Boxing Coach Luiz Dorea Discusses Upcoming Bouts for Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort

Two days after celebrating the gold-medal winning performance of his student, Herbert Conceicao, following his knockout of Oleksandr Khyzhniak at the Tokyo Olympics, boxing coach Luiz Dorea learned of Anderson Silva’s scheduled booking against Tito Ortiz under the Triller Fight Club banner on Sept. 11.

“I was already in L.A. at Anderson´s gym training my student, (2016 Olympic gold medalist) Robson Conceicao, for his first world title dispute against (WBC super featherweight champion) Oscar Valdez, when Anderson informed me about the fight against Ortiz,” Dorea told Sherdog.com.

“Actually I got really excited when Anderson told me about that fight. It will be a clash of MMA legends, two former champions under boxing rules.”  

Dorea has experience preparing for Ortiz after training Antonio Rogerio Nogueira for his matchup with “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” at UFC 140 nearly a decade ago. Nogueira would win that fight via first-round technical knockout.

“I´ve studied a lot Tito's game from that fight,” Dorea said. “He is a pretty explosive [fighter] in the beginning, uses a lot [power] punches with both arms, but he is vulnerable to straight punches and uppercuts. While Tito deserves plenty of respect, I see Anderson having the advantage in ability, speed and physical conditioning and I believe he can get a win via knockout.”

Silva vs. Ortiz will be contested at a 195-pound catchweight, with the fight set for eight rounds. Dorea revealed that Ortiz’s team requested shorter rounds for the bout.

"According to Anderson, he initially requested the fight to be a 190-pound catchweight, but accepted a compromise of 195 pounds. Anderson also accepted the request from Tito´s team for eight rounds of two minutes,” Dorea said.

The Silva vs. Ortiz bout will be on the undercard of the headlining clash between Oscar De La Hoya and Vitor Belfort. Before he connected with “The Spider,” Dorea had trained Belfort for nearly five years, so he also had some insight on the Sept. 11 main event.

"Certainly De La Hoya has seen the fight between Anderson and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and understands that underestimating MMA boxers is not a good thing to do,” Dorea said. “I would say the result of the main event will depend on how prepared De La Hoya is. Vitor is a very explosive fighter, four years younger, much stronger and has never abandoned the athlete routine.

“De La Hoya is one of the GOATs of the sport, much more experienced in boxing matches but we don’t know how he took care of his physical conditioning during the long time off. The experience is, for sure, on De La Hoya´s side, but if I were him I wouldn't underestimate Belfort.”