White: We’re Going to Make an Example of James Toney

UFC President Dana White couldn’t help but compare Brock Lesnar and James Toney after UFC 116.

Lesnar, who submitted Shane Carwin in the main event Saturday to unify the UFC heavyweight title, first entered the Octagon with little MMA experience but an extensive amateur wrestling background. Toney, who fights Randy Couture on Aug. 28 in Boston at UFC 118, will debut in the UFC with no MMA experience but has a long boxing career under his belt.

“I know they threw me to the wolves,” Lesnar said of his entry into the UFC, which began with a February 2008 loss to Frank Mir. “(White) said, ‘We’re not going to give you any easy fights.’ They were going to make an example of me. Absolutely. I know the thought crossed his mind.”

“No,” White interrupted Lesnar, “we’re going to make an example of James Toney.”

Many of those gathered at the UFC 116 postfight news conference laughed.

“I hope he’s not in here and I don’t have to listen to him right now,” White added.

Like Lesnar, the 41-year-old Toney appears to have urged White into giving him a shot in the Octagon.

“It’s become this whole UFC versus boxing thing,” White said. “I said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m always yapping about people who do freak shows. I’m doing one. I got sucked into one. James Toney talked a lot of smack, and he picked a fight and now it’s going to happen.”

Toney holds a boxing record of 72-6 and has won multiple world titles in the sport. He might not be able to wrestle, but his punching ability is unquestioned.

“James Toney’s been an accomplished fighter for many years, and he’s training in mixed martial arts now,” White said. “James Toney’s a real fighter. James and I go back and forth. He’s mad at me right now and he’s going to be even more pissed off now after what I just said, but the reality is I am not so delusional that I don’t think that anything can happen when two big guys get in there and start throwing punches. Believe me, I’ve seen, and I’m sure that many of you who’ve been in the fight business for a long time have seen some crazy things happen, and James Toney’s no joke. He’s a real guy, and I noticed the difference in the weight that he’s lost already. I wasn’t sure if he was going to come in and talk all this smack and then stay heavy and not really train. He’s training and he’s going to try to knock out Randy Couture that night.”

Of course Couture likely won’t be trying to knock out Toney. He’ll almost certainly try to take Toney down and punish him on the ground or score a submission. A former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Couture is already a significant favorite at sportsbooks. It’s a matchup he wanted.

“Randy Couture called me,” White explained, “and said, ‘If James Toney really does fight in the UFC, I want this fight. I want to fight him.’ You don’t say no to Randy Couture, so we’re doing it.”