UFC legend Tito Ortiz claims he has 'lost a lot of respect' for fellow MMA vet Anderson Silva.
The former UFC fighters will face off on the undercard of Vitor Belfort's comeback fight against Oscar De La Hoya in Los Angeles.
Ortiz, of Huntington Beach, Calif., will fight Silva in an eight-round bout at the Staples Center on September 11.
Silva, 46, is 2-1 after his latest success against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at the Estadio Jalisco at the end of June.
Both men have mostly kept the insults and trash talk to a bare minimum in the build-up to the fight.
But it seems Ortiz has not forgiven his former friend for forcing him to cut weight to 195 pounds.
Asked if he will be able to patch things up with Silva after the fight, Ortiz said in an interview with MMA Junkie: “I appreciate this opportunity, Triller, Anderson Silva for finally agreeing to the weight that was mandatory for me to make 195.
“So I’m literally trying to cut my leg off to make that weight, and I’ll do it.
"I’ve never missed a weight my whole career, but it just shows that I’m really that focused.
"But again, it shows that Anderson, he respects the power, so I’m excited.
"I respect the man as a fighter, but I kind of lost a lot of respect for him just for not fighting me at 200 pounds.
“I’ve never made 195 in my whole career of 24 years, and I’m going to try like hell to make it, and I will make it.
"But at the same time, I just kind of lost a little respect for the guy. Someone who’s been a great world champion, he’s fought at 205 over six times, he’s fought for the world title at 205.
"But once again, it shows that he respects my power and he’s trying to make me weak.
"But hey, as I do in every one of my fights, I’m going to make it exciting, I’m going to fight, and I’m going to make this vicious.”
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The retired MMA fighter, 46, was a big fan of 'The Spider' during his 25-fight stint in the UFC and knows what a talent he is.
However, that won't stop him from trying to remove his head from his shoulders, as he insists he has long harboured ambitions of fighting Silva before retiring.
“I don’t care about odds,” he added. “Odds actually kind of pushed me to want to express my feelings inside the ring, and my feelings are to hurt the man in front of me.
"I got to go back to the weight thing because if I don’t make the weight, they’re going to take a percentage of my purse away.
"So they’re taking food off the table of my children, and that makes me very angry, but I focus in anger.
"I’m excited because Anderson is one of the best in the world. I’ve always wanted to fight Anderson.
"I’ve always had respect for him, but I understand how his team is going to take control of what weight he should be fighting at.
“But like I said, he’s fought at 205 before, and I thought he’d be a gentleman and make it at least 200 knowing that I used to be the middleweight world champion myself, and I used to make 199, and that was the weight class.
"When UFC moved the weight up to 205, that was because of me. They asked me what would be the perfect weight for light heavyweight, and I said 205 pounds, so that’s why they made it.
"But once again, I understand what their theory is behind it and what they want to do. I really don’t look at odds.
"I just look at the factor of how am I going to be when I step into the ring and compete against Anderson Silva, one of the greatest middleweights to ever grace the octagon.”