Author: kmowatt

Since news surfaced that renowned boxer (and talker) James Toney had signed with the UFC, there has been varying opinions offered, as to how the 41 year-old-fighter will fair when he makes his MMA debut. Of course, it will all depend on how serious Toney takes this whole ‘cage fighting’ thing, and despite comments that he’s going to send “heads into orbit” (an effective way to counter the takedown or any human activity for that matter), if he doesn’t train in all aspects of MMA somewhat he’ll probably get schooled.

Toney has reportedly been doing some training with noted striking coach Juanito Ibarra, who if you just pay passing attention to MMA, he was the dude with the hat that was always with “Rampage” Jackson (although no longer). At any rate, Mr. Ibarra knows a thing or two about fighting, and although cynics will say he has a vested interest in hyping up Toney, the veteran trainer told Fight Hype that he’s expecting big things out of the boxer.

“He’s a workhorse and I have a good team behind me as always, and I truly believe we’re going to shock the world. When we are ready to fight I believe people will see that James Toney is for real, and I won’t be surprised but I think the world will be surprised.”

Want evidence? Ibarra goes on to say that Toney threw a head kick at him the other day. Wow. If he busts out the gogoplata then people will really start talking.

If you’ve been following the pre-fight storyline heading into the upcoming March 27^th bout between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy, you know that for the most part, Hardy has been busy taking a piss at those who say the British slugger doesn’t deserve a title shot. In particular, vocal critics like Mike Swick and his AKA teammate Josh Koscheck, have bore the brunt of the Hardy’s rebuttals (who could forget the “fraggle” comments? That’s not something that just gets swept under the insult rug…).

It appears as though Swick, who lost by UD to Hardy last November, has had a change of heart. In an interview with MMA Fighting, Hardy’s former foe went on record stating that not only does he think the Briton can beat GSP (to be clear, he also said that “overall”, the champion “has a better chance to win”) but that yes, Hardy is in fact deserving of a crack at the belt.

“Dan Hardy definitely deserves his title shot in Newark. I said in a few interviews he didn’t but – I want to clear the air – when I said that I was still upset I’d got beat by him at UFC 105. I made that mistake of talking when I was feeling emotional, when I was feeling down and was disappointed in my performance. But it wasn’t my true opinion; at least not one I’d actually thought about.”

Wow. You don’t hear that kind of admission very often. Just a hunch, but we’re not expecting similar comments from “Kos” anytime soon.

To bet on UFC 111 head here.

It’s only been a few days since the UFC announced the signing of boxing champion James Toney, and already, the fruits of their labor are paying off. Why? Well, if you don’t follow boxing, you’re about to discover that Mr. Toney has a gift for gab that is on par with MMA smack talk greats like “Rampage” Jackson and Dan Hardy (amongst others). In other words, when Toney talks, people fire up the popcorn and pull up a chair.

The latest, ‘dude check this out’ offerings from Toney, come courtesy an interview he did with the On the Grind Boxing Radio Show (thanks to Fight Hype for the quotes). From commenting on a possible bout with Randy Couture (apparently Randy is in a “lose-lose situation” if it goes down), saying Dana White “put his money where his mouth is” (does that mean it’s a lot of cash?), to saying that boxing promoters got “fat and lazy”, there are a few ‘wow’ statements in the interview.

When asked about his MMA skills, however, this comment from Toney in particular, seemed to jump through our monitors right smack dab into our eyeballs.

“I look at it like this, if a guy get in there and try to take me to the ground, he might see his head go into orbit. The head is going into orbit, for real. These guys in MMA, they good wrestlers and good grapplers and good kickers, like girls, but, you know, when it comes to throwing them blows, they ain’t got a chance in hell.”

Heads into orbit huh? Fighters beware.

Not only is Fedor Emelianenko one of the sport’s best, and thus, entertaining fighters, but the constant drama surrounding the renowned heavyweight as to when, who and if he’s going to fight kind of adds to the intrigue. News about Fedor is kind of like scratching a lottery ticket; every time you do you’re super excited, but often, you end up being damn disappointed. If it’s a winner though…hot damn.

Yesterday we passed along a report from MMA Bay that said sources had informed the outlet that Fedor had injured his hand recently, and as a result, “The Last Emperor’s” expected bout with Fabricio Werdum could be delayed. In a report from Sherdog.com this AM, however, M-1 Global representative Evgeni Kogan has said reports of Fedor being injured are false.

In respect to recent speculation that negotiations between Strikeforce and Fedor’s management (M-1) weren’t going swimmingly, according to the Sherdog report, the two organizations are in the final stages of revising Fedor’s contract. Kogan added that getting the M-1 brand out there more, at their co-promoted events with Strikeforce, was a big part of the negotiations (cue Dana White laughing).

So, yadda, yadda, yadda, when’s Fedor fighting?

“I think June, July is realistic,” said Kogan, “It’s not 100 percent. Don’t take this as a fight announcement, but I think during the summer.”

Nice. Although crossing our fingers until then isn’t going to be easy.

In case you missed it, last night the UFC officially confirmed that Kimbo Slice will throw down with fellow TUF 10 competitor, Matt Mitrione, at the May 8^th, UFC 113 card in Montreal (if you haven’t left the internet since last week and thus knew about the fight already, we’ve been there, but trust us, the computer isn’t the only one that ‘understands’ you).

You also might have a heard a collective groan emanating from around the world, due to the fact that this confirmation kyboshes a bout between Slice and newly signed boxing champ, James Toney. The good news is that perhaps this means that Randy Couture is getting his wish and he’ll be the first to introduce Toney to the Octagon floor. (Check out this interview with MMA Fighting where Toney concedes he hasn’t done any full time MMA sparring yet… “it’s all hand to hand combat” after all….)

In addition, you know Mitrione and Slice has the potential for a good brawl. Both guys like to throw hands and both guys can end a fight with one punch. Mitrione is damn tricky on account of his unorthodox style and Slice continues to hone his money making capacity at American Top Team (which is amongst the best at instructing one in the art of inducing unconsciousness)

Plus we’re all looking forward to more raspy and mysterious interviews from Mitrione, as well as comments from Slice, but that’s a given.

Since “Rampage” Jackson decided to postpone his December bout with Rashad Evans to take a role in the “The A-Team,” the drama between him and the UFC, has reached near Tito Ortiz like proportions (actually we take that back; until Spike TV films a go nowhere documentary about Dana White training for a bout that won’t happen with Rampage, it’s not even close).

Now, when Rampage announced he was coming back from ‘retirement’ and would take on Rashad Evans in May, (we also wept with joy) relations between the former light-heavyweight champ and White remained less than cordial (unless you consider calling Dana a liar a sign of a healthy relationship). More recently, however, it seems like relations between Rampage and Dana might be slowly getting back to ‘chummy’, as last week Mr. Jackson seemed rather pleased about the new car he was given by the promotion.

Today, Fighters Only Magazine has posted more comments from Jackson, which seems to indicate that the ‘beef’ continues to get ‘squashed.’ Rampage was pretty complimentary towards the UFC , while comparing their medical help to that of Pride’s, stating:

“Yeah, [you would] take yourself to the hospital. I remember my people taking me to the hospital. I think [Pride] used to have a van there sometimes. But in the UFC if you get hurt even in practice for a fight, Dana will say ‘Come on, come to my doctor’ and they will pay for it.”

It’s doubtful Rampage would be tossing that out there if he still wasn’t on good terms with White.