Randy Couture not concerned with Toney's power
In his campaign for UFC glory, current boxing title holder James Toney has repeatedly said one thing: all he needs are his hands, they’ll drop anyone.
But Toney’s opponent, former UFC champion Randy Couture (18-10 MMA, 15-7 UFC) is singing a different tune. He says that he doesn’t plan on giving James the opportunity to touch him with his hands, and that he’ll likely look for a takedown to steer the fight his way.
Toney—known for unbelievable and outrageous comments—has maintained that boxers possess enough power just with their hands to beat mixed martial artists, even when on the ground. Couture thinks the claim is completely without merit.
He recently told MMAjunkie.com: “I’m not terribly concerned [with Toney’s punching power]. I’ve been in there with a lot of big, strong guys—and had them on their backs—who I’m sure hit just as hard as James does.” He continued: “technique changes when you’re lying on your back or sitting on your butt. The mechanics of a punch are different in those circumstances.”
When asked whether he had a game plan for his ground-based approach, Couture said: "Certainly I have a gameplan for the ground, and I'm not terribly worried about being knocked out from that position."
Toney is making his mixed martial arts debut, and it remains to be seen how he will fare in a completely different fighting environment. Many, including fighters like Bernard Hopkins and David Haye, have concluded that his decision to step into an MMA fight is a bad one. At the same time, the veteran brings roughly 22 years of professional boxing experience to the cage. He has fought the prime competition of his time, and is a two-time Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year.
Through the prefight campaigning Toney has seemed more and more unbelievable with comments, such as insistence that the move to MMA will be easy and adjustable. But Couture, who has disagreed with most of what Toney has said, added:
"My estimation is that there definitely needs to be some adjustments made. There are a couple other things that need to be accounted for with that particular stance and style of boxing, and I think that's what a lot of boxers in general, when they look at MMA, they fail to understand. With the takedowns and the punching and the kicking and the dirty boxing and clinchwork that takes place in mixed martial arts, you have to change your stance. You have to kind of change your fighting style a little bit in a pure boxing perspective."
The fight has become representative of a larger clash between boxing and MMA. In recent years boxing has become less and less popular, and mixed martial arts have enjoyed the opposite effect, to the point of arguably becoming North America’s new definitive combat sport. Part of the appeal of the Toney – Couture matchup is that the winner’s respective sport will be seen as superior and ‘close the deal’ on which deserves bragging rights.
The fight isn’t the first one between a boxer and an MMA fighter—but it is the first to include such marketable and revenue-grossing names. In a June 2009 MMA sponsored fight, former boxer Ray Mercer took just nine seconds to stop Tim Sylvia. A youtube video of the fight shows Mercer drawing in and landing a straight right flat on Sylvia’s chin, with the latter going down immediately. Whatever else the episode does, it has made Couture more respectful of boxing.
Couture offered his own take on the fight: "I don't think Tim's gameplan with Ray was very astute. He stepped right into range and kind of advocated that kind of a firefight. Those kinds of things happen in that kind of fight."
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