Couture puts the “lights out” on Toney with Arm Triangle

Written By:  Armando Paz

There was not much suspense or drama in the UFC 118 event that put Randy Couture a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion against James “lights out” Toney a former boxing multi-divisional  champion in  Boston.  It was widely believed that Couture who is well disciplined in the arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Greco-Roman Wrestling would simply win when it became a ground war.  Toney who came in weighing 237 pounds was immediately taking down by a full mount and didn’t have the techinical skills to adequately defend himself in the ground.   To his credit, Toney did last longer on the ground than i expected, but getting choked out was inevitable.  Couture while on top of Toney landed several strikes on the head while Toney desperately tried to fire back.  The only hope for Toney was to land something significant that could either hurt Couture or knock him out.  But at 3:18 of the first round Toney submitted after being choked out via Arm Triangle.

There was no conceivable way that 9 months of trainning was going to mitigate all the experience of a veteran champion like Randy Couture.  The result was many ways similar to what happened to Matthew Saad Muhammad when he also was choked out by MMA fighter Kiyoshi Tamura in 34 seconds.  Of course, the biggest fight in having a boxer matched up against a MMA fighter was when Muhammad Ali fought Antonio Inoki. The match had certain regulations that prohibited when kicks would be allowed.  The fight would be scored a draw with Ali landed only a few clean punches and Inoki scoring with low kicks.  Many felt that the fight did do some damage to Ali’s legs and slowed him down.

Unless boxers like Kermit Cintron or Zab Judah who are skilled in various forms of MMA compete in these matches, than expect more of what you got in Boston last night, which is little suspense and foregone conclusion.

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