Vitor Belfort Wants to Fight James Toney in the UFC in a Boxing Match and Toney Accepts

by Geno Mrosko on Sep 5, 2010 5:32 PM EDT

After the performance put in by James Toney at UFC 118, the larger media sighed and thought it was a waste of time. Randy Couture did what any MMA fighter would do and took him down before choking him out. They tried to sell it as Boxing vs UFC but we all know that didn't quite work out. Now it appears that there is a UFC fighter willing to fight James Toney in the UFC under boxing rules: The Phenom, Vitor Belfort. Per his Twitter:

"Dana let me fight James Tony on 6 round boxe Mach I think I can catch him with my speed."
"Dana will be the 1 boxing match in Ufc I promise he will feel my power and we will show the world the a Ufc fighter can do better."

Despite the spelling issues we can tell what he is trying to say. He wants to have a 6 round boxing match under boxing rules. He wants it to be the only boxing match in UFC history and he's promising Dana that he can take Toney with his combination of speed and power. Could he? I'm not sure but that is something I would definitely pay to see. The Toney-Couture fight was a foregone conclusion. This fight would actually have intrigue. Toney may be far past his prime but he's still a professional boxer. Belfort has one boxing fight under his belt; a TKO victory over Josemario Neves in 2006.

This isn't something we could ever expect to see happen. Belfort is booked to fight Yushin Okami at UFC 122 in Germany and Toney is going back to boxing to defend his IBA Heavyweight title. Dana White has already said that he's done with Toney in the UFC. If Belfort defeats Okami then he'll have a title shot waiting for him. Would they put that on hold to book a boxing match in the Octagon? No, they probably wouldn't. But it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than what we got from the Toney-Couture fight.

UPDATE - James Toney has accepted the challenge put forth by Vitor:

"Tell Vitor Belfort let’s make it happen. I like that because he ain’t no scared little b*tch. He wants to come to my world and I’m more than willing to welcome him into my world."

Still isn't going to happen but I would really love to see it.

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Comments

Never, ever, ever. Doesn’t make any sense for the UFC to put together. Despite the occasional freak show fight, the image the UFC wants to present is as the #1, super-serious world’s proving ground in MMA. Lose 3 exciting fights in a row? You’re gone (unless you’re Stephan Bonnar). Win 3 boring decisions in a row? You might fight on a prelim, but if no one can beat you, you’ll keep getting work.

Japanese and other smaller promotions are a lot more interested in keeping around exciting, but inconsistent fighters. With that focus, it would make a lot more sense to have a freakshow (from every possible angle) like this. Plus, the whole thing reeks of PROWRESTLING! Not that I agree with Luke Thomas, but this is going a bit far even for the company that employs Chael Sonnen.

To wit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j25tpzIqYKI
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShiQea0pFnI

by gzl5000 on Sep 5, 2010 7:23 PM EDT reply actions

And I’ll say this again, the best proving ground in a fight between a boxer and a mixed martial artist is either kickboxing or muay thai rules. Much more fair overall, in my opinion.

by gzl5000 on Sep 5, 2010 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions