MMA Fighting - Reaction: Anderson Silva vs. Tito Ortiz Boxing Match At Triller Fight Club Sept. 11

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Damon Martin react to the news of Anderson Silva and Tito Ortiz set to meet in a boxing match at Triller Fight Club's Sept. 11 event, which will be headlined by Oscar De La Hoya vs. Vitor Belfort. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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responsibly. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, Mike Hock here for MMAFiting.com, reacting to some news that I would have never guessed we'd be reacting to. But I shouldn't be surprised because it's 2021. But as we first reported on Wednesday, Triller Fight Club, September 11th boxing event headlined by Oscar Dela Hoya versus Vitor Belfort has added another fight featuring a former UFC world champion.

In fact, this fight will feature two former UFC world champions. Anderson Silva will take on Tito Ortiz, and it'll take place at 195 pounds. And this is something, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what it is, but it's something. But of course, as you all know by now, Anderson Silva returned to the boxing ring not too long ago. He pieces up. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He looks amazing doing it.

And Tito Ortiz hasn't fought since he beat. former WWE wrestler Alberto L. Patron for Combaucha America, unless you count his city council meetings. But here we are, Damon Martin. Let us bring you in here. Anderson Silva has one of those moments that we were all very excited to see. He had the smile in his face. He had the swagger back in that boxing ring. There's talks about him maybe fighting Logan Paul. And now he's fighting Tito Ortiz in the boxing ring. So you were one of the folks who confirmed this fight? What went over you when you confirmed this information? At first, I was, at first I was a little surprised, but then I was like, why am I surprised? Like, why, why am I surprised at all that

this is happening? I mean, this is the day and age we're in in terms of, you know, boxing and celebrity boxing and even mixed martial arts to a certain extent, depending on how deep you want to go on other signings that have been made over these last few years. But listen, a part of me, when all these fights started first coming together, a part of me was like, oh, it's ruining the sanctity of the sport. I don't like seeing these kind of freak show fights. But then over time, I kind of realized, you know what, we've always kind of embraced freak show fights.

I mean, you could argue that, you know, the late great Kimbo slice, when he signed on and was doing fights, you could say, well, that was a bit of a gimmick. And you could obviously see him, punk signing with UFC was a gimmick. And there's all kinds of gimmick fights out there. So who am I going to begrudge two guys getting paid? I'm assuming a boatload of money to go out there and box each other. You know, Anderson, you mentioned it, Mike.

Anderson looked happier than ever in that boxing match with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Like, I was, and it was a joy to watch. Like, as a guy who's covered Anderson for so many years and I'm with everybody else, consider him one of the greatest fighters of all time, to see that guy looks so happy and so joyous, like doing his thing again. Who am I going to begrudge him going out there? And listen, this is a low risk. fight. Tito's not a boxer by any

stretching imagination. I mean, he's not that way. He's never been a boxer. So it's a low risk fight in that regard. He just I mean, he just pieced up, as you mentioned, he pieced up Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. a legit boxing champion over eight rounds. Again, you know, why not?

Why not do it? And Tito, when I wrote the story, I had to kind of remember, he's in a three-fight win streak. He beat Chelsa and he beat, I mean, obviously, I know Alberto L. Patron and Chuck Ladell of, you know, 20-21. or whatever they fought in 20, what is it, 2019 or 2018, isn't the Chuck Ladell of old, but still,

three-frey wins three, so you can't say the guy's on like the downturn of his career and he's too old to do this, so why not? Look, I mean, I get it. There's an audience for this. People are talking about it. We're talking about it. Triller wants to load this card up with names. It's Delahoy's return.

Totally understandable. Is this a victory lap kind of thing for Triller being able to put this fight together and putting it on this card? like, is this something they should be, like, celebrating and shouting from the rooftops? We got this thing done. This is a big deal. Yeah, I think to a point you have to. I mean, Anderson, because of what Anderson did to Chavez Jr.,

Anderson's next boxing match, no matter who it's going to be, is going to be buzzed about. And no one is going to say it shouldn't happen because we saw what he did to Hulius Cesar Chavez Jr. I mean, that was a legit boxing match. And even though it was rendered a split decision as a joke, it was a unanimous decision. it was a unanimous decision. Anderson easily won six, maybe even seven of the eight rounds. No one can say he shouldn't be out there. Now I'm not saying you should put him in the ring and say we're going to have a match up with Canello or we're going to have a fight, you know, triple G or something crazy like that. But Tito Ortiz, where's the risk? I mean, where's the risk factor in this? And then, you know,

Tito, I mean, you know, I mean, listen, again, the guy is legitimately on a three-fight win streak. And obviously, I know he's taking an L off the Huntington Beach City Council, but that's a whole other kind of thing. But, but, I mean, listen, the guy, you know, Tito is still relatively active fighting recently, and we know he's still training. And again, I don't, I know this sounds weird saying this because obviously you can get hurt in any combat sport you're doing, but I feel like this is a far lower risk for these two guys to box each other. Then if you were going to tell me, hey, we're going to book Anderson Silva against Jariah Hall in the UFC. And that was, that was tough to watch. Seeing Anderson lose that way

in his last UFC fight, that was hard to watch, man. I hated seeing that. In this particular case, it's low risk and high reward. Right now, at least from what I could find, the opening odds have Anderson Silva as a minus 500 favorite.

The comeback on Tito Ortiz is plus 350. I was surprised by this line, Damon. This line should be much larger for Anderson Silva. Shouldn't it? We should be looking at minus 7, 8, close to a thousand range in this case. I mean, like, I understand that Tito's on a three-fight winning streak in MMA, but he just seems like, I don't know. It just doesn't seem, not that he doesn't belong,

but it just seems, he seems like the one of these things is not like the other. Tito's like the other in this case. Like, am I crazy? No, actually, that surprises me. I don't bet on fights, but I feel like I need to take out a loan right now and put some money down on this one because, yeah, Anderson should be a massive favorite and that's no events to Tito. It's more of a compliment to Anderson. I mean, Anderson, we saw what he just legitimately did to a to a legit boxer and did it very well. I mean, you could argue maybe the size difference will be a little bit, but I mean, you know, they're going to fight the catch weight. So, I mean, even though Tito will probably come in and have, you know, 15 or 20 pounds on him, I don't

know that'll really matter in the fight. And, you know, I mean, let's not forget, there was a time years ago when Tito to re-sign his UFC contract, he made Dana White commit to a boxing match against them. And then the boxing match fell apart. And Dana's claim, and I know this is, you know, Dana White says, but Dana's claim was, is he actually put, you know, real legit training in and went out and worked with real boxers to get ready. And Tito didn't really want to do that because it could potentially be an embarrassing situation with Tito to lose or to have a, you know, a close boxing match with his, you know, boss from the UFC. And so it never happened. So, yeah, I have a hard time believing Tito is going to do well in this fight. I think Anderson

as I agree with you should be probably I mean let's just say let's be hypothetical and say okay Tito has a bit of size on and maybe a little bit of power so let's say minus 800 you know 900 but yeah I mean yeah minus 500 like I said I'm taking it alone to put some money down on that

because Anderson Anderson should be a massive favorite in this fight what a fascinating time we live in Damon let me throw this out there just gut feeling whatever comes to your mind come September 12th what fight will we will we be talking about being the more competitive fight.

This fight between Anderson Silva and Tito Ortiz or Jake Paul versus Taron Woodley? Which fight is more competitive? Which fight will be the more competitive fight? Oh, man. That's a, you're really put me on the hot seat with that one. Uh, man. You know, I'm probably, I'll probably lean towards Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley being the more competitive fight. I mean, at the end of the day, and I think,

you know, anyone that's picking, anyone that thinks Jake Paul is just going to get, you know, dominated or decimated by Tyron Woodley is out of their mind. I mean, I really think, I'm not saying Jake's ever going to be a world champion, but Jake's taking this seriously. But Tyrant is a freaking former

four-time, you know, UFC champion. He's legit, legit power. He's not been Ascran. So I think this will be a lot better fight than that. But yeah, like, I don't know that Anderson will knock out Tito. I don't know if that will happen, maybe. but I think it could be a pretty lopsided, you know,

a couple 10-8 rounds in their kind of performance. And at the end of the day, that could be even more lopsided. And here's one positive way to look at this fight, ladies and gentlemen. If you enjoyed the smile on Anderson Silva's face when he took on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., imagine how big the smile is going to be come September 11th when he is in there just marching around and dancing in there with Tito Ortiz. So get excited.

I mean, it is what it is. These guys are going to make some money. Go ahead. And let's not forget, like I said, they're on this card together. I mean, think of the potential here. Let's say, because right now the De La Jollaolla Belford odds are pretty close. Belford Open is a favorite over Dela Hoya. You know what I mean?

Let's say Belfort goes out there and knocks out Oscar Dela Hoya and Anderson's Stiles on Tito Ortiz. Those are two of the biggest stars ever in Brazil, two of the biggest stars in UFC history, easily put those two in a boxing match. Tell me that's not a massive, massive card. And let's say De La Hoya beats Bell for it, but it's close or, you know, it's a competitive fight for several rounds and it gets a better room. And then Anderson goes out there in Stiles on Tito. Are you telling me they wouldn't potentially book Anderson against De La Hoy? And you're telling me that wouldn't be a massive fight, especially with Anderson now 2 and O in recent boxing matches.

So in a way, this is a plan for the future as well. And as I said, I've pretty much given up on the whole sanctity of the sport thing. I'm just like, if they're healthy and they're not going to get hurt doing it, you know, go. for it. I mean, you know, I don't know if I'm ready to sign up to watch Chuck Liddell do bare-knuckle boxing, but if we're going to see Tito Box Anderson, sure, why not.

And then the other options we could see Tito Ortiz fight Oscar Delahoya. I mean, who, what a world. The options are endless, Damon. The options are endless. It would be the ultimate payback for Golden Boy MMA only going one card. It would be like the ultimate promoters revenge.

Like, he goes after, he goes after for never promoting Golden Boy MMA 2. There's so many storylines to get excited about. But there you have it. Staples Center in Los Angeles, September 11th, Oscar Dale O'Hoya

versus Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, versus Tito Ortiz, Triller Fight Club event. It's happening. And honestly, I hope I get the hot tag to go cover that event,

Damon. It should be a fun week in La La Land. But, Damon, thank you very much for Damon. I am Mike Keck. Thank you for listening. Who knows what kind of news

we'll be reacting to next. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.