John Morgan of MMAJunkie has a great article with Don Frye on the subject of James Toney and other professional athletes looking to jump into MMA.
“I tell you what: Anybody who fights an [expletive] like James Toney or Herschel Walker or Jose Canseco or any of them other [expletives] that come into our sport at their age should be required to take them down and break as many bones as possible on them and keep them crippled for six-to-eight weeks,” Frye recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “I’d break both their [expletive] arms so they’d have to hire somebody to wipe their ass for the next six-to-eight weeks. It should be a requirement.”
Former pro footballer Walker makes his mixed martial debut for Strikeforce on Jan. 30. Former baseball star Canseco infamously fought under the DREAM banner in May 2009.
Frye believes former professional athletes entering the MMA game at such an advanced age are hurting the current state of the sport.
“That’s why nobody respects this sport, and it’s just a circus act right now,” Frye said. “They have these morons come in at the age they should be sitting in the retirement home, and they walk in and get a high-dollar fight.”
Payout Perspective:
I certainly don’t condone breaking bones or crippling people, but the point Frye makes is well taken: MMA cannot be a stop-over for all of these over-the-hill professional athletes just looking to make a quick buck and capitalize on MMA’s popularity. That’s the surest way for the sport to be dismissed and labelled a fad.
We’ve got all of these examples in front of us – IFL, EliteXC, Affliction, etc. – that all jumped the gun with excess spending, delusions of grandeur, and freak show fights. The sooner the industry learns from these examples the better.
The long term future of the sport demands that MMA stay its course and do things the right way, but James Toney is a shortcut. He’s not 30 years old or even in decent shape; he’s a 43 year-old washed up boxer that trains MMA with his daddy.
He has a point but he is the last one who should be passing along this message. The fact is he and his manager paid a fighter to take a dive early in his UFC career. Something that is clear to everyone who has seen it, admited by his opponent Mark Hall, yet he wont admit. Admited to taking roids “in the past” but puts on 30+ lbs of muscle while in Japan. Had fights i would call “fishy” in Pride like his Yoshida fight. Then left MMA for like 5 years to do pro wrestling. Then he makes personal comments towards Ken Shamrock which he later appolgized for of course it was only AFTER Don got the fight he wanted and won that fight did he say he was sorry. Then gets drunk at a Hawaii MMA show and gets in a fight and KOed.
Don is a funny guy and puts on entertaining fights. BUt he is the last guy who should be saying someone is disrespecting the sport. But this is probably just Don trying to get something else he wants by disrespecting other athletes and thats probably a contract with StrikeForce or anyone who will give him some money.
Don got his ass whooped by a little guy on the streets in youtube…so i think he should stop talking tough…hope toney reads this and he confronts frye on the streets where don would freeze in fear(all skill out the window)lol
I hear you Brain. I almost tend to believe that, at his age and given his past, Don Frye is one of those guys he, himself, talks about. But I still appreciate the point he makes.
I’m not sure it’s as much a reflection of Dana and the UFC as it is the rest of the MMA community – the smaller promoters that are more tempted to do a Sylvia-Mercer or amputee fight for a quick cash grab. Those are the ones that hurt us.
Agree. Its very bad for the sport. I think bringing in a TOP boxer and getting him owned would help the sport nail boxing down for good. But this is impossible to do. When Jimmerson lost in MMA he was called washed up, has been, never was any good by boxing fans. The same for Milton Bowen. They did the same when Botha was just a year or so removed as a legit HW contender in Boxing. When he got beat in K1 and MMA(via Akiyamma) he was washed up. It will always be their cop out. Even if you beat the Boxer with the belt there will be people who claim he wasnt the legit champ because he didnt fight X contender. So the only way to win would be to destroy the people champ. The guy mainstream respects because you can never shut up boxing fans. BUt that means beating a Oscar Dela Hoya or Mayweather. Then you are talking a price so high it will never happen. Also one of them landing a lucky punch in the UFC with all the world watching could hurt MMA just as bad as boxing would be hurt if they lose.
I wouldnt mind the UFC bring guys in if they do it the Kimbo way. Force them to go through TUF. Afterwards win or lose you can claim they put in thier time and become a Mixed MArtial Artist. They are not a pure boxer anymore. This also a way to make it look like they earned their way into the show and not leap frog legit fighters and it also takes some of the circus act out of it. Fact is Dana didnt let Kurt Angle in the UFC because he didnt take it serious and wanted to come in and fight without training and putting in his dues. I dont think Toney should be allowed to just walk in and fight. I think TUF stint is manditory.