5 fighters who were one and done in the UFC

#2 James Toney

Former boxing world champ James Toney was quickly humbled in his UFC debut

Longtime UFC fans had been clamouring for a legitimate top-level boxer to get into the Octagon for years and after teases from the likes of Kermit Cintron, Amir Khan and even Floyd Mayweather, in 2010 they got their wish. Kind of, anyway, as former three-weight world champion James ‘Lights Out’ Toney signed a big deal with the promotion.

The only problem? Toney was in his early 40’s, miles past his prime, was woefully out of shape, and clearly wasn’t taking the whole thing seriously. He talked an insane amount of trash, promising that he’d be able to use his boxing skills and nothing more to climb to the top of the UFC. Clearly recognising the potential to get one over on a rival sport, the UFC matched Toney with former champ Randy Couture for his UFC debut at UFC 118.

The fight turned out to be a total embarrassment for Toney. He was taken down by an ankle pick of all things, and from there Couture simply dominated him, moving easily into full mount before slapping on an arm triangle choke. Toney couldn’t even tap out properly, waving his hands around wildly in submission instead.

The fight didn’t prove a lot about how a top-level boxer would do in MMA simply because Toney just didn’t take it seriously enough, but it was certainly funny to see him shut up. And it came as no surprise when the UFC immediately let him go after the fight, having proven their point.