Let’s be honest, Potato Nation. Tim Sylvia is probably one of the most toughest motherfuckers you know. True story: While in college, I once sent a him a private video message in which I made fun of his fight with Ray Mercer, his appearance on Blind Date, and his nickname, “Fatty Boom-Boom,” for a good twenty five minutes. I’m not sure how, but the very next day, he showed up to my school, slept in my dorm room, beat the fuck out of my roommate and took his bed, then proceeded to smack all of my teachers, professors, RA’s, and deans before my very eyes.
I think anytime you get to fight a guy that held the UFC title, it’s a big deal. If Tim Sylvia’s the guy that they put across the cage from me, then that’s the guy I will fight on that day.
(THIS is what intimidation looks like.)
Let’s be honest, Potato Nation. Tim Sylvia is probably one of the most toughest motherfuckers you know. True story: While in college, I once sent a him a private video message in which I made fun of his fight with Ray Mercer, his appearance on Blind Date, and his nickname, “Fatty Boom-Boom,” for a good twenty five minutes. I’m not sure how, but the very next day, he showed up to my school, slept in my dorm room, beat the fuck out of my roommate and took his bed, then proceeded to smack all of my teachers, professors, RA’s, and deans before my very eyes.
I think anytime you get to fight a guy that held the UFC title, it’s a big deal. If Tim Sylvia’s the guy that they put across the cage from me, then that’s the guy I will fight on that day, but it doesn’t really matter to me. I said that I would like to actually continue my progression, but there aren’t many guys that are a step up from Josh Barnett. I don’t know. I just would like to keep progressing in my career and fighting guys that are better than the last guy. I don’t know who that’s going to be. It doesn’t really matter. I’ll give Showtime their fight and see where I stand in the UFC division when I’m done.
Did someone say SUPERFIGHT?!
Cross your fingers and pray that Cormier’s upcoming hand surgery goes smoothly, because this is the fight that we want, no, need to see by the end of the year. Sylvia wants his shot, we want to see him fail, and Cormier would probably like an easy paycheck. Plus, it’s not like Strikeforce has any other fights to offer their champ…at all.
Hell, we say they let Sylvia weigh in at three, four, or even five hundred pounds if he feels compelled to do so. We haven’t seen a heavyweight freakshow fight this intriguing since Fedor/Zuluzinho. For the love of God, somebody please make this happen.
As he mentioned, Cormier is fresh off a victory over top ranked heavyweight Josh Barnett, whereas Sylvia is on the heels of a plodding UD victory over some guy, so it’s pretty obvious that these two are on a collision course with each other in the near to immediate future. If Sylvia can walk away victorious from his upcoming fight with 14-10 Randy Smith on June 16th, then there will be nothing separating them from a heavyweight clash of epic proportions. Nothing.
So we ask unto you, Mr. Sylvia; when desiny calls, will you pick up the phone?
(Come on Tim, you haven’t even read the column yet. Maybe we wrote nice things about you, okay?)
Today on the CagePotato Roundtable, we’re talking paper champs — the one-and-dones and never-shoulda-beens who weren’t quite worthy of the gold around their waist. To limit our scope a bit, we’re only focusing on major MMA promotions like the UFC (including tournament champions), PRIDE (even though all their champions were awesome), Strikeforce, the WEC, and probably Bellator and DREAM as well if anybody cared enough to mention them. Joining us this week is our dear friend Kelly Crigger, the retired solider and best-selling MMA author who’s currently elevating rugby-awareness at American Sin Bin. Read on for our picks, and please, please, please send your ideas for future Roundtable topics to [email protected].
Jared Jones
For four months in 2001-2002, Dave Menne — the fighter who Phil Baroni famously steamrolled at UFC 39 — was the UFC’s middleweight champion. That’s right: The belt that Anderson Silva has proudly worn for the last five-and-a-half years used to belong to this guy. Menne won the title in September 2001 by beating 5-0 newcomer Gil Castillo, and went on to compile an overall record of 2-4 in the Octagon. Gentlemen, the floor is yours. Good luck.
The worst major MMA champion of all time has to be Carlos Newton. For starters when you say your fighting style is Dragon Ball Z Jiu Jitsu to pay homage to a Japanese anime character, there’s a screw loose somewhere.
Secondly, when Newton won the UFC welterweight title, there wasn’t exactly a deep talent pool of competition. MMA was still evolving and techniques were as sound as using bubble gum on a car engine. I will admit that he beat a very experienced and talented Pat Miletich to get the strap, but that’s the lone gem in his dreadlocked crown. Today every weight class has a laundry list of accomplished fighters and an alternate list of accomplished fighters waiting in the wings in case they tweet something controversial and Mr. White fires all of them. The point is, he didn’t exactly climb a ladder of giants to get to the belt.
(Come on Tim, you haven’t even read the column yet. Maybe we wrote nice things about you, okay?)
Today on the CagePotato Roundtable, we’re talking paper champs — the one-and-dones and never-shoulda-beens who weren’t quite worthy of the gold around their waist. To limit our scope a bit, we’re only focusing on major MMA promotions like the UFC (including tournament champions), PRIDE (even though all their champions were awesome), Strikeforce, the WEC, and probably Bellator and DREAM as well if anybody cared enough to mention them. Joining us this week is our dear friend Kelly Crigger, the retired solider and best-selling MMA author who’s currently elevating rugby-awareness at American Sin Bin. Read on for our picks, and please, please, please send your ideas for future Roundtable topics to [email protected].
Jared Jones
For four months in 2001-2002, Dave Menne — the fighter who Phil Baroni famously steamrolled at UFC 39 — was the UFC’s middleweight champion. That’s right: The belt that Anderson Silva has proudly worn for the last five-and-a-half years used to belong to this guy. Menne won the title in September 2001 by beating 5-0 newcomer Gil Castillo, and went on to compile an overall record of 2-4 in the Octagon. Gentlemen, the floor is yours. Good luck.
The worst major MMA champion of all time has to be Carlos Newton. For starters when you say your fighting style is Dragon Ball Z Jiu Jitsu to pay homage to a Japanese anime character, there’s a screw loose somewhere.
Secondly, when Newton won the UFC welterweight title, there wasn’t exactly a deep talent pool of competition. MMA was still evolving and techniques were as sound as using bubble gum on a car engine. I will admit that he beat a very experienced and talented Pat Miletich to get the strap, but that’s the lone gem in his dreadlocked crown. Today every weight class has a laundry list of accomplished fighters and an alternate list of accomplished fighters waiting in the wings in case they tweet something controversial and Mr. White fires all of them. The point is, he didn’t exactly climb a ladder of giants to get to the belt.
Thirdly, he never defended it. They say you’re not really the champion until you defend the belt. They’re right. The hunger that consumes so many fighters as they climb the lofty MMA mountain is frequently snuffed out once they get to the top. The mighty tumble faster down those slopes than the President’s approval ratings. Newton never defended the welterweight title and had one of the shortest reigns as champ in the history of the UFC, especially when you consider how infrequent the events were back in 2001 when he was the champ. Newton’s inability to defend the belt could be forgiven if he’d remained a contender or changed weight classes to challenge for another belt. But his career nosedived after losing the welterweight title to Matt Hughes in his very next fight and he went 6-9 over the next eight-and-a-half years of fighting, with no wins over anyone notable.
Carlos Newton was in the right place at the right time to win the UFC welterweight belt, but since that day his career has been lackluster at best and largely unmemorable. Guess that Dragon Ball Z Jiu Jitsu wasn’t so hot after all.
I’ll be honest: When this topic was first introduced, I was pretty skeptical about how it would work as a column. “Major MMA promotion” is an incredibly vague term that could apply to pretty much any promotion that we’ve covered on this site. KSW is a major promotion in Poland. Inka Fighting Championship is a major promotion in Peru. What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t want this column to degrade into a contest to see who can name the most obscure organization’s least-talented champion, like we’re a bunch of MMA hipsters who just overheard someone say “Brock Lesnar should totally be in the UFC Hall of Fame, you guys.”
Yet ironically enough, not only am I about to write about the most obscure champion on this list, but I’m also picking the most obscure weight class in the organization I’m writing about. The WEC carved its niche with the smaller weight classes for a good reason: It had virtually no depth beyond lightweight. Hell, I’m still not entirely convinced that it ever had a true light-heavyweight division. Looking at all the middleweights who fought for the WEC at light-heavyweight back then, it’s almost like the promotion invented the “Rumbleweight” division before most of us knew who Anthony Johnson was.
The WEC light-heavyweight division was made up of guys like Lodune Sincaid, Brian Stann, Steve Cantwell and Tim McKenzie — all of whom are now competing at 185. Oh, and Doug Marshall, too. Remember him? If you were one of those “The WEC in its prime was better than the UFC” fans, you’ve probably repressed all memories that Marshall formerly held the light-heavyweight title for your precious World Extreme Cagefighting.
Doug Marshall was — and I can’t believe I’m about to type this — the minor league version of Tim Sylvia. He was a champion when the division was completely barren of anything resembling talent, winning the belt from Lodune Sincaid (who I almost went with, except Marshall winning was considered a minor upset), defending it against Justin McElfresh (?) and Ariel Gandulla (LOL), and then losing the belt to Brian Stann. Before you justify the loss to Stann with Captain America’s current success in the UFC middleweight division, keep in mind that Stann at this point was little more than a great story and a damn good cross. Stann was so green in the sport that he would go on to lose the belt to Steve Cantwell, of all people. When the UFC absorbed the WEC’s light-heavyweights, Doug Marshall was left behind.
Since getting snubbed by the UFC, Doug Marshall has (act surprised) dropped to middleweight, where he’s been little more than a can crusher. He has gone 6-3, yet his three losses come against guys you’ve actually heard of, most recently suffering a quick KO at the hands of Zelg Galesic at Super Fight League 3. Meanwhile, the WEC’s final Light-Heavyweight champion, Steve Cantwell, has lost five straight fights in the UFC. Such is life when you’re the worst of the best.
I know what I am saying is blasphemy, but at least give me a cigarette and my last words before the firing squad unloads. I want to preface this by stating; without Royce there would absolutely NOT be the sport of MMA as we know it. I do appreciate his effort and skill within the BJJ community as well as the attention he brought to the sport. He was the real life David versus his Goliath competitors.
That being said, Royce was a complete and total DICK. He was the original Paul Harris but back in the day, we were all so enamored that a 175-pound man could annihilate much bigger dudes, it went unnoticed. So ladies and gentlemen of the jury I introduce to you:
This poor bastard got his arm broken in half even though he was tapping faster than a professional Track and Field arcade game competitor. Don’t give me any of this “The referee never stopped it” nonsense either. Royce knows what a tap is and he snapped it anyway.
This lucky guy knows he is defeated and taps in a gentlemanly fashion. Once the choke is not let go, you see Gordeau’s tap frequency increase to panic mode and then he begins to tap with both hands simultaneously as his death approaches. At least he was wearing awesome pajama pants.
Mr. Van Clief was pulling a Social Security check when he took this fight and how did Royce treat his elder? By making Big John McCarthy scream repeatedly to release the choke after Ron tapped. Following the fight Van Clief was presumably sent to the glue factory.
The real “Beast” was taking it to Royce during this contest. Unfortunately for Dan, he subscribes to the Chael Sonnen School of Triangle Defense. Once the choke is locked in, Severn gives his big awkward taps to say “Uncle.” Not so fast mustachioed one, as Royce kept the triangle locked tight until John McCarthy finally pried him off.
So, in closing ladies and gentlemen of the CP jury, I present to you the worst champion in MMA history, Royce Gracie. Not by his performance but rather with his classless actions during his performances. He is a highly skilled BJJ practitioner and a master of his craft but he is also a bloodthirsty animal who was not content with victory alone. He seemingly craved to injure his opponent after they had conceded. Having trained for decades, Royce knew what a tap meant and he didn’t care. Oh yeah, the jerk pulls hair too.
Ben Goldstein
In December 2006, fledgling MMA promotion Strikeforce decided to crown a light-heavyweight champion, despite their general lack of a light-heavyweight division. To fill the vacancy, Scott Coker grabbed the first two 205′ers he could find. One was Bobby Southworth, who had gained a bit of name-recognition on the first season of TUF; never mind that his major accomplishments on that show were calling Chris Leben a fatherless bastard and losing a decision to Stephan Bonnar. Southworth hadn’t won a fight in over three years, and his Strikeforce debut the previous June ended in no-contest due to freak accident (James Irvin). His opponent at Strikeforce: Triple Threat would be aging Lion’s Den product Vernon White, who was riding a two-fight losing streak, and had never competed under the Strikeforce banner. One of these men, honest to God, was about to become a Strikeforce World Title Holder.
Southworth wound up collecting the belt in that fight via decision, and while the title itself was rather meaningless, his title reign was even more forgettable. Southworth’s first defense was against Canadian journeyman Bill Mahood, who verbally submitted due to a rib injury after just 75 seconds, then tested positive for steroids. Southworth’s next challenge was late-replacement Anthony Ruiz; since Ruiz only had about three weeks to prepare for the fight, Strikeforce made it a non-title affair — which made things kind of awkward when Ruiz beat Southworth by TKO due a cut. Obviously, the two men had to run it back, and Southworth won the rematch by unanimous decision in an unwatchably dull five-rounder.
Southworth’s Cinderella-story ended in November 2008, when they finally matched him up with a fighter worthy of holding a belt — former UFC title contender Renato Sobral. Although Southworth put in a valiant effort against Sobral, the bout was stopped before the second frame due to a horrible gash above Bobby’s eye. A rematch was agreed to, but never materialized. Southworth has only competed once since that night, beating some dude in Australia back in 2010. An attempt to get back on The Ultimate Fighter didn’t pan out, which is probably for the best.
Josh Hutchinson
When I heard this week’s question a lot of people came to mind. I had never really sat back and thought about “bad” MMA champions before. Once I did, I realized, holy shit, there have been a lot of them. Although I was gifted with a list of possible candidates as long as the Nile River, my brain stubbornly clung to one specific individual: Brock Fucking Lesnar.
Let me set the scene for you. It was what turned out to be the extremely foul year of our lord 2007, and I heard a rumor that the UFC had contracted a former “professional” wrestler to mix up the heavyweight division. I had also heard that he had a good collegiate wrestling record to his credit. So I thought to myself, “what the hell”? There have been a lot of MMA fighters who have done pro wrestling, and at least he has a solid legitimate wrestling background. Then came the hype, and it never stopped.
Fast forward four months. By this time, I had seen pictures and video until my eyes bled of this supposed unstoppable force. Once I picked myself off the floor from a crippling case of hysterical laughter at the hands of a grown man willingly having a giant dick tattooed on his chest, I started to get mildly annoyed at the attention he was receiving. For fuck sakes the man had one professional MMA fight, and that was against Kim Min-Soo. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Min-Soo, allow me to elaborate. He is a 3-7 fighter, and was 2-5 when he fought Lesnar. On top of that, he has also actually lost to Bob Sapp legitimately. Luckily Frank Mir came along and submitted Lesnar in a minute and a half of the first round, thus successfully derailing what was clearly a bullshit hype-train to begin with. Wait…that didn’t happen.
Instead, they threw the former “golden boy” to heavyweight gatekeeper Heath Herring. That fight somehow warranted Lesnar worthy to fight the aging and undersized Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight title. I’m either too drunk, too stupid, or too naïve at the lengths promoters will go too when hyping “the next big thing” to understand the logic here. But it happened. What followed was one more win in the vein of Lesnar’s “plow you over and hammerfist you the way I do my dick after viewing Carmen Valentina‘s website” style of fighting, in the form of a rematch win against Frank Mir. Although Shane Carwin exposed the extreme distaste Lesnar has for actually being punched in the face, Lesnar survived his title defense against “The Engineer of Pain” with his belt intact, but beat-down losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem forced the phallically branded “athlete” back to scripted fights with an MMA record of 5-3.
I have neither the time, nor energy to look up the following, but I’m willing to bet that he is the only man in UFC history to get a title shot at 2-1, and the only “superstar” to retire at 5-3. That, ladies and gentlemen, is my argument for worst MMA champion of all time.
“I just fucked your ass.” That was the t-shirt Tito Ortiz wore in the Octagon after his victory at UFC 18. It was also the night, as Tito says in his book, that Ortiz became the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” and he began his one-man destruction of the Lion’s Den camp. So, who was the unlucky soul whose ass was fucked by Tito Ortiz at UFC 18? Jerry Bohlander, my choice for the worst major MMA champion of all-time.
Jerry Bohlander walked into Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den gym in the early 1990s, submitted one of the best fighters in the gym, and was soon thrown into his first pro fight, which he won. In Bohlander’s second pro fight, and first UFC fight, Bohlander submitted Scott Ferrozzo, who outweighed Bohlander by almost 150 pounds. Bohlander went on to lose to Gary Goodridge later that night, but it was only one year later, in February 1997, that Jerry Bohlander would taste UFC tournament gold. Bohlander won the UFC Lightweight (under 200lbs) Tournament at UFC 12, and did so in under two minutes total fight time.
So, after all that success, you ask, why is Jerry Bohlander my choice for worst champion? Well, the night Bohlander won his tournament, he beat Rainy Martinez and Nick Sanzo. Martinez’s pro record? 0-2. Sanzo’s pro record? 1-1, with Sanzo’s only win coming earlier that night against Jackie Lee, who was making his pro debut. So, to become champion, Bohlander beat two completely irrelevant guys who were immediately forgotten in MMA history. Of Bohlander’s 11 career wins, only 3 of those came against opponents with winning records. The three fighters of note who Bohlander fought (Ortiz, Goodridge, Murilo Bustamante) all handily beat him. Granted, in the early days of the UFC the competition was slim, but Bohlander simply has no victories over relevant opponents.
While Bohlander may be the worst major MMA champion of all-time, that says nothing about him personally. After 9/11, he was inspired to become a police officer, and has been serving as a deputy for the Napa County Sheriff’s Office for close to ten years. Bohlander is on the SWAT team and works many dangerous cases. Apparently, Bohlander has two justified killings while on-duty: once shooting and killing a man charging him with a knife; and shooting and killing another suspect who was reaching in his waistband for a gun. So, while I may believe you are the worst major MMA champion of all-time, Jerry Bohlander, I salute you.
If you search the Internet for opinions on the UFC 146 main event featuring challenger Frank Mir versus UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos, one popular opinion seems to be a steady constant that you will find everywhere: Junior dos Santos …
If you search the Internet for opinions on the UFC 146 main event featuring challenger Frank Mir versus UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos, one popular opinion seems to be a steady constant that you will find everywhere: Junior dos Santos is going to knock out Frank Mir in Round No.1.
This opinion, of course, is nothing new to the former two-time heavyweight champion.
Mir’s entire career has been a case of overcoming obstacles to get to where is today. His initial UFC bout with Roberto Traven over 11 years ago, to the comeback of Pete Williams and Tank Abbott, Mir was always the guy that was supposed to lose.
His forearm shattering upset-victory over Tim Sylvia and a motorcycle accident that took his new UFC Heavyweight championship almost took his entire career as a martial artist away from him.
Battling back from personal and in-ring struggles, Mir buckled down and focused to overcome adversity by defeating Brock Lesnar with a kneebar and then went on to dominate the No.2 ranked heavyweight in the world, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the UFC Interim heavyweight championship.
The common theme here is that these were challenges that Frank Mir was not supposed to overcome, yet he did—and conquered.
With many writing off Frank Mir as a massive underdog and the dominance that Junior dos Santos has shown over the course of his own career to this point, the safe bet will be on the side of the champion.
I think that Frank Mir has something to prove. He has something that is driving him to be the champion once more.
The answer lies in his legacy that includes two title reigns—the longest tenure of a UFC heavyweight—the most wins by a UFC heavyweight (14), the most submission wins (eight) by a UFC heavyweight and the most different submission types used to gain victory (seven).
On May 26, 2012, Frank Mir will be fighting in front of his home crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in another historic event featuring a main card of UFC heavyweights.
Mir comes into this fight with an outstanding record of 10-2 in the desert compared to Junior dos Santos’ record of 1-0, a victory over Gilbert Yvel.
Dos Santos also has to be aware that Frank Mir can not only end his night early by a submission but packs enough power to keep him honest on his feet as he attempts to defend his title for the first time, a difficult task for anyone that has worn the heavyweight championship.
Mir enters this bout with his all-familiar calm, confident coolness that makes opponents think that he might know something that they do not.
Mir knows that this is the most dangerous striker he has faced to date but that seems to be one issue he doesn’t mind and makes it seem to be his biggest advantage.
But why?
Mir brings a very well-rounded skill-set to this fight, more so than any opponent that dos Santos has faced up to this point in his career.
I for one will not be surprised if this fight stays standing for a lengthy period of time and not because Mir fails to take dos Santos to the ground. Mir has above average stand-up defense and has never been knocked out on the feet.
His striking is diverse to the point that dos Santos has to be weary of all types of strikes due to the fact that Mir won’t be shy of landing on his back. Expect a lot of kicks and knees to be coming from Frank Mir because if he does fall to the mat, dos Santos will be unlikely to follow.
Mir also has the advantage of being the larger fighter and can use some tie-ups against the cage to wear down “Cigano” and take him into deeper waters.
Mir can utilize a Thai clinch as an effective tool in that position but will have to be cautious of the dangerous uppercut that dos Santos possesses.
Standing and striking with Junior dos Santos isn’t impossible and shouldn’t be out of the question. It may seem like the harder road to travel but Frank Mir has the tools to be effective.
I also believe that Frank Mir has one advantage that Junior dos Santos cannot prepare for.
Now at 33 years of age, the window of opportunity is closing for Frank Mir and his best chance to regain the UFC heavyweight championship is now.
For Frank Mir, his back is against the wall. He is fighting in front of his home crowd, and together that makes Mir a very dangerous animal.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is desperate to fight for the UFC again. So desperate that he’s willing to be a competitor on the organization’s long-running reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter if it means earning himself another shot in …
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is desperate to fight for the UFC again. So desperate that he’s willing to be a competitor on the organization’s long-running reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter if it means earning himself another shot in the UFC.
In a recent interview with “The HammerfistingPodcast“, Sylvia had this to say when posed with the question of his willingness to be on the show:
“Absolutely. I helped coach season two with Matt (Hughes) and Rich (Franklin) because it was half heavyweights and half 170 or 185-pounders. Matt being a 170-pounder and Rich being 185-pounds at that time and needing some help with the big boys, so, those are two of my best friends in the fighting industry. I went out there and stayed with those guys and helped them with their heavyweights and made some pretty good friends with that heavyweight division as well. But yeah, I watch The Ultimate Fighter and I would definitely do it if I needed to.”
Sylvia’s desperation is just another anecdote in his fall from champion to obscurity.
There was a time when Sylvia was as relevant a fighter as there was in the UFC. He has won the heavyweight championship twice, first in 2003 and again in 2006. In all, Sylvia defended his title three times, which makes him one of the more successful heavyweight champions in the history of the sport.
In 2008, after an unsuccessful attempt to become the interim heavyweight champion against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Sylvia requested a release from the UFC. The UFC obliged and Sylvia went on to lose to FedorEmelianenko in under a minute before infamously losing to professional boxer Ray Mercer in nine seconds.
Sylvia has fought in relative obscurity ever since, but has quietly built some momentum as he has won six of his last seven fights on the regional scene. Now Sylvia feels like he is ready for another shot at the big time.
Dana White—perhaps the most important man Sylvia needs to impress—isn’t buying the notion of bringing Sylvia back anytime soon. In an interview with MMAJunkie.com White flatly said “no” when the idea of Sylvia’s return came up.
While White has every right to not welcome Sylvia back into the octagon, he should consider Sylvia’s willingness to appear on The Ultimate Fighter.
At first glance, the idea of a former champion earning his shot on a reality TV show that attempts to reward some of the best prospects in the sport with a spot on the UFC roster is a bit absurd. However, allowing Sylvia onto the show makes some sense.
Firstly, there’s the allure of having another season of TUFfeaturing heavyweights.
Heavyweights have been a good draw for the show before—Season 10 featured an all-heavyweight cast and was one of the most-watched seasons of the series. With the show’s debut season on FX receiving all-time lows in viewership, the UFC may want to go to the heavyweight well once more.
Season 10’s cast of UFC hopefuls was anchored by a fighter that had big-time name recognition in Kimbo Slice. While most ardent followers of MMA knew that Slice had no business in the UFC octagon, his presence attracted a huge portion of casual fans interested to see what Slice could do.
While Sylvia may not have the YouTube cache of Slice, he would be a marketable name to casual fans who may turn in to see what he has left.
Ultimately, Slyvia needs to be on the show because it’s a win-win situation for the UFC.
If Sylvia is on the show, one of two scenarios is sure to play out:
Situation No. 1: Sylvia wins his preliminary fight to earn his way into the TUF house and has a successful run on the show.
If Sylvia’s successful run on the show culminates with him holding the title of The Ultimate Fighter, then we have a legitimate Cinderella story, and that can’t be all bad for UFC brass.
The story of a former champion, humbled by losses and general irrelevancy, fighting his way through a tournament for redemption to return to the biggest stage sounds like a script for a movie. With the UFC hype machine behind it, there would be huge interest behind Sylvia.
If you don’t believe that Sylvia could be relevant again, consider the case of Mark Hunt.
Hunt signed with the UFC in 2010, and at 36 years old with a 5-6 record in MMA, most fans viewed the signing as a joke. Riding a five-fight losing streak and being a year-and-a-half off from fighting, Hunt’s career seemed all but over.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Hunt has since reeled off a 3-1 record in the UFC and has become a fan favorite. Hunt’s popularity even inspired a social media campaign that called for him to replace Alistair Overeem in a title match at UFC 146.
While Hunt’s campaign was unsuccessful, his resurgence and sudden popularity is one of the best stories in all of MMA this year.
An improbably run on TUFfor Sylvia could provide a similar storyline.
Scenario No. 2: Sylvia embarrasses himself and is beaten handily at some point in the show.
This is the much more likely scenario—Sylvia was already knocked out by a former Ultimate Fighter contestant in Abe Wagner.
As long as Sylvia loses at some point throughout the show, then White has no incentive to give him an actual fight in the UFC and Sylvia can no longer beg for a chance to prove himself. White will have gotten rid of Sylvia for good while generating some good publicity for the show and the organization.
As an added benefit, a loss for Sylvia would bring legitimacy to the show’s cast. Even though Sylvia may be past his prime a win over a former champion is a great name for any prospect to have on his record.
If Sylvia were to be beaten it would show how far the heavyweight division has progressed over the last five years.
Either way Sylvia’s presence on TUF is a genius idea that would provide must-see TV.
Not too long ago, Tim Sylvia was focused on one thing: getting back into the UFC, the promotion where he once reigned as heavyweight champion. Sylvia’s pleas fell on deaf ears. For his next fight, he is set to face Randy Smith on the June 16…
Not too long ago, Tim Sylvia was focused on one thing: getting back into the UFC, the promotion where he once reigned as heavyweight champion. Sylvia’s pleas fell on deaf ears.
For his next fight, he is set to face Randy Smith on the June 16 NEF Fight Night 3 card, a fight card which will take place at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine.
Since leaving the UFC in 2008, Sylvia has gone 6-3, fighting for Affliction and various other smaller promotions. His last fight was a three-round unanimous decision victory over Andreas Kraniotakes for ProElite in November 2011.
In 2010, Sylvia spoke to Jonathan Snowden, then with Bloody Elbow, about leaving the UFC:
Everyone talks about (agent) Monte (Cox) and that decision, thinking I would be better off in Zuffa. But what if I did beat Fedor? Everyone would have been saying ‘Oh my God. Monte Cox is the greatest man alive. He’s the smartest man in MMA.’ But it didn’t happen that night. I lost. But if we had won we probably would have gone down as the best fighter and management team ever. But it didn’t happen. I’m happy, you know? There’s definitely some advantages, fighting on a lot of shows and always being a free agent. I don’t have to be a ‘Yes sir, no sir’ type of guy. I’m happy. I’m not saying I would never consider going back to the UFC again. We would definitely work a deal and it might be a nice place to finish up my career. But right now, I’m fine where I am
Sylvia recently spoke to NEF and has since changed his tune, saying, “I regret leaving the UFC, 100 percent.”
There are several potential reasons for Sylvia to regret that decision. It could be money; it could be the level of competition he has been facing since leaving the UFC. However, knowing what we do about Silvia, it’s very likely that he misses the attention of the UFC fans, good or bad, and the feeling of stepping into the Octagon and fighting on the biggest stage that the sport has to offer.
When looking at where he would stand among the top dogs in the current crop of UFC fighters, Sylvia wasted no time naming the five fighters he felt he would have difficulty with:
Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez and probably Shane Carwin. Those top five right there are very tough fights for me, the fight could go either way. All the other ones, I believe I win easily.
Sylvia hasn’t fought anyone near the level of those five fighters since leaving the UFC. In fact, when he did face true top-level competition during his prime, he was less than successful, dropping fights to Mir, Randy Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fedor Emelianenko. Sylvia’s biggest wins were against Ricco Rodriguez, Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson, fighters that many would say were never as good as today’s top tier of UFC’s heavyweight fighters.
Time marches on, and it’s almost certain that the UFC has moved past Tim Sylvia. Sylvia would be well-served to do the same, move on and put his hope of returning to the UFC behind him.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.Tim Sylvia is on a mission to get another shot in the UFC. After his initial pleas were recently shot down by UFC President Dana White, the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion has been backed into a corn…
In an interview on The Hammerfisting Podcast, Sylvia was asked if he would consider competing on The Ultimate Fighter for a UFC contract.
“Absolutely. I helped coach Season 2 with Matt [Hughes] and Rich [Franklin] because it was half heavyweights,” said Sylvia.
“They needed some help with the big boys, and those are two of my best friends in the fighting industry, so I went out there and stayed with those guys and helped them with their heavyweights and stuff like that, and made some pretty good friends. I watch The Ultimate Fighter, and I would definitely do it if I needed to.”
Sylvia competing on TUF would certainly draw more viewers, but it may not be enough to convince White.
Despite everything Sylvia has offered to do, White still isn’t budging on his decision to pass on the former heavyweight star. Sylvia has even offered to fight for free.
Why no love for the former UFC champ?
Sylvia believes he may be blackballed from the UFC thanks to his decision to jump ship to Affliction and challenge Fedor Emelianenko in July 2008. Unfortunately, it proved to be a terrible decision, seeing as the promotion folded shortly thereafter.
What say you? Should the UFC give Sylvia another shot or is it time to leave the past behind and move on with future stars?
If you search the Internet for opinions on the 