• UFC 118

Booing 'turns me on' claims 290lb James Toney

James Toney has been booed his entire career © Getty Images

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James Toney will step into the Octagon at UFC 118, and he has encouraged the Boston crowd to boo him, claiming 'it turns me on'.

Toney, at 41 years of age, prepares to meet 47-year-old Randy Couture on August 28, in a fight where he will be the major underdog and No. 1 enemy in the eyes of the crowd.

Couture is just about the most popular fight on the UFC roster, a five-time champion who has already earned Hall of Fame status thanks to legendary wins over Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell and Tim Sylvia - to name just three. Toney is adamant he is about to show MMA what a 'real fighter' looks like, and he is happy to play the bad guy in the night's co-main event.

"I've been a bad guy all my life so it ain't nothing new for me," said Toney. "I can't wait. They boo me, I love it. Turns me on. Every time.

"This is America; I'm always cocky, I'm brashful, I'm braggadocios, there ain't nobody like me so they boo me. But you know what, you can't beat me, this ain't nothing new to me. It's not uncharted waters. They booed me at the Evander Holyfield fight for the entire match."

Couture will be expected to take Toney to the mat before 'squashing his head' in the words of UFC president Dana White. But the Greco-Roman wrestler confesses Toney's style presents one or two problems.

"Certainly technically in preparation for this fight James poses a little bit different problem," Couture explained. "I've faced a lot of strikers but not faced a striker like James.

"James has a unique boxing style and he sets his stance in a particular way and I've had to adjust tactics and training to fit that and to try to be effective a little bit different way."

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