MMA Roundup: Couture-Toney, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler

It’s been a crazy week for MMA, following what was easily the best event of April last weekend, when the WEC made its pay-per-view debut. In fact, it’s been a crazy month, summarized by the reality that the “sleeper” of all of the big April events ended up being the only one to really deliver anything but pure strangeness. With hopes that May will deliver better in-cage (or in-ring) action, let’s discuss some of the news of the last week.

Couture Gets What He Wants

Dana White confirmed the fears of at least one MMA fan (take a wild guess who) when he said that he was working on putting together a fight between Randy Couture and James Toney for UFC 118. Couture had previously campaigned for the opportunity to fight Toney ever since Toney was signed by White to enter the cage and compete in the world-famous organization.

So, there you have it. The most anti-climactic possible matchup that could have been made for Toney appears to be all but done. This has me really questioning the UFC’s motives. Are they simply looking for a fight that Toney has zero chance to win? Because this is it. Why would you put Toney in with a guy who, for the last year or two, has made a living off of simply pushing people up against the cage and controlling them for three rounds en route to victories via decision? Are we really just trying to send boxing a message, here? Because if so, it won’t work. Toney is too old, and all of the young boxers will say that it wouldn’t happen to them. Well, the younger boxers. After all, it’s not like there are a lot of pay-per-view draws in boxing under 30 years old.

I can almost talk myself into understanding this. Couture will be somewhat likely to want to test the boxing veteran with a little standup here and there, and he will be more likely to clinch with Toney standing up than to put him flat on his back, like just about any other UFC fighter would. Plus, you have the “big name” aspect of having a UFC Hall of Famer against one of the best boxers of the last few decades. The problem is that aside from all of that, they still have to fight, and this is not a fight that I really want to watch. At all.

I’m very surprised that Couture has wanted this fight so badly, too. Just a few months ago, I seem to remember Couture alluding to getting into the title mix and facing Lyoto Machida, and now he’s going to step into the cage with an over 40-year old boxer with zero MMA fights. Apparently, getting into the title mix isn’t so important for Couture, after all.

Speaking of Anti-Climactic…

Nothing has been signed yet, but does anybody at this point expect Jake Shields to end up anywhere but the UFC? One of the many memorable moments of WEC 48 was watching a grinning Dana White with his arm around Shields, pointing at him and mouthing to the camera, “he’s mine.” Meanwhile, Strikeforce tried to suck up to Shields at the last minute, with announcers gushing all over him during the telecast of his fight with Dan Henderson, but it was probably too little, too late for a fighter who felt slighted by the organization during its promotion of the event itself.

Even if Strikeforce offered the money that the UFC was offering, they can’t compete with the prestige, exposure and opportunities that the UFC will give Shields. Furthermore, Shields has talked non-stop over the last couple of years about wanting to face the best fighters in the world, which is impossible within the confines of Strikeforce.

Shields really made out like a bandit through all of this. The UFC and Dana White were not exactly huge Jake Shields fans a year or two ago. He was known as a rather dull fighter who hadn’t faced anyone of real consequence and didn’t have any name recognition yet. Now, he has soundly beaten the first big free agent to leave the UFC for Strikeforce, and has also become somewhat of a pawn in a pissing match between White and Strikeforce. I’m not saying that White doesn’t want Shields in the UFC, but I am saying that he wants to stick it to Strikeforce even more than he wants Shields in the UFC. Shields is going to cash in on the whole thing, and good for him.

Fights Announced for Upcoming Months

Thank goodness, there was some news over the last few days regarding actual fights, rather than just domestic abuse allegations, post-fight brawls, or any other nonsense. In fact, the upcoming months are looking to be full of great matchups, some of which were just recently announced.

Roy Nelson will get his next test at UFC 116, where he will face the always-dangerous Cheick Kongo. At the same show, Nate “The Great” Marquardt will get a rather favorable matchup against Alessio Sakara, who has nonetheless looked very good of late. Marquardt will really need an impressive win to get back towards title contention after an embarrassing performance against Chael Sonnen. It also came out recently that Jon Jones and Vladimir Matyushenko had verbally agreed to face one another at UFC 116. This is actually an interesting matchup, as Matyushenko is the very essence of the term “crafty veteran” and has been hovering around the top twenty in the division for awhile now. Jones will really have to avoid overlooking “The Janitor”, or it could be a tough night.

Meanwhile, the TUF 11 finale main event has been named, and it’s kind of a head-scratcher. Keith Jardine will face Matt Hamill on Spike TV that night, and while it makes sense as a good fight for Jardine, it’s not exactly a very sexy matchup for such a big event. Finally, in Strikeforce, Robbie Lawler will take on Renato “Babalu” Sobral at a 195-lb. catchweight on June 16. Lawler was supposed to face Jason “Mayhem” Miller, but Strikeforce’s Scott Coker is shying away from that matchup, as he expects Miller to receive a suspension for his “role” in the now-infamous cage brawl at Strikeforce: Nashville. Lawler-Babalu is a great fight, but it’s a complete joke if Miller gets suspended and the rest of the parties involved do not.

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Tags: Babalu Sobral, boxing vs. MMA, Chael Sonnen, Cheick Kongo, Dan Henderson, Dana White, Jake Shields, James Toney, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Jon Jones, Keith Jardine, Matt Hamill, Nate Marquardt, Randy Couture, Robbie Lawler, Roy Nelson, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Nashville, UFC, UFC 116