Boxing Great Toney Signs Up with UFC (Pound for Pound MMA)

Another professional athlete from another sport has signed up with the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC and aspires to become a MMA pound for pound champion. This time it’s former boxing great James “Light’s Out” Toney who won Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year honors twice, in 1991 and 2003. Toney recently signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC. With his skills and experience in the boxing ring, Toney undoubtedly has what it takes to become a future MMA pound for pound champion but his entrance to the MMA arena has been met with mixed reactions at best.

It seems that many are quite unsure how tony would fare inside the octagon ring. Even UFC president Dana White admits that he is not sure about how Toney’s stint with UFC will turn out. “To be 100 percent honest with you, all [expletive] aside, I haven’t thought it out,” he said. Toney is not the first professional boxer to join the UFC but he is probably the most well-known. The stint of pro boxers in the UFC have been met with mixed results. Toney is aspiring to be the first high profile boxer to become a MMA pound for pound champion.

With a record of 72 wins, 6 losses, 3 draws and 44 knockouts in several weight divisions, Toney’s boxing career can be described as colorful. He tested positive twice for banned substances, once for steroids in 2005 by the New York Athletic Commission and then once again in 2007 by the California State Athletic Commission. These events resulted in Toney’s suspension in the sports of boxing. Now 41 years old, Toney is posed to revive his fighting career at the UFC and be among the great MMA pound for pound champions.

Though the date is not yet set on Toney’s big UFC debut, MMA enthusiasts the world over are already picking out possible opponents for the former boxing champ. Given Toney’s credential, it is likely that he will be matched with MMA pound for pound greats instead of up and coming fighters. The names of MMA pound for pound legends such as Chuck Liddell, Kimbo Slice, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Frank Mir and Rampage Jackson have all come up in discussions.

With his age, Toney is not expected to stay long in UFC. He will have limited chances to become a MMA pound for pound great so it is likely that UFC will square him off with an establish MMA pound for pound great already.