesting. He’s a nutty guy.”
“Listen, I didn’t try to sell this thing as, ‘Tune in on Saturday night, and you’re going to see the most spectacular battle and a war…I basically said what I was hoping would happen. Anything can happen in a fight. James Toney picked this fight. We’re not after boxing. We’re not trying to attack boxing. I love boxing, and I thought this question was answered back in 1993, but I’ve got to be honest, as we got closer to the fight, my stomach hurt, and I was a little dizzy and I was nervous.”
“A mixed martial artist stepped in there against a boxer, but at the end of the day, it’s a fight and anything can happen in a fight. Couture came out and won and Toney lasted longer than I thought he would, actually. It’s unfair to bring a guy in with one discipline, no matter if he’s trained for eight or nine months,” he said. “I wasn’t the guy going out and trying to badmouth boxing and take boxing down and hurt the sport of boxing. James Toney picked a fight, and he got one.”
When asked if Toney was one and done in the Octagon, White answered with an emphatic “Yes.”
“He’s the IBA and the NABO heavyweight champion. He’s a boxer and that’s what he does. He wanted a fight in the UFC. He picked a fight with our guys and we fought tonight. Listen, he’s a tough guy and he’s been around for a long time. I have a lot of respect for James Toney. When you come in with one discipline, you can’t expect a guy to come in and have great ground work and all this stuff. You know what? He stepped up. He wanted to do it, and he did it. When this thing started, fans wanted to see it, so I made the fight. No disrespect to boxing and not trying to hurt anyone. He picked a fight and he got one.”
“James came out and he was hoping Randy was going to stand up longer then he did. He hung in there. He’s a tough guy. He was on his back for a while. He took some shots from Couture. Couture was trying to arm-triangle him early. He hung in there longer than I thought he would. I’m sure he was as prepared as he could be. Anybody that knows James Toney over the past few years knows that James isn’t the most physically fit boxer on the planet, but let me tell you what, when I signed him that day in my office, he’s lost a lot of weight since that day. He took it seriously; he went out there and he gave it a shot.”
