Damon Martin and Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting report that “multiple sources” have informed them that Triller’s Sept. 11 boxing pay-per-view will feature a matchup between MMA legends in Anderson Silva and Tito Ortiz.
Silva, who fought and defeated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a boxing bout on June 19, had been linked to a possible fight with Logan Paul, but instead it appears he’ll go with Ortiz, which is either tougher or easier, it doesn’t really matter as this isn’t something to be taken particularly seriously even though it will surely be a sanctioned bout and all that.
The 46-year-old Silva is a bona fide MMA legend, a true all-timer, and has a 2-1 (1 KO) record in pro boxing, with bouts in 1998, 2005, and 2021. Ortiz, also 46, has never fought in pro boxing, and like Silva is long, long removed from his prime years as an MMA star. While Silva had fought in UFC as recently as Oct. 2020, Ortiz hasn’t had a fight in UFC since 2012, though he has gone 5-1 in six fights since then, four of them in Bellator, one on Golden Boy’s infamous flop of a 2018 MMA
pay-per-view, and most recently in Dec. 2019, where he choked out former WWE wrestler Alberto Rodriguez, aka Alberto Del Rio/Alberto El Patron.
Ortiz was never really known for his boxing even by MMA standards, definitely not a Ben Askren low level for stand-up — he worked on it over the years — but certainly known more for his wrestling and ground-and-pound.
Triller’s Sept. 11 card is headlined, of course, by 48-year-old Oscar De La Hoya facing 44-year-old MMA fighter Vitor Belfort. De La Hoya hasn’t had a fight since he was routed and retired by Manny Pacquiao in 2008, and their fight is sanctioned, but it will be eight rounds, two minutes apiece, rather than the standard three-minute rounds of men’s professional boxing.
