Triller Fight Club Legends II: The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Ugly

On Saturday, Triller Fight Club returned with its most unique card yet. Whether fans love Triller or hate it, the one thing we can’t deny is they make us talk. And the September 11th card was no different. It had its fair share of entertainment and wtf moments. Tonight’s card displayed the return of three MMA legends and a 58 year old Evander Holyfield. While the fights didn’t last very long their was still enough of the card to discuss

First, let’s talk about the good of the card. When we watch Thriller the most important thing of note is that we aren’t just getting fights but a whole Super Bowl like halftime show. Snoop Dogg, one of the part-owners of Triller, had a very soul riveting performance paying homage to the late Marvin Gaye. Snoop was just 13 when Gaye passed away, so the two artists have never shared a stage together until tonight. Snoop's 2003 track, "Dance Wit Me" sampled Marvin Gaye's "Far Cry."

More, good from the Triller card was the interesting pairings on commentary. The ringside broadcasting had an intriguing mix between fighter and rapper as Shawn Porter and 50 Cent had provided commentary, the two had a very interesting yet comedic dynamic at times. During the fight, the commentary team consisted of Donald Trump and his son, Junior Dos Santos and Jorge Masvidal. The pairing was pretty unique as the fighters were trying to educate Trump on certain fighting philosophies. As far as the bad, the fights were mismatches from the very beginning. Tito Ortiz was five pounds overweight and looked slow. Ortiz had Silva trapped in the corner, throwing punches. But Silva ducked an Ortiz shot and landed a huge counter right hook. Silva followed up with a left. Ortiz appeared to be completely unconscious. The fight lasted all of 90 seconds. The criticism of Triller is they are charging fans money to see aging combat fighters in less than competitive fights to collect a check. Speaking of collecting a check, let's talk about the downright ugly. Evander Holyfield had no business being in a boxing ring at the age of 58 years old after the state of California wasn’t willing to sanction the fight. It was bad enough the fight was on short notice but Belfort swarmed Holyfield as early as the opening bell and never let up, even knocking Holyfield through the ropes. Belfort said in defense of himself. “Did you see what he did to me? He tried to knock me out," Belfort told ESPN when asked if he felt remorse for Holyfield considering his advanced age. "He threw a hard cross and hard hooks. Instincts are hard and instincts kick back. He came very hard in the beginning. It's a fight. He's a legend. ... My style has always been like that."

With a lot of these bouts it feels like a quick money grab and it’s hard to not walk away from this Triller event not feeling that way especially after the fight. Belfort called out Jake Paul and challenged Paul with the owner of Triller to a 30 million dollar winner take all fight for Thanksgiving weekend. It was sad to see a 58 year old man being used as a sacrificial lamb to set up a big card, but that is what happened.

Overall, the much hyped Triller event did what it was supposed to do, provide us with entertainment while building up Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort for bigger fights and giving Evander Holyfield the fight he was promised in his initial contract negotiations with Triller. Also it gave them another opportunity to announce their next event in which they hope to book Jake Paul vs Vitor Belfort.