According to James Toney, he and Randy Couture were supposed to battle it out in a boxing match following their MMA bout.
Before and after his MMA debut, James Toney was an incredible boxing sensation. From 1988 to 2017, he competed in 92 professional boxing matches and gained a total of 77 wins.
Toney fought in multiple weight classes and won championships in three of them. But in 2010, it was time for Toney to broaden his horizons and take a shot at another combat sport.
UFC 118 saw Randy Couture and James Toney as the co-main event. Although “Lights Out” lost the match in round 1 via an arm-triangle choke, he still enjoyed the experience and showed appreciation for MMA and the fans.
He may not have remained in the sport like he originally planned, but had fun nonetheless.
Fast forward to 2022 and Toney is not happy with the way things ended between him and Couture. In an interview with Murder Master Music Show, Toney recalls a boxing match agreement with Couture that was supposed to take place after their cage fight.
“I knew he was scared when the fight was made,” Toney said. “Randy is a great fighter in MMA. We had made a deal that we do one fight MMA and one fight boxing. But of course, after he beat me, he retires. What kind of shit is that? That’s a coward move, I lost a lot of respect for him. He retired a week later. The bad thing about it is I made more money than he did. I offered to pay him more money for the boxing than he made with the fight with me.” (h/t MyMMANews)
Unfortunately, boxing and MMA fans never saw the boxing match come to fruition.
The year after their MMA fight, Couture had his final bout against Lyoto Machida and lost via kick to the head in round 2. Meanwhile, Toney continued to make strides in his boxing career until retiring in 2017.
What are your thoughts on James Toney not getting a boxing match with Randy Couture?
