Former UFC middleweight champion and arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Anderson Silva takes returns to the boxing ring on September 11th.
The Spider takes on the former UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz in an exciting legend vs legend matchup. The fans would have loved to see this fight inside the octagon when both were in their primes.
In recent times, many UFC fighters have jumped to the boxing world for some huge fights. Fighters such as Anderson Silva, Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley got an opportunity to compete in the boxing ring and also made big fight purses.
So it certainly helps the fighters who are potentially done with their MMA career but want to try their luck in the world of boxing in these sort of celebrity boxing matchups.
However, there are certain fighters such as Georges St-Pierre who can not compete in these events as they are still under the UFC contract. When GSP was still competing there was a possibility of him boxing Oscar De La Hoya. However, that fight could not come to fruition because UFC was not too keen on booking its greatest asset at the time against Oscar De La Hoya.
Anderson Silva wants to see Georges St-Pierre in the boxing ring
But, now that GSP has retired from the sport, he still can not compete in the boxing ring until his UFC contract ends. And Anderson Silva does not appreciate that.
In a recent interview with MacLife, Anderson Silva expressed his frustration with Dana White not allowing GSP to box and stated:
“I think Dana is a businessman. In my opinion, Dana does not need to hold Georges St-Pierre. Give the guy his life back. Stop holding the guy. You don’t need anymore of this. Especially because Georges is not fighting MMA. So it does not make sense to hold the guy.”
Not so long ago, Georges St-Pierre was campaigning for a fight legacy fight with the former UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, now that fight is not going to happen. So why not let GSP compete in the boxing ring if he wants to put all his accolades on the line in a completely different sport.
We recently witnessed Anderson Silva beat a former boxing world champion comfortably. So it won’t be a surprise to see GSP, who is one of the greatest to step into the octagon, get some impressive wins in the boxing world.