Clark Kent
<B>News Bot</B>
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03-03-2010 05:45 PM:
James Toney may be a big mouth but he's one smart dude. The IBA heavyweight champ put out the bait and he just hooked a big fish in the UFC. The 41-year-old boxer, whose paydays have dried up in the ring, has signed a deal with world's biggest mixed martial arts promotion.
Toney began to lay his trap back in January after UFC 108. He crashed the postfight press conference at the MGM in Las Vegas and demanded that UFC president Dana White step up to the plate. After several meetings with White and several more videos where Toney said the prez was afraid to bring him against his "minor league" fighters, "Lights Out" finally got his deal. White confirmed to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole that it was a done deal.
The 6-foot, 230-pounder last boxed in September at a trimmer 217. Now the question is does Toney fight at 205 pounds or heavyweight in MMA? Remember this is a guy who started out his career as a middleweight and carries a pretty ample gut as a heavyweight. The last time he fought below 205 was in 2004 as a cruiserweight.
Later today, we'll find out why exactly the UFC is rolling the dice on Toney. One reason has to be the quick payday via pay-per-view. The boxing versus MMA matchup is likely to bring in a huge audience. Plus Toney will do his part to hype the hell out of the fight.
Luke Thomas of Bloody Elbow tweeted another likely scenario.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
Toney began to lay his trap back in January after UFC 108. He crashed the postfight press conference at the MGM in Las Vegas and demanded that UFC president Dana White step up to the plate. After several meetings with White and several more videos where Toney said the prez was afraid to bring him against his "minor league" fighters, "Lights Out" finally got his deal. White confirmed to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole that it was a done deal.
The 6-foot, 230-pounder last boxed in September at a trimmer 217. Now the question is does Toney fight at 205 pounds or heavyweight in MMA? Remember this is a guy who started out his career as a middleweight and carries a pretty ample gut as a heavyweight. The last time he fought below 205 was in 2004 as a cruiserweight.
Later today, we'll find out why exactly the UFC is rolling the dice on Toney. One reason has to be the quick payday via pay-per-view. The boxing versus MMA matchup is likely to bring in a huge audience. Plus Toney will do his part to hype the hell out of the fight.
Luke Thomas of Bloody Elbow tweeted another likely scenario.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
