Nerdcore Boxing

In case you haven’t heard, UFC President Dana White has been in talks with current heavyweight boxer and future Hall Of Famer James Toney about fighting in the UFC. Toney has actually been floating this idea in the media for years but more recently started showing up to UFCs and getting in Dana White’s ear.

Last year former heavyweight champ Hasim Rahman said he’s now training for MMA. Ricardo Mayorga has a fight lined up against former UFC fighter Din Thomas on March 6 in Florida’s Shine Fights. Kermit Cintron and even Evander Holyfield have also attempted to court the UFC in the media.

As a boxing and MMA fan I’d love to see elite boxers in MMA, and I love James Toney. I worship slickness and defense, and therefore Toney is one of my favorite boxers of this era. Toney is a genius as a boxer. But I just don’t see it working out for him in MMA. He’s changed up his style of boxing a few times in his career and I think he could adapt it for MMA and learn to grapple, but based on his comments in the media he won’t. Toney doesn’t have any respect for MMA, nor any interest in learning the game.

Toney seems to think he can just step into the UFC and win fights. Personally having originally came from MMA, I know how difficult it is to keep the fight standing against a good grappler. No boxer is going to be able to keep the fight standing in the UFC unless they learn to wrestle and to integrate this with their boxing. If Toney gets a few fights he’ll probably score a spectacular KO here or there, but most of the time he’ll immediately end up on his back and then get submitted pronto.

Now that the UFC is generating enough income to supposedly pay 18 fighters 7 figures per year, they should poach some boxers. MMA has a history of skimming top guys from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and Kickboxing, and should start recruiting from the top of Boxing. But instead of signing 40 something Hall of Famers like Toney or Holyfield, how about getting a few elite boxers who are closer to 30 and who have the motivation to spend a few years learning the MMA game?