Dana White Not Open To Taking Tim Sylvia Back

Posted on Mar 9, 2012

By Chris Howie
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has been making a serious effort to make a return to the top show in town but to do so he'll need to get a call from UFC President Dana White, something that isn't going to happen according to the main boss himself.

White talked to MMAFighting.com this week and during an interview was asked about the possibility of having Sylvia back in the UFC.

Without hearing the whole question White cut in and answered "Hell no.. Hell no."

And with that, the door to a UFC return for the former Blind Date contestant slammed shut.

Heh ... poor Tim.

Bellator

I think they should give him a one fight deal against one of the younger guys he claimed he could beat. If he can then he deserves to get a 3 fight deal IMO

^^ Agree. If you can give a losing champ an immediate rematch surely you can give a fallen champ a shot. Thats what Rocky, Cinderella Man et al are made of.

kind of funny how it seems just a few years ago he was begging them to let him out of his contract and now he is begging to get a contract. kind of funny how the tables turned there. maybe Rampage just examine this before asking to be released.

Maybe i am wrong but it does seem like if you ask for an early release you are pretty much shooting yourself in the foot with that promotion.

From what I remember he wanted to renew but Dana was a full digit per fight off. So he wanted 6 figures and Dana only wanted to give him 5, basically. I don't know if there's ever been a more hated champ in UFC history. At least Tito had SOME fans. I don't remember anyone cheering for Sylvia..... ever.

"What the hell is Tim Sylvia? I don't even want to fight him, he looks like Swamp Thing." - Brock Lesnar

DEP wrote:

I don't know if there's ever been a more hated champ in UFC history. At least Tito had SOME fans. I don't remember anyone cheering for Sylvia..... ever.

"What the hell is Tim Sylvia? I don't even want to fight him, he looks like Swamp Thing." - Brock Lesnar

Well we had that guy Maine-iac at the old site who was all puffing his chest over Slyvia for awhile. But other than him......? But if we're weighing pure hate in terms of hate-volume per fan, then Lesnar probably is the most hated fighter ever. Either him, or Tito and Nick Diaz in SF. Possibly throw Anderson Silva in there......at least for this site.

Uh sorry Trigg...... the MOST hated fighter HAS to be Fedor..... at least for all the folks sitting at my keyboard right now.

Triggerman99 wrote:

DEP wrote:

I don't know if there's ever been a more hated champ in UFC history. At least Tito had SOME fans. I don't remember anyone cheering for Sylvia..... ever.

"What the hell is Tim Sylvia? I don't even want to fight him, he looks like Swamp Thing." - Brock Lesnar

Well we had that guy Maine-iac at the old site who was all puffing his chest over Slyvia for awhile. But other than him......? But if we're weighing pure hate in terms of hate-volume per fan, then Lesnar probably is the most hated fighter ever. Either him, or Tito and Nick Diaz in SF. Possibly throw Anderson Silva in there......at least for this site.

Yeah I remember Maine-iac now. I honestly thought he was the actual Tim Sylvia for awhile and so did a lot of other guys because we didn't believe that Sylvia had a single genuine fan lol. I think Lesnar was more of a polarizing figure like Tito as opposed to a completely untalented goober like Tim Sylvia. Love him or hate him, the guy was talented, just like Tito was. People hated Lesnar for different reasons: He's a jerk, he's never done anything, he's a WWE homo etc... but at the end of the day he still plowed Couture, buttraped Mir and strangled Carwin, 3 accomplished HW's. I think people saw Sylvia as a boring, uncoordinated, less than talented fighter who was way out of his league but just kept getting lucky. That can't be said about Diaz, Silva or Lesnar. Those guys, hated as they are, have legions of die hard fans and actually have athletic capability. Sylvia is just a big dude.

I liked Sylvia at first his fights with Cabbage was awesome ,but ever since he lost to Mir he just wasn't fun to watch.

DEP wrote:

Triggerman99 wrote:

DEP wrote:

I don't know if there's ever been a more hated champ in UFC history. At least Tito had SOME fans. I don't remember anyone cheering for Sylvia..... ever.

"What the hell is Tim Sylvia? I don't even want to fight him, he looks like Swamp Thing." - Brock Lesnar

Well we had that guy Maine-iac at the old site who was all puffing his chest over Slyvia for awhile. But other than him......? But if we're weighing pure hate in terms of hate-volume per fan, then Lesnar probably is the most hated fighter ever. Either him, or Tito and Nick Diaz in SF. Possibly throw Anderson Silva in there......at least for this site.

Yeah I remember Maine-iac now. I honestly thought he was the actual Tim Sylvia for awhile and so did a lot of other guys because we didn't believe that Sylvia had a single genuine fan lol. I think Lesnar was more of a polarizing figure like Tito as opposed to a completely untalented goober like Tim Sylvia. Love him or hate him, the guy was talented, just like Tito was. People hated Lesnar for different reasons: He's a jerk, he's never done anything, he's a WWE homo etc... but at the end of the day he still plowed Couture, buttraped Mir and strangled Carwin, 3 accomplished HW's. I think people saw Sylvia as a boring, uncoordinated, less than talented fighter who was way out of his league but just kept getting lucky. That can't be said about Diaz, Silva or Lesnar. Those guys, hated as they are, have legions of die hard fans and actually have athletic capability. Sylvia is just a big dude.

Yeah, that's a solid way to look at it I guess. But my idea of "most hated" is based more on the amount of pure, unfiltered hate being directed at the fighter. it's true; some fighters are equally hated and loved, but any one of those fighters can be the most hated, IMO. Like look at Chael Sonnen. He definitely (for reasons I'll never understand, it seems) has his backers, but those (of us) who hate him really, really hate him. I think that makes him one of the most hated, even though he is talented and has loyal followers.
To me it's like doing shots vs drinking beer. If I really wanna get blasted quick, I'll do shots. If I wanna cruise all night, I'll drink beer. I really hate Sonnen, like some people really hate Lesnar and Silva. But I really don't have that feeling about Sylvia. I don't like him, but I don't have that high-volume, really potent hatred toward him.

Sylvia is beer. Sonnen, Lesnar, and Silva are shots.

I don't know if there was ever any real reason to hate Tim. He was just not a real fun guy to watch fighting and people were just "bleh" about him.

I really think more people simply didn't care more than actually hated the guy.

That might be worse.

Exactly. Even the guys you can't stand you want to see fight and you PAY to see fight because you want to see them get beat...but someone like Tim has moved into the "meh" realm of fighters...those guys that you just don't really care if you ever see fight again.

Tim has been in the "Meh" realm forever, granted he has strung a bit of a run together recently but who are the guys he is fighting?

Sylvia was one of the best HW in the world at one point in time, so regardless of what his condition is he is always going to be a dangerous fight based on his experience.

I don't think the UFC should give him another chance, his loss at Affliction was embarrassing and I honestly feel he is just looking for a payday.

lambhimself wrote:

Tim has been in the "Meh" realm forever, granted he has strung a bit of a run together recently but who are the guys he is fighting?

Sylvia was one of the best HW in the world at one point in time, so regardless of what his condition is he is always going to be a dangerous fight based on his experience.

I don't think the UFC should give him another chance, his loss at Affliction was embarrassing and I honestly feel he is just looking for a payday.

100% agree with you.

Timmeh will enjoy the wonders of sub par promotions for the rest of his life. He should be happy with that. If he has turned his life around then he is better off than he was before anyways. I'm not even sure if Bellator will touch him at this point though.

Super Fight League lol

ill tell ya why i hate\hated sylvia......he slept with the belt on and wore it out and about shopping and shit......and the only thing he was ever good at was being big and lanky....he was only considered to be one of the best because the BEST hadn't come forward yet....not even close to top 20 anymore

I voted no, although I wouldn't mind seeing Timmeh vs Hunt.... Hunt via KTFO

why wouldnt they want tim back?

as long as he comes in shape he is a dangerous fighter.
would he be champion? hell no..
would he put fans in seats and make exciting fights? hell yes.
i could see time being a better gatekeeper than kongo and i also see tim having a few exciting wars in the ufc herman,struve,hunt,kongo,barry,lavar johnson, mittrione,schaub,nelson.. just off the top of my head

drainbamage wrote:

why wouldnt they want tim back?

as long as he comes in shape he is a dangerous fighter.
would he be champion? hell no..
would he put fans in seats and make exciting fights? hell yes.
i could see time being a better gatekeeper than kongo and i also see tim having a few exciting wars in the ufc herman,struve,hunt,kongo,barry,lavar johnson, mittrione,schaub,nelson.. just off the top of my head

We're talking about the same Tim Sylvia, right? His fight with Monson was the worst fight in UFC history, IMO.

DEP wrote:

drainbamage wrote:

why wouldnt they want tim back?

as long as he comes in shape he is a dangerous fighter.
would he be champion? hell no..
would he put fans in seats and make exciting fights? hell yes.
i could see time being a better gatekeeper than kongo and i also see tim having a few exciting wars in the ufc herman,struve,hunt,kongo,barry,lavar johnson, mittrione,schaub,nelson.. just off the top of my head

We're talking about the same Tim Sylvia, right? His fight with Monson was the worst fight in UFC history, IMO.

yeah that tim sylvia who had that dog shit fight against monson but also had wars with frank mir, big nog, randy couture,telligman and lets not forget when he put out ricco in the first round after ricco cleared out the entire hw division at that time.

win or lose this guy comes to fight. get him with the dolce diet and a new camp like the blackzillians and let him make one solid run.

you cant deny that he would be a decent add to the roster.... again as long as he comes to work in shape

Here's a very recent picture of Timmeh!