Back in 2007, around the time that the UFC started doing gangbusters business in the competitive pay-per-view world, the big names in the boxing universe started hearing questions about the upstart promotion. Aside from the financial threat it offered as a combat sports alternative, the queries usually centered on how a fighter in one world would do in the other’s realm.
As a general rule, boxers were highly dismissive of their counterparts in MMA. Back then, Marvin Hagler referred to it as “street fighting,” Bernard Hopkins dismissed it, saying, “I don’t want to watch two grown men wrestling with panties on,” and Floyd Mayweather offered, “Just imagine what happens if a heavyweight contender lays hands on an MMA fighter. We both know what the aftermath will look like.”
Well, times have changed, and apparently so has the boxing world’s view on MMA, because James Toney‘s promoter, Dan Goossen, is already angling for a rematch after UFC 118. A boxing rematch.
Acknowledging that Toney is at a “severe disadvantage” in his upcoming fight with Randy Couture, Goossen released a statement to the media offering Couture the same payday he will receive at UFC 118 to face Toney in a 12-round boxing match.