UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 - Fight Card *Spoilers*

something doesnt seem right about the james toney fight. he claims to have been training for 9 months, but has said in interviews he's not worrying about the ground very much, because he believes he has the ko power to take guys out from his back. If he believes he has that kind of power, why would he train for 9 months. It just seems like the whole Billy the Jet routine. " pretend you dont know anything about this grappling stuff, when actually you've been training for years" I know tony's not a genious, but i just dont believe that he is gonna be that dumb. I really hope couture doenst underestimate him.

 

Toney is always going to have a punchers chance. He's been in the boxing game for ages and has always been a tough nut both in and out of the ring. Couture isn't any different he's been a top level athlete for most of his living days. Both know they can't underestimate each other. Their trainers both know this. I don't see Tony staying on his feet too long... reminds me of the early days of the UFC or Pride. Well looking forward to it.

@ronimaster - Tony is well comfortable with his knockout power - he's been training for 9 months... so maybe he truly isn't that worried about the ground game or consequences of the fight going there. It wouldn't be the first time for a stand up striker to say he's not all that worried about the ground game... yet still spend time training it. This is nothing new at all.

 

understood, but claiming to have enough power to knockout people from your back is very idiotic. at least on the pro level. not to mention the mechanics and force of a punch come from your proper footwork. Tony being a boxer should know this. So i think that he only saying this to make couture lower his guard.

 

Coulture's main expertise was in Greco-Roman which uses upperbody takedowns so he doens't tend to shoot that much. What he does do is press guys up against the cage and then take them down with singles, doubles or body locks. And he's very very good at doing that.

As you say Toney prob does have good power for dirty boxing but thats an area Randy is also very good in. And I think if Toney starts thinking too much about landing shots in the clinch he'll find himself slammed onto his back if he's not careful.

Having said all that Randy is not young. His stand up isn't what it was a few years ago and Toney is definitely dangerous, if he can land something early on it could change everything.

I don't usually bet I'm very tempted to put a tenner on Toney at 5-1...

 

What weight is it being faught at? Is it basically at open weight? Its a good point, cos Randy is really a LHW these days. Even against Brock he was only 220ish.

I ended up putting a fiver on Toney to win, a fiver on their fight going the distance (14 to 1! and I think it could easily happen) and a fiver on Maia getting the fastest sub of the night (5-1).

Hopefully at least one of those will come through!

 

There were but they seem to have taken them down now, must be too near the event, think it was about 2-1.....yeah....thinking about it...... might not have been a bad shout lol

 

There's been a ton of talk that if Toney wins, it somehow subverts the entire sport of MMA.

Bull, IMO.

Toney has a puncher's chance, but he weighed in looking like a marshmallow.
Plus if the Countdown show's any indication, he didn't even bring any grappling coaches in, just a "defense tactics" trainer.

I want Randy to win just so we can see the humble, respectful fighter silence the punch-drunk braggart.

 

I would greatly prefer Randy to win and favor him realistically. However, Randy's weakness has been good counter punchers and Toney is on a whole other level from the guys Randy has faced in the past. Remember that Chuck Liddell basically ran Randy out of the light-heavy division and as a striker, Chuck was barely able to crack the top ten in ISKA and K-1 kickboxing. Toney might surprise a lot of people.

 

**********************SPOILER ALERT!********************
He did it! The Natural choked him out in 3:19!

Toney couldn't even tap properly! He just waved at the ref to show he was finished!

 

Come on guys... use your spoiler tags. Seriously. Stop mucking up threads because you can't figure it out or are too lazy. Spoiler tags please!