UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz says that he “lost respect” for Anderson Silva for making him cut to 195lbs for their upcoming boxing match.
Ortiz will take on Silva in an eight-round professional boxing match on September 11, as part of the Triller fight card that also features Oscar de la Hoya and Vitor Belfort in the main event. Just the announcement of Ortiz fighting Silva alone was surprising, but the fact the fight was booked at 195lbs is even more surprising considering Ortiz is now 46 years old and has never weighed that little in his entire MMA career. In fact, according to Ortiz in an interview with TMZ, he is not happy that Silva has forced him to cut down to 195lbs.
“I’m excited. I’ve been boxing almost my whole career, but now it’s an opportunity that I don’t have to worry about wrestling or Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I don’t need to worry about knees or kicks. Now I get to focus strictly on boxing. I’m excited. I’m thankful to Triller for giving me this opportunity. I’m thankful to Anderson for finally taking the fight. There was a little negotiating on his part. I had a lot of respect for Anderson. But to do what he did for the contract, I lost respect for him, man,” Ortiz said.
“He wants me down to 195lbs. He’s fought at 205lbs six times in his career. He wants me down to 195lbs so it shows that he’s afraid of my power. People don’t realize that I’m a pretty decent puncher and I’ve gotten better over the last six years. I’ve gotten really good over the last 34 years.”
According to Ortiz, he has not made it down to 195lbs since he was in college wrestling.
“The last time I was 195lbs was I think my sophomore year in college wrestling,” Ortiz said. “I’ll make (the weight). I’ll try. I’ll cut off my leg to make the weight. I’ll try. I’ve never missed weight in my whole career, but Anderson kind of pushed the limit of doing that. But once again, I lost respect for the guy, man. He’s one of the best mixed martial artists but I lost respect for him. So it gives me a little more energy, a little more aggressiveness during camp to punch this guy’s face off.”
Do you think Tito Ortiz has a chance to defeat Anderson Silva in boxing?