This is a Risky Night for the UFC

Ryan isn’t a fan of combat sports, but I’m a mild UFC fan, and tonight, if you haven’t been following the sport, is a very risky night for the UFC and mixed martial arts in general. Former boxing heavyweight champion James Toney is stepping into the octagon for the first time in his career against 47-year old MMA legend Randy Couture, who still is very competitive at his age. If Couture wins, its not really that big of a deal. A boxer tried out a different sport for the first time and failed. But if Toney wins, I think it really hurts mixed martial arts as a legitimate sport as far as the “these guys are the best fighters in the world” point of view. My guess is that Couture, who has a boatload of experience, will dominate and win this fight easily, but if Toney does win, and then goes on to dominate and defeat, younger, more in their prime fighters over the next few months, MMA might become a 3-5 year fad and disappear from its growing spotlight.

UPDATE: Well, Couture made short work of Toney, taking him down before he could even throw a punch, then dominating him with the ground and pound until eventually submitting him. I think if anything we learned (more like reinforced an ongoing trend) that you just can’t walk into a mixed martial arts ring and expect to dominate just because you are a “tough guy” or very good at boxing. It takes years of training to be an elite MMA fighter, and it shows it matches like this.