(Friends forever. Or until somebody steals from somebody else like a total scumbag. Sorry, alleged scumbag. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

As much as we were hoping that James Toney would get smart and head down to Greg Jackson’s New Mexico gym for a little MMA 101 and some positive reinforcement/visualization sessions, it seems like he has other plans. MMA Junkie reports that Toney has tapped Juanito Ibarra to help him transition from boxing into MMA. You remember Ibarra, right? Dude with the hat, used to train “Rampage” Jackson, then allegedly screwed him out of a bunch of money, which led to ‘Page living on energy drinks until his mind went all looney tunes on him and he ended up face down on the pavement after police chased his monster truck through the streets of southern California? And once Jackson dumped him he reportedly offered to train other UFC light heavyweights to beat his former fighter?  Yeah, that’s the guy.

Ibarra says that he and Toney “have good personal chemistry,” adding, “I just don’t jump in with anybody.”

We’re not sure if that means Ibarra is one of the few people on the planet who can actually understand the words coming out of Toney’s mouth these days, or whether it just means that they don’t actively hate each other. We don’t mind saying that Toney could have done better (and, you know, less sleazy) in his search for an MMA trainer, but as long as he keeps one hand on his wallet and demands to see an itemized list of training camp expenditures, he should make out okay.