Have we forgotten the lessons of the early UFC's?

via i44.photobucket.com

I have followed the signing of James "Lights Out" Toney with great interest.Being a hardcore MMA fan,and a casual boxing fan,it's a lot of fun to bridge the gap,so to speak.I've been enjoying breaking down all the possible matchups,thinking about how the fights will go down,and discussing these things with my fellow fans.It's what makes MMA so much fun,at least for me.

 But in the course of reading and talking about Toney's signing,I've come across something that puzzles me.While most people see the Toney signing for what it is-a PR stunt to lure mainstream media eyes away from Strikeforce-some people see things differently.A lot differently.Guys like Franklin McNeil and other MMA journalists think Toney will be able to pick up one or two wins over average competition,but then falter against someone truely great.Then,there are fans who honestly think Toney can beat Randy Couture.

 For the journalists and fans that hold those opinions,I have a question-"Have you ever watched the early UFC's?Say,UFC 1 through 10?"

 If the answer is yes,then you have no excuse for thinking that James Toney will find success in MMA.History simply does not bear it out.All through the early UFCs,we watched strikers of every persuasion-boxers,kickboxers,karate and tae kwon do stylists,yes even ninjas-get taken down and either submitted or pounded into oblivion.When guys would come on the screen and go,"Well,I'll just knock him out before he takes me down!",people laughed.It never worked.We all learned that you MUST learn how to grapple,just to be able to survive to hear the final bell of an MMA fight,let alone win.

So now,over 16 years later,with fighters truely well rounded and able to box,kickbox,wrestle and use submissions with equal ability,James Toney is going to walk into the sport being as one dimensional as Art Jimmerson and not only win fights in the UFC............but beat Randy Couture?

 

I think not.

 

Let's say Toney trains his butt off from now until his debut.At the *very* most,he has 6 months of training in wrestling,and submission fighting.Going against Randy Couture,he'd be facing someone who's been wrestling for almost 40 years,has won gold,silver and bronze in the Pan American games on multiple occasions as a Greco-Roman heavyweight wrestler,and has trained in submission grappling for well over a decade.To think that Toney would be able to avoid the takedown and eventual submission (or ground and pound stoppage) from Couture is laughable,at best.

Well,you say,Couture has been dropped in recent fights by Brock Lesnar,Minotauro Nogueira,and Brandon Vera.All true.But you are taking one moment in time out of those fights.What else happened in those fights?They fought against the cage.They wrestled.They played jiu-jitsu.All things that Toney simply does not have the tools to do.

Let's think about something for a moment.Houston Alexander is a very fast,powerful,one shot KO artist.He is considerably more dangerous than Toney,in the fact that he can knock you out with his hands,his shins,his knees or his elbows.And Houston can hardly get a win in MMA to save his life.Why?Because he has no ground game.If you put him on the ground,he's helpless.And this man has considerably more MMA training than Toney does (years more,in fact),and has actually tangled with Top Ten opposition.And right now,he's the easiest win in MMA.Put him on his back,and he's yours for the taking.

 

So,I think we need to step back for a moment,and look at the history of our sport.It shows us that Toney has little chance of picking up a win against even an average opponent who knows how to complete a double leg,let alone a grapple machine like Randy Couture.Toney will convince everyone that he will KO whoever he fights before they get their hands on him,but in the end,he will fall just like all those one dimensional strikers in the early days-on his back,succumbing to strikes or the most basic of submissions.

 

Brian.