You might be forgiven for assuming that former multi-weight boxing champion James Toney would be bowing out of MMA after suffering a frankly one sided loss to Randy Couture. But you would be wrong.
After earning around a million dollars for his four minute long UFC 118 appearance, Toney is apparently keen to continue experimenting with mixed martial arts, and has been talking up a number of potential opponents over the last few days, most of which he claims are ducking him. Usually also adding his customary taunts aimed at the best the heavyweight division in boxing has to offer at the moment as well. The UFC it appears though are less keen for him to grace the Octagon again after his last performance, and probably even less keen to shell out a large sum of money to see him do it.
Of all the fighters you might expect to want to take Toney on though, Brazilian middleweight contender Vitor Belfort wasn't probably very high up on the list. Not least of which given that Belfort wants to take him on in a boxing ring rather than the cage. As much as Toney and Belfort might go back and forth in the media over the next few weeks though, nothing will come of the idea thankfully because Vitor is under contract to the UFC.
While Toney might not mind the idea of tarnishing his image by losing a one sided fight in MMA, Dana White isn't going to be keen on having one of his middleweight contenders beaten up by a heavyweight boxer for no particular reason. Belfort has lightning fast hands in the cage and can finish anyone he catches, but tends to stand square on and would have little to offer against a boxer of Toney's albeit faded talent.
In further UFC news it was also announced earlier today that much hyped heavyweight prospect Todd Duffee has unexpectedly been cut from the UFC, although no reasons have yet been given by either the promotion or the fighter himself.
Duffee (6-1) fought just twice for the promotion, knocking out Tim Hague in just 7 seconds and then losing, in what many consider to be one of the greatest comeback fights in the sport to date, against Mike Russow. A third fight was twice scheduled, but in the end Duffee pulled out both times with what looked like a couple of minor injuries.
Barring a sudden serious injury meaning he wouldn't be able to fight for the foreseeable future, (which would probably have been reported about anyway), there aren't any obvious reasons for his parting ways with the company. Although there are quite a few interesting theories flying around amongst both the fans and the journalists alike.
Everything from drug scandals, both performance enhancing and recreational, to butting heads with the management have been mentioned. Some are also alleging that he faked an injury and pulled out of a fight in order to appear in a movie, which the UFC are bound to have taken a dim view of if it turns out to be true. It could of course be something as simple as having pulled out of fights once too often. Either way though for as much hype as the UFC have poured over Duffee, it must have been something serious. More details to come as and when they are available.
In other news, fledgling MMA promotion Shine Fights appears to have once again run aground after making big plans for an eight man, one night, lightweight tournament. After being turned down for a promoter's license by the Virginia athletic commission, the event was set to take place in Oklahoma, but problems seem to have arisen there as well.
The Virginia commission said that the license was denied due to failure to produce the necessary paperwork, including a surety bond (guarantee that fighter's purses would be paid), medical records and several other documents. Shine representatives said that they had not been given the chance to produce the documents, and that their license had been denied before they had a chance to get their paperwork together.
From there the event was moved to the First Council Casino which is on Native American land and as such means that the athletic commission has no jurisdiction there. Problem solved for Shine then? Not so fast.
The Oklahoma commission, concerned with fighter safety given that any one of the eight could potentially have to fight through nine rounds in a single night, has promised to ban any fighters who take part for 60 days. Which will also probably be honored by the rest of the athletic commissions nationwide. Not in itself something that would usually be that much of a threat given that most fighters tend to take a couple of months off in between fights anyway, but in this case several of the fighters scheduled to take part have other commitments in place within the next 60 days.
Marcus Aurelio in particular appears to have found himself in a difficult situation because of the debacle. He currently has a fight scheduled on September 25th in Japan under the Dream banner against Shinya Aoki. Shine fights though claim to have an exclusive contract with him meaning that they have to give him permission for him to compete for other promotions.
Reading between the lines it looks as if Shine will only let Aurelio fight in Dream if he takes part in their tournament this Friday. The problem for Aurelio though is that if he does he will be banned for 60 days by the Oklahoma commission, and will then compete in Japan during the ban period, meaning regaining his license in the U.S after his ban might become difficult.
Earlier this year the Florida based promotion put together a bout between boxer Ricardo Mayorga and Din Thomas, only for the bout and subsequently the event to be canceled. Only days away from the event Mayorga's promoter Don King filed an injunction to stop his fighter from taking part, and the presiding athletic commission also noted a lack of proper paperwork in that instance as well. A worrying pattern developing for Shine, who might have been better served starting off a bit smaller.
> BOXING SCHEDULE > ROY JONES JR. TORNADO FUNDRAISER > FIGHT LIFE MAGAZINE 
