Ten Reasons We Hate Tim Sylvia

By Eric Hobaugh Editor-inChief

I am like a lot of MMA fans in that I watched the first few UFC’s via VHS tapes from my local Blockbuster back in 1994. I was not, however a huge fan of the sport until the year 2002 or so. At that time, we had a very shallow pool in the heavyweight division.
I remember thinking Wesley “Cabbage” Correira would make a great champion for the UFC. During that time Ricco Rodriguez, Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir, Tre Telligman, Wes Sims, and Gan McGee were the biggest heavyweight names in the UFC. Who knew Frank Mir would still be a realistic challenge to the UFC heavyweight belt in 2012? I would have bet you 100 bucks Tim Sylvia would long have since retired and been hunting instead of trying to get back into the UFC.
I was watching an old fight of Sylvia’s last night and heard Joe Rogan say, “I am not sure why Tim Sylvia always gets booed.” I thought for a second and tried to answer for myself.
Recently, I have heard so much made of Tim’s comment, “I want to come back into the UFC, because I could beat all the top ten heavyweights”… I thought this piece was appropriate. It is sad to think such a big name has sunk to the level of begging on said social media outlets for a chance to get back into the UFC.
Ten Reasons we hate Tim Sylvia
#10 100% no ground game. On Wikipedia he is listed as a Purple Belt in Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu. It is laughable and embarrassing that he is claiming to have a purple belt in anything, let alone BJJ. He was able to be the UFC Heavyweight Champ with absolutely no ability to fight on the ground. Frank Mir got him on the ground and broke his arm in the first 50 seconds of the first round of their fight.
#9 Wearing his championship belt everywhere. This was so freaking annoying, I am not sure how his team mates at Miletich Fighting Systems put up with it. I remember him wearing it during the walk in to a championship fight. The only problem with that was, it was Matt Hughes’ title defense! Disgraceful!
#8 He was the champ at the weakest time in the history of the UFC. I can already hear the moaning of the so called “experts” saying his era was not the weakest in the UFC because what about UFC 1? We did not have weight classes back then. Google Fedor, then hit his MMA record and look at the dates he was champion and the list of fighters he was fighting. If Sylvia had been in Pride during that era, we would never even remember his name.
#7 In January 2011 for his fight with Abe Wagner at Titan FC 16, he weighed 310.6 pounds. He was also knocked out by a horrible fighter. Seriously, less than a year after that humiliating .32 second loss, Sylvia is saying in interviews that he could make a run at the UFC title? Wasn’t Abe Wagner beaten in the first round of TUF 10? I am remembering with vigor now why we hate this guy.
#6 His ring entrance and fighter announcement is the most annoying one in the history of MMA. Who is blowing the kisses to? Is he thinking the 90% of the male fans watching are enjoying him blowing us kisses? Name another guy that does that. I dare you! It is mind boggling he has no self-awareness at all. Who is in his corner allowing him to act this way? Does his own team dislike him?
#5 If he does not need the money, why in the hell is he still fighting? I watched a recent video on Youtube (added February 12, 2012) in which he is states he has made millions of dollars while he was in the UFC. If that statement is true, why is he begging the UFC to fight? If what he says on that same video is also true, he left the UFC because he felt he was not being paid enough. He left to fight Fedor and was knocked out in 36 seconds at their Affliction fight. Now we are supposed to root for him to get back into the UFC? He had one fight left on his contract and he still walked away!
#4 According to complex.com, Matt Serra once said about Tim Sylvia, “Please, never put me in the same sentence with that big retard ever again.” Anderson Sylvia is quoted at fightline.com as saying, “Dear Tim Sylvia, shut the hell up, win fights and stop begging. It’s (expletive) annoying.”
#3 The man has an excuse for everything. He had what every male UFC fan could ever want. He was the UFC heavyweight champ. He made huge sums of money. His work allowed him to travel the world and do and see things most ordinary people couldn’t even dream of. He was world famous. Why is he still telling us how unfair his life and the UFC are being to him?
#2 At the end of his loss to Randy Coture at UFC 68, Tim Sylvia explained to Joe Rogan he came into the fight with an injury. Then he quickly said, “Not to take anything away from Randy.” I was at UFC 68 and it was the most amazing fight I have ever seen. For five rounds Randy Coture dominated the larger and younger Tim Sylvia in all areas of the fight. Coture even out boxed the much longer and supposedly better striker in Sylvia. Sylvia could have garnered millions of fans if he had just said five little words. “He just kicked my ass.” You do not need an excuse when you lose to one of the greatest fighters to ever strap on gloves.
#1 The reason so many of us hate Tim Sylvia is he was knocked out in nine seconds to an over the hill boxer. This is one of, if not the most, embarrassing moments in the history of MMA. Mercer was almost 50 at the time and you could barely understand him, because he was so punchy. No disrespect to Ray, he is an all-time great in my book. I always loved to watch him fight and he was a true heavyweight boxing champion. Tim Silvia did not learn what Royce Gracie taught us at UFC 1. Take down an opponent who can out strike you and tap him out. It is called mixed martial arts for a reason. Randy Coture threw himself at James Toney’s feet in the first seconds of their MMA fight. Why? Because Randy learned from what Gracie taught us.

These are just the top ten reasons. I had to narrow them down from 30 things that I had . All of these things together make me wonder why I ever cheered for the guy in the first place. I have nothing personal against Tim Sylvia. He seems like an OK guy. I do not understand why he has made some of the decisions he has made over the years, but it is his life. I enjoyed his early fights and rooted for him in the early days. Why he cannot retire and live off his ‘Millions”, or open a gym and help bring along younger fighters is a mystery. Other fighters who were less successful have done that and made a living. He still has many options open to a very few fighters. Ex-champions from the UFC are few and far between.
If I we’re in his corner, I would sit him down and tell him he needs to retire and it is over. It is sad when we get older and leave things behind we love. The begging on twitter, Facebook, and Youtube is not dignified and makes him look even worse. What he is doing is bad for him and the entire sport of MMA.
Please retire Tim, and let us remember you the way you were. A mediocre champ who needed steroids to be above average in the time of the worst heavyweights in the history of the UFC.