THE TSS TAKEAWAY: Readers' Cleanest, Hardest Shots Post Toney-Coture

Well, we got that out of our system. Hopefully.

Anyone with a more than rudimentary knowledge of mixed martial arts, and James Toneys recent history in the hype-trashtalk: performance ratio department had a pretty good idea what would go down in Boston at UFC 118. Randy Couture would take Toney to the mat, Toney would be unable to fight off his back, and Couture would close the show, by strikes or submission, in round one. Editor Mike doesnt regard himself as any sort of master prognosticator for calling that one beforehand…

But public opinion, at least as sampled here in TSS U, indicates that many folks are less than pleased with James Toneys foray into MMA. They sense this was a cash grab uinitiated by the fighter, nothing more, and cite as evidence his horrible physique. Wed been told that Toney would be in the best shape hed been in in some time. But the weigh-in proved otherwise. His shape was the same shape fight fans had seen from him in this decade: round. Bulging. Message boards tittered when they saw his plumbers crack as he went to step on the scale at the weigh in. Hypers still said that Toney was in supreme condition, even though our eyes told us differently. Shame on us for not believing our lying eyes…I do believe there was enough info out there for an aware consumer to have real good idea of what was going to happen. But as always, it is buyer beware when assessing when you should plunk down money on a PPV. Promoters have a job to do–separate you from your dough. Know this, keep it in your wallet like an emergency condom, and you should be OK.

Word is Toney made something close to a million bucks for the opportunity to get blitzed by Couture. Hopefully he will use a portion of that to get the most sophisticated brain imaging testing available, and gauge what sort of brain damage he has suffered. Because his speech at this point is truly frightening. I for one resolve to put the pressure on any commission which sanctions a Toney fight, and will push for stringent testing and proof of acceptable results if Toney tries to get back in the ring or the cage.

Heres the best and brightest from TSS Universe following Toneys sad showing in Boston.

9) B-Real I dont think anyone expected James Toney to win ….BUT we did expect a bit more action for all the @!%* he was talkin. Time to bow out Toney. You made not only yourself, but boxing, to a degree, look even worse.

8) The Fight Dr James Toney was outpointed in the match but was already the winner going in. In just his first MMA match he was the highest paid MMA fighter ever, he made more than Randy Couture, the bottom line is that this is a business and Toney had enough clout as an athlete in another sport to command the top wage in his debut. Couture was smart but showed no b—s. It was not a fight, it was a wrestler wrestling a boxer. No commission in the USA would sanction a Toney vs. Couture boxing match, but MMA allowed Toney to fight its Hall of Famer and make more money than him in his debut..Nuff Said!

7) VJoe Toney has ripped off the fans (and himself) for years by never getting even close to in shape for his fights. His off-the-chart boxing abilities have been negated by his lack of discipline and his trash talking, disrespectful, self-aggrandizing personality. One I am the greatest of all time was more than enough for this strange and beautiful sport.

6) Howard Cosell The sport of MMA will fade as quickly as it came in to being! There is no foundation, it shot up too fast. The UFC is a tight fisted organizaton that pays the fighters next to nothing on the grand scale. It is still minor league in its internal operation, the outside may grand and functional but it will soon die down and become a ghost of what it is today. Mark my words, I always tell lit like it is. Toney had no business being in the Octagon. Can you imagine a novice making his debut against Wladimir Klitschko in a 12 round PPV bout? This is like a minor league baseball game a gimmick to sell tickets…A hot dog eating contest would have been more appropriate….MMA showed its a bush league operation by allowing Toney to fight one of its UFC elite.

5) MMA by KO This thing made Tua-Ruiz look like a Balboa-Creed 2! I had no idea that these MMA guys were this tough. Couture never even broke a sweat and kicked the ever-loving crap out of Toney. Bottom line, in a street fight, or in a primitive/caveman sense, MMA guys are tougher. Theyll brutalize boxers with no mercy. MMA is a superior craft. MMA is the iPhone to boxings old street corner pay-phone. If Pacquiao were to step in with even an average 140 pound MMA guy, Pacquiao would think that Torrecampo was an easy night. Radam G had me convinced that Toney would win this thing so convincingly that hed potentially be prosecuted for assault. He mentioned how Camacho knocked 300 lb guys out in the ring routinely, how Toney has off the charts punching power, and that when an MMA tattooed knucklehead races in recklessly against an elite boxer, hed get flattened. All of this was wrong. Oh well, boxing got knocked out last night. I watched this thing at an establishment and the laughter at Toney nearly took the roof down. Sure, he made money, but he lost any morsel of respect he had left doing it.

4) DAVE B This was just a step above the Average Joe vs. A Pro. You cant go into another mans turf and win. It would be extremely hard to do against a good amateur and almost impossible to do against an elite professional. Toney cant even win against the dinner table. Im not saying he isnt tough because he is. It is just that being tough sometimes isnt enough. Sometimes tough will get you killed when you have no idea of what you are doing. Toney thought full on that he was just going to catch him with a good punch and it would be lights out, instead Couture caught him and it was tap out.

3) In Touch I said this well before the match: James Toney isnt even a heavyweight. Hes a guy who cant eat and train with discipline to stay at the weight he should be — 180 lbs at most. So, what he has done is make boxing look bad by being fat and slow and challenging an MMA fighter and pretending to be a rep for boxers. Thats shameful. Even great ex-fighters can bring shame to the sport. Toney certainly didnt do boxing proud. And the sad thing is, hes so selfish he doesnt care. Then, if you dont care, try not to represent the sport you no longer care for.

2) The Saint I think all the talk about Toney training for the last nine months is a bunch of crap. Toney showed ZERO understanding of the ground game. Well, except for the slow mo sprawl and he at least tried to keep his head glued to Coutures torso when he got mounted, to prevent getting pounded. But it was as though whatever training Toney had flew out the window when Couture got a hold of him. Toney was so concerned about protecting his face that he couldnt even do so much as to trap Coutures leg to prevent him from going over to the side to get full leverage on the side choke. And Toney gained ridiculous weight during this training period. I swear I saw footage of him training for this fight in which he looked at least 20lbs lighter.

1) Mortcola A) There was never any reason to think Toney could win this fight without nailing Couture with a solid punch; B) Tony is both one of the slickest and most knowledgeable boxers of our era, and a fat, old heavyweight-only-by-eating-disorder who has not looked more than semi-competitive against ranked competition in HIS OWN SPORT in a decade. C) He never came close to earning a Klitschko fight, nor to being enough of a draw to warrant it from a business perspective; D) He is a lot like the older Archie Moore, fight-wise anyway, who could be both far smarter and slicker than the other guy but barely competitive from an athletic or size standpoint; E) The idea that a Klitschko would have been afraid of him is really, really silly; F) He deserves respect for his boxing slickness, and disrespect for seldom ever backing up the rough talk with a commensurate performance; G) Yeah, he made money, but it was for a sidesho, one that got people talking about a lot of nothing. Fat guy gets tripped, falls down, gets choked out, in a sport in which hes a novice. Gimme more, baby!