Triller Fight Club: Evander Holyfield vs Vitor Belfort preview
Triller Fight Club is back this week end and brings its mix of old MMA guys, old boxing guys and semi-famous people boxing to Florida on Saturday. And it absolutely had to be Florida because where the hell else would you find a commission to license Evander Holyfield for a professional fight in 2021? (If you jumped up from your chair and yelled “Texas,” well, you’ve got a point). Holyfield is stepping in on short notice for Oscar De La Hoya, because if you’re gonna make a 58-year-old fight, you might as well not give him any time to get in shape.
Anyway, he’s fighting Vitor Belfort who has called the opponent switch “an upgrade to first class” despite Holyfield displaying 2018 Chuck Liddell hand speed at the open workout. If you don’t recall your MMA science classes so well, 2018 Chuck Liddell hand speed is equivalent to roughly 0.02 1997 Vitor Belfort hand speed. So yeah, one just hope nothing too bad happens in that one.
The co-main event however is much more exciting as after an excruciating 15 years wait, we will finally get to witness Tito Ortiz’ boxing debut. Of course, not getting the original Dana White matchup will be a disappointment for many but I dare say Anderson Silva fresh off of a win over a half-asleep Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is a decent second choice. Anderson will win the fight, but true purists know the real climax will be the post-fight interview (if Tito doesn’t get interviewed, you can legally ask for a PPV refund). And who knows, maybe this sets Anderson up for a Roy Jones Jr fight? Which might be a semi-decent sparring match and would immediately qualify for Triller Fight Of The Year.
David Haye is also returning to the ring against Triller veteran Joe Fournier. Fournier, who is known as a nightclub owner and businessman, is coming off of a win over Reggaeton star Reykon on the undercard of Paul vs Askren. One might think jumping from a singer to a former world champion is too big a step up, but I for one applaud someone ready to take the Lomachenko approach and looking to challenge themselves before their 20th pro fight.
Jono Carroll is also fighting Andy Vences in a WBA title eliminator. As both of these guys are actual active boxers and neither is over 40 years old, I am not sure what the matchmakers were thinking putting it on that card. However I appreciate the effort to make it an eliminator for the WBA instead of a legitimate sanctioning body.
Triller Fight Club airs on PPV on Saturday September 11th at 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT.