How good was Tim Sylvia?

[moreorless87]

Roided Tim was pretty good

Natty Tim, not so great

Never really agreed with that, I think post roids Tim actually became a smarter fighter, more boring yes but used his reach and size advantage more effectively and picked up his best wins over Arlovski.

The big issue with Sylvia I'd say is that he was vulnerable to opponents who could get in his face early, if he was able to establish his reach though he could be very effective.

Pretty clear I think the Fedor fight was the end of peak Tim, got a big payday to get destroyed and had limited prospects afterwards, took a year off and came back fat, never lost the weight.

 

[TR1]

Sergei Tim is a good fight.

Tim might be less skilled overall, but he was a more proven fighter. Sergei peaked early but then fell off pretty quick relative to his potential.

 

[TerrorTimmy]

He was a big guy who could wrestle well and intimidate people.

Randy showed that wasn't enough to stay at the top.

These days even as thin as HW is, Timmeh wouldn't be ranked.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

This is exactly why he gets shit on, and to your point, he was never remotely a bad guy. I remember being on here all of those years ago and people were losing it because of the boring fights. Back then, if you had 2 to 3 boring fights in a close proximity to each other you were the worst....

I'm not going to lie, after the third Arlovski fight I remember thinking "Okay, is this just what he does now?" Because he had an uneventful fight with Assuerio Silva prior to that so it seemed like a downward trend, not to mention the talks of him being nothing without the sauce. Then after the Monson fight I couldn't wait for someone to get him out of there. He does have an amazing career and story though, and deserves everyone's respect. I'm just making sense of why more people don't have his back, as are you.

Yeah man very fair point. Even as a Sylvia fan, I don't think it would be rational for me to proclaim that everyone is just crazy -- be it justifiable or not, there are reasons why he rubbed folks the wrong way. In retrospect, the 3rd Arlovski fight wasn't too bad (I've gone back and rewatched), but at the time, it admittedly put me to sleep.

 

[Paynebringer]

Eseee

Now you onto your third dick, you seeing how this goes..?

 

[LilNicky95]

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?

He ALSO beat prime Rico Rodriguez which most here will dismiss but when Rico was in shape and motivated, he was damn skilled and tough.

Prime Tim was better that 90% of the UFC division right NOW.

Fedor did take his soul and he dropped off terribly but Timmeh was legit.

 

[TR1]

These days even as thin as HW is, Timmeh wouldn't be ranked.

Silly assertion, considering Olenik, Harris, Sakai, Daukus, and Abdurahimov are all ranked fighters or were recently, and they all fucking suck compared to Tim.

 

[LilNicky95]

Timing is everything back then HW's were less skilled in overall mma.

Less skilled than then bums a dinosaurs that are “contending” now???

GTFO here.

​

 

[LilNicky95]

Silly assertion, considering Olenik, Harris, Sakai, Harris, and Abdurahimov are all ranked fighters or were recently, and they all fucking suck compared to Tim.

I would also throw Black Beast and others in there that are in no way better than Timmeh.

 

[TR1]

I would also throw Black Beast and others in there that are in no way better than Timmeh.

Agreed. BB looks like shit in most of his fights, and his only actual top wins are Volkov (in a fight he looked like dogshit in) and Blaydes.
Tim has a better resume than that, objectively.

Tim Volkov is a 50-50 fight as well.

Evolved HW when the top 5 has Black Bum, (Dull) Blaydes, mediocre Volkov, and Gane (who?).

 

[pankrat]

Now you onto your third dick, you seeing how this goes..?

What a boss

 

[TerrorTimmy]

Silly assertion, considering Olenik, Harris, Sakai, Daukus, and Abdurahimov are all ranked fighters or were recently, and they all fucking suck compared to Tim.

I'd favor every one of them on their worst night over Timmeh on his best night.

 

[TR1]

I'd favor every one of them on their worst night over Timmeh on his best night.

Ok, good to know I can safely ignore anything you have to say about MMA ever again.

 

[TerrorTimmy]

Ok, good to know I can safely ignore anything you have to say about MMA ever again.

Pot, meet kettle

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Nothing wrong with using with what you got, don't make you skilled...

Don't have to be skilled to be a good fighter. Gorilla's don't have a lot of skill, but are better unarmed fighters than any human.

The original question wasn't how skilled Sylvia was (he was unskilled), but how good he was (he was good enough to become champ, beating more skilled guys because of his size).

 

[LilNicky95]

I'd favor every one of them on their worst night over Timmeh on his best night.

Then you don’t know shiz about the sport and need to watch more fights.

 

[MetaIIica]

I would pray for prime Tim Sylvia's health if he were to fight Ngannou or Stipe, or even Lewis.

 

[lafkabij]

He was good. Very good, even. He knocked out very good strikers, stayed up against very good grapplers, and was tough as balls.

He was also inconsistent. He was never a joy to watch move in the way special athletes can be. He wasn't charismatic.

He also struggled to walk that line between fighting aggressive and fighting smart. Aggressive Tim could savage people, and also get caught (Mir and Nog for subs, most notably; he also got caught standing but sometimes he could come back from that). So then Tim would fight conservatively... and boring. Aggressive Tim beat the ever-loving crap out of Nog before making a completely unforced error, and gets hated on for losing. Safe Tim probably wins that fight, and gets hated on for taking a boring fight from a fan favorite. Dude couldn't win.

You'd probably pick a few guys in Pride in those days over him as the favorite, but it's silly to think he wouldn't be in any of those fights except maybe Fedor. For all the aesthetic gripes about how he didn't look like what a top HW should, his opponents could never prove that he didn't belong.

I understand why he doesn't show up on most people's favorite fighters lists; he wasn't the ticket I'd buy, either. But I don't understand the hate. Decent guy, by all representations, good company man, good fighter. Never ducked anybody. Did a lot more with what he was given than most guys do.

 

[Paynebringer]

Less skilled than then bums a dinosaurs that are “contending” now???

GTFO here.

​

You can eat a dick too, something you use to...

 

[Paynebringer]

What a boss

And don't forget that...