Sylvia was actually ranked 7th in the world after losing to Fedor, so even if other guys passed him by by the time he fought Ray Mercer (it was a full year later after all), there's no way he wasn't at least top 10.
https://rankingmma.com/world-mma-heavyweight-rankings-2008/
The fact that Tim was top 10 was a big deal at the time, since it helped boxing fans discredit MMA... and a big joke was made of the fact that Ray Mercer became ranked like 14h or 13th in the world on Fightmatrix after starching him in 9 seconds
https://middleeasy.com/uncategorize...anked-mma-heavyweight-in-the-world-seriously/
Sylvia was supposed to fight Paul Buentello
(who was still riding the high of stopping the Baby Fedor hype train, since most MMA pundits expected Kirill to Sambo his ass... that was the win that got Paul back in the UFC)
next at
Affliction III...
Had Tim easily out-jabbed & low-kicked Mercer there were plenty of potential fights for him out there.
Jérôme Lebanner had been calling Sylvia out for a while and a fight with him could have been cool, Sylvia could have also tried to get fights with Aleksander Emelianenko or Kirill Sidelnikov, to stay in the Emelianenko family.
It was so frustrating to watch Sylvia show up so out of shape and get his head bashed in by the first punch Ray threw, what a shitshow...
We got the results right after a live UFC event, sitting on the grass outside the arena, so I was around a bunch of MMA guys when someone checking their phone giggled and announced that Timmy got KTFO and it was a shower of
"what an idiot, no way, Jesus fucking Christ, we'll never hear the end of it"...
I'm no fighter basher myself, huge sin in my eyes, but I still remember what I shamefully said on the spot
I mean, it's like Tim
wanted to make Fedor look bad, "oh he Zulu's me? Well imma find some old man who never fought in MMA before and get Zulu'd even quicker, that'll show him" )