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Couture plans to show boxers 'what MMA is all about'

Randy Couture carries the flag for MMA © UFC

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Randy Couture has confirmed he plans to do what all MMA fans were praying he would when he fights James Toney: Take the fight to the mat.

Couture confirmed to MMA Weekly that the UFC is keen to set up a clash between the five-time UFC champion and the former IBF super-middleweight boxing champion. UFC 118 in Boston, which is also tipped to feature the lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn, is expected to be the likely venue.

Should the Couture/Toney bout go ahead, it will carry huge significance as the most high-profile MMA v Boxing encounter to have taken place inside the Octagon. Couture is five years the senior of the 41-year-old Toney, but he is one of the icons upon which the UFC has built its brand.

Advocates of MMA have always stated boxers would not last a round against the multi-faceted grappling requirements of a mixed martial arts contest, and Couture intends to prove just that when the two square off in August.

"It looks like we're narrowing it down, hopefully get a chance to sign for the James Toney fight here pretty quickly, and they're looking to put that fight on at UFC 118 in Boston in August," Couture said to MMA Weekly.

"Someone needs to welcome him appropriately to mixed martial arts, and show him what we're all about. He'll be very formidable at range, and I think anybody who faces him would be silly to stand around in front of him, and play that game.

"I'm going to go out and try to set him up, use my striking effectively to set him up, run him into the fence when possible, and tie him up and smother him, and put him on his butt. It's a lot harder for him to be an effective boxer from his butt."

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