The Next Great Debate: Toney vs. Belfort to box in the cage?

In life there are things that mold together like PB and J, and then there are those that don’t like a football bat.

All over MMA forums around the net, one of the most interesting debates of the day don’t even include MMA; it is about boxing.

Could the UFC really host a boxing match inside the coveted Octagon?

The answer might surprise you…

James Toney was not the first boxer to make the transition to MMA.  Thousands of boxers have tried their hand, but Toney has been one of the most out spoken about it.

Toney is not shy to tell his side of the story, so after his submission loss to Randy Couture he asked the MMA world to return the favor.  Looks like someone is more than willing to oblige.

Brazilian striker Vitor Belfort has thrown his name into the hat, but with a twist.  On the ever famous Twitter community, Belfort said…

“Dana, Let me fight James Toney on a 6 round boxing match.  I think I can catch him with my speed.  Dana, this will be the first boxing match in UFC and I promise he will feel my power and we will show the world that a UFC fighter can do better.”

While some MMA fans will begin to get caught up in this fun, don’t jump so quickly.

First off, why would you complete a boxing match in the Octagon.  Sure, money…  but it has a built in excuse.  If you are going to complete an honest assessment, then you can’t pick and chose.  That being said, I understand the difficulty and improbability Dana would allow this to happen under another company’s mantra.  As well as the probability of the UFC putting a PPV together with a cage and ring.

Secondly, it would be huge if Vitor won, but Toney can box!  They don’t call him light’s out for nothing.  He has defeated great boxers in his career, is it fools gold to think that Belfort (1-0 in pro boxing) could actually stand in front of a champion boxer and hold his own?  I am not so sure its not.

Now look at the behind the scenes factors.  What if…  Vitor gets hurt and is not able to fight for an additional six months post fight?  Vitor is supposed to be amidst a title run.  The money lost because of the inability to schedule an Anderson Silva vs. Vito Belfort fight would be greater than the money earned from a random six round boxing match that doesn’t count for anything but selfless pride.

People, if Dana White wanted to get into boxing promotion then he would have done it a long time ago.  Do not expect this fight to happen.  It just doesn’t make sense.

The fan side of me says yes, lets do it!  The fan side of me says lets put the two together and root for Vitor to destroy the bigger, fatter, out of shape Toney!