AMADI: Randy Couture vs. James Toney at UFC 118 not the "freak show" fight it's being made out to be

By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
















For whatever reason, the UFC 118 co-main event featuring Randy Couture vs. James Toney is being discussed as if it were Randy Couture vs. congenital amputee Kyle Maynard. Despite James Toney having more knockout victories in boxing than Randy Couture has fights period, many seem to be of the opinion that this fight is beneath the UFC and is a sort of ?freak show.? While this fight is a fairly obvious mismatch, it is no ?freak show.?

Freak show fights are fights like Fedor Emelianenko vs. Zuluzinho, Hong Man Choi vs. Fedor Emelianenko, Hong Man Choi vs. Jose Canseco, or the ?Battle of the WWE stars? fight that Strikeforce is trying to cook up between Bobby Lashley and Dave Bautista. That fight particularly pits an elite wrestler with six MMA bouts to his credit against a man with no athletic background, no combat sports experience, and who in terms of MMA qualifications is no different from any muscle bound man off the streets.

By MMA standards, James Toney vs. Randy Couture is a mismatch of the worst kind, but not a freak show. In what way is James Toney vs. Randy Couture really all that much different from Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley, or Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy? Essentially those matchups were top notch wrestlers against strikers with lackluster takedown defense who weren?t particularly adept at submissions. The selling point of each fight was the possibility that one punch could be landed before they were taken down by their superior grapplers -- sounds pretty familiar.

It isn?t as if Randy Couture is even the worst stylistic matchup for Toney in the UFC. Couture is a Greco-Roman wrestler, meaning he is more proficient at upper body takedowns and utilizing the clinch than he is proficient at the double leg takedown. If Couture looks to his bread and butter, it could put him in punching range for an incredibly dangerous puncher.

Another point of interest is that Randy Couture?s chin just isn?t what it used to be. Couture has been dropped in almost every single fight he?s had since his return from a year long hiatus with the UFC. Brock Lesnar finished him with strikes, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira dropped him multiple times with punches, and seemingly whenever Brandon Vera wasn?t pressed up against the cage everything he threw at Couture sent him to the canvas.

Couture doesn?t need the world?s greatest chin or even double leg takedown to put James Toney on his back, and he doesn?t even have to respect Toney?s takedown defense long enough to strike with the IBA heavyweight champion; but the potential for Toney to land a big a shot and put Couture out is still great. The intrigue of this fight comes down to Couture?s ability to close the distance versus Toney?s ability to land a solid shot on Couture as he comes in on him. For those few seconds, James Toney?s chances of winning go up from zero to about 50/50.

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