"To be 100 percent honest with you, all [expletive] aside, I haven’t thought it out. I like James Toney. He’s one of the greatest boxers ever. I have tremendous respect for him. He said he wanted to fight in the UFC and I was interested. Now he’s here and I have to figure out what to do with him. What we won’t do is make a freak show out of it. I’d be the first to scream if someone else did that, so I’m not going to do it. Hey, I don’t want this to be seen as a joke, and it’s not like Herschel Walker or Canseco or any of those guys. James Toney is a fighter. The worst thing anyone can ever say to me is that they were watching one of my fights and they changed the channel. That’s why I’ll never put [expletive] fights on. James is an interesting case. We know how much talent he has as a boxer and he insists he’ll surprise people by how much MMA he knows. I’ve still got some thinking to do ... James came to me and he literally chased me around the country to do it, so I’m giving him the chance. We’ll get it figured out one way or another."
-- UFC President Dana White responds via Yahoo!Sports.com about his controversial decision to sign 41-year-old boxing champion James Toney to a multi-fight mixed martial arts contract recently. White insists that because Toney is an accomplished boxer that he does not fall into the same "freak show" category as Strikeforce's Herschel Walker (a former NFL running back) or Jose Canseco (a former MLB player). On the contrary, White insists (upon Toney's insistence) that he may actually have more than a puncher's chance if and when he makes his Octagon debut. Are you buying what Mr. White is selling or is this truly just one big laughable mistake waiting to happen?
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