Yes folks, you read it right, boxing legend James Toney will be returning to MMA after an unsuccessful debut last year, with the 47 year-old Ken Shamrock being lined up as his opponent.
At this stage the promotion behind the event is not known and details are few and far between, but Toney’s manager claims the fight will take place in either September or October.
Toney’s first step into mixed martial arts came in the UFC last August, taking on hall-of-famer Randy Couture. Despite having plenty to say for himself before the fight the decorated boxer was clearly unprepared for the level of competition he was facing and was quickly taken down and submitted.
Despite being immediately cut from the UFC The 42 year-old vowed to return to the sport, and he’s stayed true to his word, though that the reasons for that may be financially motivated more than anything else as he’s been struggling to find a suitable fight in the boxing ring for some time now.
Like Couture, Shamrock is a former UFC champion though his glory days in the 90’s are long behind him and he’s only won three of his last 10 fights – and he tested positive for steroids after one of those victories.
Truth be told both of these fighters should have hanged up their gloves some time ago, but even though he looks like death warmed up these days, in an MMA fight Shamrock should be able to resort back to his bag of tricks from the early days of the UFC in his fight with with Toney and pull off some kind of leg lock submission.
Shamrock’s last eight losses have come via some form of knockout though, so if he risks standing with Toney then he could find himself taking an impromptu nap on the canvas.
