Tim Sylvia var en gång tungviktsmästare i UFC. Sylvia medverkade nyligen i Chael Sonnens podcast där han berättade vad han tycker om UFC.
Tim Sylvia var en gång i tiden UFCs tungviktsmästare. I UFC hade han ett matchfacit på nio vinster och fyra förluster där majoriteten av hans vinster var på avslut. Nio av hans tretton matcher i UFC var titelmatcher och han är den tungviktsmästaren i UFC som försvarat bältet flest gånger. Han lämnade UFC efter att han förlorat en match om interimtiteln mot Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Han medverkade nyligen i Chael Sonnens podcast där han berättade om händelserna och hans nuvarande relation till UFC:
”I was making $100,000 [to show] and $100,000 [to win] in the UFC. I would have to win four fights in the UFC to make the $800,000 to get what I was paid [at Affliction: Banned]. I had one fight on my contract left and I wanted to fight Brock Lesnar next. They wouldn’t let me do it. I wanted to get paid what he was getting paid. He was getting $300,000 and $300,000 plus PPV buys. He was making about three million dollars a fight. I was like, ’I’m the [former] fucking heavyweight champ and this guy comes in and he’s making this kind of money? He’s only fought once in his career.'”
”I was very bitter, very pissed off. [UFC] said they were going to have me fight Cheick Kongo over in Europe and I said I wasn’t interested. I asked them to release me from my contract, they did and the next day I signed with Affliction.”
Tim Sylvia: Dana White is a fucking dick
Sylvia diskuterar även varför han aldrig fått chansen att återvända till UFC. Han drar paralleller till Andrei Arlovski som han mött fyra gånger i sin karriär och som haft en liknande karriär före han återvände till UFC:
”You know Dana White. He’s just a fucking dick. He’s just holding a grudge. They’re pissed off because I went to support Affliction. I was sponsored by them for three years before that fight. Dana’s just a dick. He holds grudges. They blackballed Andrei Arlovski, as well, but he was smart, went to a good camp, started picking and choosing who he fought and put eight or ten wins together. They had no choice but to bring him back to the UFC.”
Sylvia tror även om han gjort bättre val i karriären skulle han varit i samma situation som Arlovski i nuläget:
”Look at him. He’s top 10 again. I truly believe that if I hadn’t taken some dumb, stupid fights and stayed in shape I could have been back in the UFC and top 10, as well. Would I have won the title again? I don’t know. Probably not, but there’s still a lot of good fights for me out there. I could have fought Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Stefan Struve, Matt Mittrione, Brendan Schaub.”
På Sylvias tid kunde det dröja månader mellan varje UFC-gala. I dagens läge arrangerar UFC nästan en gala varje vecka. Syliva avslutar med att kritisera UFCs senaste utveckling som han menar har sänkt kvalitén:
”There are so many guys in the top 10 who don’t even deserve it. The UFC is over-saturated now with Ultimate Fighters. Events back to back to back. They’re just bringing in scabs. It’s not like it used to be when we were fighting back in the day when we had to earn our right to get into the UFC. I think it took me 15[13] fights to get into the UFC and I was undefeated.”
