How good was Tim Sylvia?

[TheChance]

UFC HW division was just so, so bad in that era. Guys like Buentello, Eilers, etc even stumbling accidentally into title shots says it all.

Timmy did what he had to do and he was the champ. But he also would have lost to Crocop, Sergei, Barnett, Fedor, and Nog pretty easily IMO so he was never a top 3 HW.

I doubt he would have lost easily, he was beating Nog's balls off before he made a huge mistake and went to the ground with him.

 

[Thick_Strong_Tight]

I can only say this, I watched him beat the ever loving f*ck out of Mariusz Pudzianowski, and on that night at 400 lbs, he looked like a fantastic athlete

 

[Melas Chasma]

He’d have a chance against cro-cop, but prime Sergei beats him 8/10 times.

So 2/10 is not a chance?

 

[Cazador Diurno]

It always bothered me to have a goofy looking no cordination 0 footwork and mechanics as the HW champ in the UFC.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Very good. His stretch between AA1 and Couture was huge. His stretch before Mir was almost as huge. I certainly didn’t think he would beat Ricco (but I also didn’t expect Ricco to look like fucking ghost talking Paulo Fihlo out there in that bout.)

But in, say, 2005, he was not as good as the Pride top 5, or maybe even top 7. Fedor, Nog, CC, Barnett, Aleks, Sergie, and I’m probably forgetting one or two others all peaked higher.

But they didn’t test in Pride. Sylvia had to at least be careful in his consumption, the others didn’t.

All in all, Sylvia’s story is a great one. He showed up at gym untrained on a Monday and couldn’t jump rope or do a pull up. He cried every day his first week. He was a lard ass that everyone mocked. He persevered. He lost his first ammy fight 5 days later. He came back the next Monday. He showed more grit than anyone ever imagined. And a few years later he was UFC champ. He deserves vastly more kudos from mma fans than he gets.

 

[mkt]

Thanks for making my argument, Tim knew how to use his Big Boy style I will give him credit for that...

No, I just disproved your asinine "argument" and you didn't even realize it.

 

[Sopapo]

roided sylvia in Pride could have done some damage. Fact is PRIDE level wasnt too high either.
HW always lacked talent

 

[Barkus]

He was unathletic and boring, but used his reach extremely well. Criminally underrated.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Before Tim lost to Randy Tim had the ufc belt during 2006 after two wins over Arlovski and then Jeff Monson.

Tim was tall and had a decent wrestling. My question is, was he really good back then and would he handle Mirko Cro Cop or Sergey Kharitonov if they would have fought 2005-2006?

I'll likely be in a small minority here as he tends to always get shit on, but I feel he is one of the most underappreciated fighters the sport has ever seen. I get some of the critiques he gets (failed a test), but he was incredibly successful in his UFC tenure. He had finishes against very tough opposition and at his best and was a fairly diverse striker with good defensive grappling.

From what I've gathered, people generally didn't like him because he had aspirations to fight Fedor and claimed to be better (which Fedor eventually proved false and Sylvia humbly and respectfully accepted upon defeat) and because he was just a big guy that used his reach to his advantage, sometimes winning fights that weren't particularly eventful. To my knowledge, he never did anything too dickish -- sure he wore his belt a lot in public, but no more than many other champs did. Furthermore, he had a very difficult upbringing -- he got abused by his own family and bullied a lot; he was quite the success story in making something of his life from nothing.

Anyway, this is my Tim Sylvia rant that I tend to go on every so often. I'm sure others will proceed to be critical of him and possibly counter this post; I get it -- I'm not going to argue against others that don't agree with me (everyone is entitled to their opinion), but respectfully, I won't agree with them. /EndRant

 

[Hatorade]

He was better than most remember. His grappling was garbage, but if you stood there and traded with him, he could hold his own with anyone when he was in his prime. Timmeh had weight and mobility issues that shortened his career. He was pretty much done after he fought randy.

 

[Paynebringer]

No, I just disproved your asinine "argument" and you didn't even realize it.

Calm down son all you did was make a valid point...

 

[kingghidrah]

But in, say, 2005, he was not as good as the Pride top 5, or maybe even top 7. Fedor, Nog, CC, Barnett, Aleks, Sergie, and I’m probably forgetting one or two others all peaked higher.

Heath Herring. That's a good matchup for Syliva, smaller but in better shape.

 

[mkt]

He was better than most remember. His grappling was garbage, but if you stood there and traded with him, he could hold his own with anyone when he was in his prime. Timmeh had weight and mobility issues that shortened his career. He was pretty much done after he fought randy.

To be fair, his grappling was fine against Jeff Monson, though he got subbed earlier in his career by Mir.

 

[pankrat]

Calm down son all you did was make a valid point...

Your "point" is simpleton as fuck dude. Pretty lame that you actually believe it even qualifies as "a point" lol

 

[TrueFightFan]

Good enough to be the champ in the second best HW division in the world at that time, that’s pretty respectable

Before Tim lost to Randy Tim had the ufc belt during 2006 after two wins over Arlovski and then Jeff Monson.

Tim was tall and had a decent wrestling. My question is, was he really good back then and would he handle Mirko Cro Cop or Sergey Kharitonov if they would have fought 2005-2006?

Not good at all, his sole advantage in all fights was his size. Once true skillz & cage IQ took over in mma his size became useless.

Both of them would murk Timmeh. I guess he was decent for his time and state of the HW division when he was the champ.

He’d have a chance against cro-cop, but prime Sergei beats him 8/10 times.

For all of the hate Timmeh gets, it is a subtle admission that the UFC was not the premier organization at the time. However, heavyweight is heavyweight and a big power puncher with decent wrestling would go a long way in today's division.

A few questions to ponder: Who's the HW champ right now? What skills does he have?

 

[mkt]

Heath Herring. That's a good matchup for Syliva, smaller but in better shape.

I'd pick Sylvia. Herring usually got outworked in fights like that. Sylvia would use his size/reach and Herring didn't have any superpowers (1-punch KO power, elite submissions, etc.) that would likely stop Tim.

 

[Ares Black]

Not good at all, his sole advantage in all fights was his size. Once true skillz & cage IQ took over in mma his size became useless.

He was a giant on steroids with a pretty good jab. That's about it.

 

[mkt]

roided sylvia in Pride could have done some damage. Fact is PRIDE level wasnt too high either.
HW always lacked talent

As someone else said in a comment "But they didn’t test in Pride. Sylvia had to at least be careful in his consumption, the others didn’t." If Sylvia fought in Pride, it would be the best, roided version, the one who beat Arlovski twice and Monson. There was a brief period when Tim even looked semi-jacked.

 

[DoctorDeelon]

He was a lot better than people give him credit for. People remember how physically unimpressive he looked and his losses to Fedor and Mercer, but he was a 2x HW champ who put together a great run between 2002-2006 or so. Prime Ricco Rodriguez, prime Arlovski, these guys were no joke.

Would Tim be a HW champ today? Not a chance. But he was a tough dude who managed to win the title twice and defend it a few times (which is rare for UFC HW champs). He was awkward and largely unathletic but his style was effective, he could stuff takedowns and was heavy handed.

 

[thewilks]

Tim was good and he deserves respect, but he was the champ in the league that had the 2nd tier heavyweights at the time including. (Yes, Ricco Rodriguez, Frank Mir, Jeff Monson and Andrei Arlovski were the 2nd Tier HWs.) That doesn't mean he was bad at all, but his hypothetical Pride run probably would have looked worse than Chuck's. I don't know if he would have even been able to even string any wins together unless it was over the guys like Heath Herring (maybe) Goodridge, James Thompson, Takayama. And the "Pride guys all juiced" arguement doesn't mean anything, because so did Tim. Tim was so huge he was able to use his hands from a distance that most people never had to deal with and that's where most of his success was. He also had underrated dirty boxing.

I don't think he comes close to beating any of the top Pride guys, they were all more skilled or athletic than the UFC HW's or both. One of the only UFC HWs that had the skill and athleticism was Arlovski, and Arlovski's 2nd fight with Tim kind of is what it is, it was a bit flukey, and the third fight was insanely boring, I believe Arlovksi stated way after the fact that he was injured and that was the cause...

The boring fights are another reason why people shit on Tim. The tail end of his UFC career was extremely lackluster, people couldn't wait for Randy to come in there and take him out. And honestly, the Randy fight was more awesome because of the circumstances than it was a total barnburner.

Having said all of that, he was good for the time in the org that he was in. I think his best win was probably Ricco Rodriguez, who is largely forgotten, but was on a tear up until that point.