Tim Sylvia is an "All Time Great" of the HW Division. agree?

[akimbo1887]

i consider him b an alltime great

[Spawned_Fighter]

feel bad for the guy, but he really isnt

[moreorless87]

Originally Posted by FrodoFraggins

Why would you want to see him fight Struve? He doesn't even get in shape to prove he's serious and he lost to Abe Wagner.

He doesn't respect himself or the sport enough imo. Why should the UFC respect or want him? Now if he got in shape and kicked some ass then sure.

To be fair he was in pretty good shape leading up to the AA fight and the UFC was dismissive even before his loss there, i'm guessing he now knows he's never going to get signed up again.

The problem with Sylvia is not I'd say so much the level he is(or was when in dececent shape) at but rather public perception of him and the division. He's never been a popular fighter and added to that the UFC have invested a great deal of time selling the "new breed" to the extent they don't need to get guys like AA, Sergei and Sylvia invovled. Most fans already buy not just the top guys but pretty much all the decent HW's in the UFC as superior to them, why risk that by actually having them fight?

[edwin]

Originally Posted by synyster

best UFC heavy of all time

this says how bad the ufc heavyweight division has been for most of it's existence.

[MiroHa]

Originally Posted by edwin

this says how bad the ufc heavyweight division has been for most of it's existence.

Imo it hasn't gotten that much better. Right now there's probably more depth in HW division than ever before but top 10 is arguably worse than what it was back in 2003-2005.

[CO68]

Fuck no, not an ATG. Are we now redefining and lowering the standards of what that means? He reigned when the division was paperthin in the UFC. He's an above average HW that I felt was rather overrated for a long time (it took until the Couture fight for others to start to catch on). Jesus, I didn't know there were so many people that delusional towards Sylvia. But then again, there's still plenty of people delusional towards the likes of Frank Mir and Roy Nelson.

[RyuEatingSushi]

I don't think he deserves all the hate he gets, but lets face the facts. He has the most title defenses in UFC HW history and you can't take that away from him. You can't blame him for the UFC having the worst HW roster during that era.

I think that if he did fight in PRIDE during that era he wouldn't be able to hang with the Herrings, Randelmans, Fryes (pre Shamrock) and Sergei's of the division. I think they would all beat him down.

[xXSpawnXx]

Originally Posted by SeattleFightFan

size wise, no, the metaphor doesn't hold up. but i meant, sandwiched between a couple of decent era's, Moorer did just fine. until some better HW's came along (Riddick Bowe?) and ended his nice little 2 year run.

Moorer was a very decent HW who got a belt during a lull in competition. but he was no Larry Holmes. that's all i was trying to say.

i'm actually pretty ignorant of Moorer's non-HW career. thanks for educating me on that. curious that he skipped Cruiserweight...

EDIT: maybe i should have said Ray Mercer - that fixes the size part of the metaphor, and of course adds another certain level of irony

Mercer would be another bad example, Mercer in his prime was a ferocious and explosive puncher with an iron chin who came in to professional boxing late...no real connection between Mercer and Sylvia except their fight and the punch that knocked Sylvia out.

[theargosy]

So good he doesn't even know when his arm is broken...

[Katsumi Yamada]

Tim an all time great?? hmmmm......

off the top of my head:

1. fedor
2. nogueira
3. crocop
4. coleman
5. barnett
6. dos santos
7. velasquez
8. couture
9. vovchanchyn
10. timmeh

just beats Bas into the all time top 10 imo. there are no specific criteria for this list other than greatness.

12-20 is including the likes of:
Kerr, Shammy, Arlovski, Ricco, Sergei, Werdum, Rizzo

so #10 of all time makes him on the borderline of being an "all-time-great".