Ken Shamrock-James Toney Special Rules MMA Match Targeted for November, Possibly Out of Country

Randy Couture puts the GNP on James Toney at UFC 118

The proposed special rules mixed martial arts match between UFC veteran Ken Shamrock and boxing world champion James Toney is being targeted for November.

Ivaylo Gotzev, one of the fight’s promoters, advised MMAWeekly.com of the month targeted for the unique bout. In addition, Gotzev and his partners are nearing finalization of the venue, which could be in one of two American states or out of the country.

“(We’re looking at) two different states and, actually, going outside of the country,” Gotzev said. “We’re zeroing in right now, but it’s going to be November.”

The match-up, which was originally rumored to take place in El Paso, Texas, in September, never had a confirmed date according to the promoter. Any speculation of the date and venue was just that, speculation.

Ken Shamrock

“When people came up with an original date (in September) that was somewhat of a guess,” Gotzev said.

The pending bout between Shamrock and Toney is unique in that ground work following a takedown will be allowed to go for only 30 seconds and the fighters will have only that amount of time to finish their grounded opponent. Once the 30-second time limit expires, the two will be required to stand back up in fighting positions, regardless of position on the floor.

Despite Toney’s performance against former UFC champion Randy Couture at UFC 118, wherein Toney was submitted early in the first round, the boxing world champion feels that he has what it takes to be competitive in a ground fight.

Since the fight with Couture, Toney now claims he has ground skills.

“I know the ground game,” Toney recently told MMAWeekly.com. “I’m good at it.”

Toney will get to prove his ground game is up to par this November when he takes on Ken Shamrock in a match that should be interesting, to say the least.

MMAWeekly.com will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.

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Erik Fontanez is a staff writer for MMAWeekly.com.
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