We called it a freak show the other day. James Toney to the UFC will
be a circus but it’ll be one that draws lots of eyes. Maybe Dana White
did learn a lesson from all the attention Jose Canseco and Herschel
Walker got recently from the mainstream media. Lots of new eyes on your
sport are an absolute necessity. You can’t always rely on the same hardcore eyes that
always show up.
Hardcores — that includes myself before taking a
few days to soak in the analysis of the Toney signing — hated the idea
of the IBA heavyweight boxing champ in the Octagon. I’m convinced, It’s
a good move, with only a tiny downside.
Radio and television host Jim
Rome nailed it saying he won’t be able to take his eyes off it.
"What will ‘Lights Out’ do when somebody tries kick him in the face or
throw him into an arm bar him or the fight goes to the ground? I don’t
know what’s going to happen, I just know I can’t wait to find out," said Rome on Thursday’s ‘Jim Rome is Burning’. "The
beauty here is he’ll get an ‘A’ or an ‘F,’ either way I am not changing
the channel which is exactly what Dana White wants."
Rome said the fact that White is rolling the dice on Toney makes it legitimate.
"This
isn’t one of those fledgling upstarts or the minor leagues. This is the
majors. And the fact that White, always a guy who has lashed out at
what he’s called freak shows … has brought him in, well that speaks
to much respect for Toney."
For the hardcores who
are still spitting fire, you’ll notice there was no breakdown of
‘Bowles v. Cruz’ the last two days on "JRIB" or "PTI."
Sure a Toney-Kimbo Slice fight won’t possess the well-roundedness of a Jake
Shields-Dan Henderson scrap but guess what will get the lionshare of
the mainstream coverage if the fights are pitted against each other on
Apr. 17?