Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Tim Sylvia talks in detail about the UFC’s refusal to pay for his 2004 arm injury.
A few days ago, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia aired out some new grievances towards his former employers. In an Instagram post, he revealed that the UFC turned down his request to pay for the complications he’s sustained from a broken arm courtesy of Frank Mir in 2004.
Sylvia will need surgery for the arm, which he says will cost more than $10,000. In a recent conversation with MMA Fighting, he was hoping for at least some form of help from the UFC.
“At least help. Pay half of it. I don’t care,” he said. “Just give me $10,000, and I’ll pay the first $10,000 and I’ll put it back in the bank and pay my bills and stuff.”
His fiancee set up a GoFundMe campaign to help with the expenses, which has now raised a total of $14,656 out of their total $20,000 goal. Sylvia expressed gratitude to those who donated, while also shedding light on his current financial situation.
“I can’t even thank those guys enough,” he said.
“It’s tough doing a GoFundMe, because I have probably $14,000, $15,000 in the bank. But once this surgery happens, my bank account is empty, and I have bills and mortgages and car payments, and I have a son. That’s the situation we’re at.”
Since he left the UFC 12 years ago, Sylvia’s relationship with company president Dana White, in particular, had soured. Looking back, he feels he would’ve gotten the help he needed if he was in better terms with the boss.
“If this was Chuck Liddell, there would be no problem. And even what they did for Matt Hughes,” he said. “Matt Hughes’ case was a lot more serious than mine. They took Matt Hughes and put him back on the UFC payroll so he could be covered under their insurance for all his brain injury medical bills, which is amazing.
“That’s so awesome that they did that for him, because he needed it. He deserves it. But at the end of the day, I don’t see why they couldn’t do it for me. My situation is peanuts compared to what Matt’s going through.”
The 44-year-old also went on to blast the UFC and White’s spending habits.
“What’s $10,000, $15,000 to the UFC right now? It’s worth $4 billion. Dana spends $10,000 on the craps table and tips the dealer $10,000,” he said. “I can’t even tell you how much money they spend at strip clubs.”
Sylvia will undergo surgery on Tuesday, June 9th, to repair the screws that began to back out of the arm, causing an infection.