Boxing or MMA? Pro fighters break down James Toney vs. Randy Couture at UFC 118, Canadian fighters support Couture

By MIKE JOHNSTON

Most fight fans across Canada, North America and the rest of the world, at one point or another have been asked which is better Boxing or MMA? This weekend at UFC 118, many believe the question will finally be answered as current IBA heavyweight champion, James “Lights Out” Toney, takes on five-time UFC champion Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Toney insists this bout is neither about boxing nor MMA, but rather, it’s about Toney and Couture as individual fighters. The boxing legend is supremely confident and his entertaining interviews have some convinced he can pull off what would be arguably the biggest upsets in MMA history.

Couture owns a gym in Toronto (Xtreme Couture Toronto) and the fighters from that gym will be cheering on “The Natural.” Canadian mixed martial artists like Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki and Misha Cirkunov are backing their boy Randy. Hominick and Horodecki, in the past, have travelled to Las Vegas to prepare for fights at the original Xtreme Couture. Cirkunov, one of the top Canadian MMA prospects, trains with Randy on a regular basis.

The consensus among the fighters is that while Toney has hands dangerous hands, he won’t possess enough skills to deal with Randy’s well-roundedness and his smart, tactical approach to fighting.

Canadian MMA instructor and competitor Jeff Joslin is looking forward to Toney’s debut. “Without a doubt James Toney is a slick boxer with fantastic head movement, relaxed and accurate punching, and a killer instinct. All of those assets have me really looking forward to seeing how he does inside the 32-foot octagon shaped cage this coming weekend,” said Joslin.

“I really hope Toney brings some slick movement and long range techniques with him as well on the night of his UFC debut as he desperately needs to avoid being grabbed, stuffed and squished against the cage. If he cannot stop Randy from doing those things, this heavyweight match-up between two combat sport legends, will be over very,very quickly,” added Joslin.

UFC middleweight Patrick Cote predicts Couture will be too much for Toney. “If Randy underestimates his boxing skills it would be a big mistake. But how is James Toney going to react to wearing 4-ounce gloves because he’s used to the bigger gloves in boxing? He has some skills and he has punching power, but in MMA you have to be well-rounded so I think Randy will be too much for him.”

Here are some other opinions from professional fighters about how this fight will go, courtesy of a recent UFC press release. It seems as though boxers and mixed martial artists can agree on one thing: Randy Couture will win.

CLICK HERE to find out what fighters like Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy, Carlos Condit, David Haye, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Amir Khan think...