Boxing Vet James Toney Signs Multi Fight Deal With UFC, May Fight Kimbo Slice First

NABO heavyweight boxing champion James “Lights Out” Toney has officially signed a multi-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championships according to several sources.  There is no assigned opponent for him yet nor is there an official date, but sources close to us indicate a possible pay-per-view match-up between the boxing veteran Toney and Miami-based street fighter Kimbo Slice.

Kimbo Slice was scheduled to take on TUF 10 fighter Mike Mitrione as part of the UFC 113 fight card in Montreal.  Since that was taken off the UFC website, it makes it almost obvious that the fight between Toney and Kimbo may be announced sometime soon.  We’ll be sure to keep you guys posted once a bout agreement is official.

Not too long ago, Toney was quoted saying that UFC President was a joke…

From Toney a little over a month ago:

“Dana White’s first offer was a joke and that lets me know he really don’t want to do this … his offer was laughable. That’s the reason I wanted the camera guy in the room with us when I sat down with Dana, so the fans would know that I was serious and if it didn’t happen, it wasn’t because of me.”

It seems like both parties have been able to come to terms as we now find Toney as part of the new UFC roster.  We also found out that the former trainer of Rampage Jackson, Juanito Ibarra, has been selected by Toney himself to prepare him for his first-ever MMA fight.

From Ibarra:

“We have been working on stretching, sprawling and movement, all the things he will need to get a handle on…We get along real well. He’s a great student. He considers me a teacher. Hopefully this chemistry that we have can carry us to a title in MMA. James Toney will fight anybody. It’s up to us to help him figure things out. What I would like to see and what his manager would like to see … Kimbo Slice. It makes sense. The weight factor makes sense. Maybe a 220 [lbs.] fight somewhere in there. Two guys who have great names. I would love to see that fight …I think that’s a great opponent … hopefully the UFC would consider something like that. He’s said it all over the Internet. He calls him Simba. He says he wanted Simba Slice. I’d like to get him down to 205 and fight the winner of a Chuck and Tito. Fights with Kimbo Slice and he goes on to fight the winner of a Chuck and Tito fight …I think it would sell and I think it would be a hell of a fight.”"

We’ll keep you guys posted on the latest news with James Toney and when we’ll see him in the octagon.

Wanderlei Silva Doesn’t Need Help From Juanito Ibarra To Beat Rampage Jackson

In an article we posted last week, trainer/manager Juanito Ibarra told media that he had " the formula that can make Wanderlei Silva beat Rampage easy."  Despite the years of training Ibarra had with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva refused to acquire any "formula" or assistance from Juanito Ibarra.

Silva has defeated Jackson two times during his MMA career, attaining both wins in Japan at the PrideFC organization.  Silva is currently training hardcore for this upcoming third fight, which looks to be a very different match for both fighters.  The UFC 92 bout is scheduled to take place on December 27th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wanderlei Silva, who appeared on Brazil Combate TV, talked about being approached with an offer from Juanito Ibarra on :

“I’ve received a letter from someone offering training with Juanito (Ibarra) to me, but I didn’t care to accept it… (the letter) contained phone numbers that I could use to get in touch with Juanito, but I threw it away…I think it’s unethical to accept the former coach of my opponent, and
if Juanito is doing this with Rampage, he may do the same with me later."

Juanito Ibarra: “I Have The Formula That Can Make Wanderlei Silva Beat Rampage Easy”

Juanito Ibarra, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson’s long time trainer/manager, stopped training the former UFC light heavyweight champion after a controversial UFC 86 title loss to Forrest Griffin.  Since then, Rampage has been training with ‘Wolfslair’ in Liverpool, England with other UFC fighters including Michael Bisping and Paul Kelly.

Due to Ibarra’s very close relationship with Rampage, there is nobody in the world who knows him beter than he does.  In a recent interview found on fighthype, Ibarra talks about a "forumula" that he secretly knows to beat Rampage Jackson if Wanderlei Silva decided to give him a phone call.  Vice versa, Ibarra also feels that from his boxing/mixed martial arts experience, he also knows how Rampage can defeat Wanderlei "easy." 

Here’s a snip from Juanito Ibarra himself:

"I have the forumula that can make Wanderlei Silva beat Rampage easy; easy!  And I also have the forumula where I think Rampage can beat Wanderlei Silva easy and I’ve always said that.  I don’t care how many times Wanderlei beat Rampage and how he beat him, I just know this and I told people because they were telling me Wanderlei was asking me.  I ain’t believing nothing until I get the phone call from him.  Otherwise, it’s just a big rumor to me.  I’m not trying to get off of that, I’m just saying it’s a similar situation of knowing both parties and knowing their weaknesses."

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Rampage Jackson’s Coach (Juanito Ibarra) talks about vengeance over Shogun and the Axe Murderer

Rampage Jackson is the new star over at the Ultimate Fighting Championships with 3 consecutive wins to his favor including huge wins over Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson.  Rampage has acquired both the current UFC Light Heavyweight title and the unification Light Heavyweight title that Henderson had at PrideFC.

So what’s next for Rampage Jackson??  At this point, he can only look to defend his belt as he awaits his next opponent.  There are speculations that Forrest Griffin may be next as he seems like the only one at this point who deserves his chance for a title shot.  However, things may be different in the eyes of the UFC President Dana White.  What about Mauricio Shogun or Wanderlei Silva?

Juanito Ibarra, Rampage’s coach, tells us that he feels very confident that Rampage is different and is without a doubt a much more improved fighter than what he was in Pride. 

"I’ve always said that our plan is to get vengeance, you know?  Our plan is to get everyone that beat us and our plan is to get Wanderlei Silva or Shogun next.  That’s just on my desire list, but I don’t know if those kids are ready or if they want to fight Rampage so we’ll have to see.  We’ll make a choice collectively with the matchmaker Joe and the promoter Dana and see what the choice is."  When asked if he’d prefer Shogun or Silva, he said "Either or.  Me personally, I would want Wanderlei, but I’ll be happy with either or."