UFC 118: Randy Couture Submits James Toney

By Michael David Smith - Lead Blogger

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The 41-year-old former boxing world champion James Toney made his mixed martial arts debut Saturday night at UFC 118. It did not go well.

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture easily beat Toney by first-round submission, confirming what everyone suspected: In a mixed martial arts match, a good mixed martial artist will beat a past-his-prime boxer.

"This was exactly what I trained to do," Couture said.

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Couture shot in for a takedown about 15 seconds into the first round and didn't have any trouble at all getting on top of Toney on the ground, fully mounting Toney and landing punches to the face. Toney looked like a fish out of water on the ground, not having any concept of how to escape from the full mount. The fans in Boston started chanting "U-F-C" as if to say that their sport, MMA, is superior to Toney's sport, boxing.

Midway through the first round Couture decided it was time to submit Toney, and so he sunk in the arm triangle choke that left Toney waving to the referee -- as if he didn't know he was supposed to tap out -- to signal that he was quitting.

"He caught me on the ground," Toney said. "But I'll be back."

Couture, the fan favorite, congratulated Toney in his post-fight interview in the Octagon, and said he hoped more boxers would enter the UFC. That caused the fans to cheer, but realistically, there's not much reason for boxers to step into the Octagon. Toney showed that a novice -- even a novice who was once a good boxer -- simply won't succeed in the UFC.

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Read More: ufc 118, James Toney (MMA), Randy Couture (MMA)

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