Issue 040
August 2008
“I’ve been fighting top-level opponents and he’s been fighting guys that were just brought in for him to beat. That’s not really his fault, that’s just what has been put in front of him, so he’s taken the opportunity to do it.”
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has been facing the brightest and the best fighters in the division for years. In doing so, he has firmly established himself as one of the promotion’s leading heavyweights.
Despite his success in the UFC however, the ‘Maine-iac’ is set to move on to pastures new as he prepares for his toughest challenge to date, in the shape of living legend, Fedor Emelianenko, on the inaugural Affliction ‘Banned’ event, on 19th July.
The Iowa resident could hardly disguise his joy at the prospect of fighting the former Pride heavyweight champion. “I’m excited about it! Absolutely!” he began. “I’ve been wanting this fight for a while and as luck would have it, the promotion was able to put it together and I was fortunate enough to be the one.”
However, securing the bout has only been possible following Sylvia’s departure from the UFC, a decision that the Iowa native did not take lightly. “It’s just, I had one fight left on my contract, I really wasn’t sure where I was headed after that fight – and then I found out that they wanted me to fight Cheick Kongo on a prelim in London, and I just really wasn’t interested in fighting a prelim fight. I just really didn’t want to do that.”
In the modern MMA climate, with fighters climbing over each other to make their debut performance for the organization, Sylvia explained why he made the firm decision to leave. “I thought that a five-time world champion deserved something a little better than that. My management team approached the UFC and asked if it would be ok to let us out of our contract and we were going to do some other things, my manager being Monte Cox. He knew he was starting his own big show, Adrenaline. He thought, with the new fight organizations forming in Japan again, that we could do some activity over there as well, so that’s why we left.”
“They let us out and we left on good terms,” the Miletich-trained fighter confirmed, “so maybe down the road again I would fight in the UFC, but just right now, I’m looking to do some different things and then the Affliction fight came about and we’re like, yeah, we’ll take that fight, we’d love to!”
Aside from contractual issues with his former employers, Sylvia appeared frustrated by the UFC management’s decision to pay former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar so handsomely for his services. “I thought it was ridiculous what he got paid for not being a mixed martial artist,” spat the 6’8” striker, marveling at Lesnar’s pay in relation to his apparent lack of experience. “Getting paid the amount of money that he got paid, I just thought it was frustrating after what I’ve done in the sport – I have over 30 fights!”
He laughed as he continued, obviously a sore point with him. “I know what they are trying to do, that’s obviously to grab the WWE fans that aren’t fans of the UFC yet. They figured that once they see the UFC then they’ll be fans – I understand that, you know, but I think they probably could have got Brock for a lot less money! But I don’t know anything about promoting, I just know about fighting.”
Since the TUF explosion and the dissolution of the Pride Fighting Championships, the UFC has been steadily tightening its grip on the sport’s top fighters. It appears to be a significant coup for the upstart promotion Affliction to have not only secured the services of a high-profile former UFC heavyweight champion but also in Fedor Emelianenko, arguably the top man to beat in the division.
Sylvia was quick to point out that the clothing brand-turned-fight promotion has no intention of competing with the aggressive and firmly established market leader. “I know that with the Affliction guys, that’s not their goal,” he explained. “They are just trying to put the fights together that the fighters want and trying to get the fighters paid. It’s not their job to compete with anybody, that’s not their goal. They just want to go out there and have a good time putting on some fights.”
Looking forward to his July super-bout, Sylvia thoughtfully assessed his Russian opponent’s probable game plan. “He has to close the distance in this fight, obviously, to be successful. My game plan is to go out there and utilize my reach like I usually do. When I do that I’m very successful in my fights.
“He’s a smart fighter and he knows that I’m a good striker and obviously he is going to want to get the fight to the ground. He knows that, I know that, obviously, we both know that, so that makes the fight pretty predictable.”
After many years of watching his prospective foe destroy the world’s finest competition, Sylvia is only too aware of Emelianenko’s ability to close the distance and propel his opponent to the mat with his polished judo skills. “Oh yeah, he’s real tricky in those aspects, but I’m training for it,” Sylvia retorted. “I’m preparing myself the best I can for the fight. When I get in there, I’m sure it’s going to be different to my training, but we are trying to cover all the gaps in the game.”
Despite not facing a genuine heavyweight contender since 2006, Emelianenko is still widely recognized as the world’s best heavyweight fighter. The American knockout artist views this recent lack of top opposition as a factor that weighs firmly in his favor though. “I think it helps me in this fight, definitely. I’ve been fighting top-level opponents and he’s been fighting guys that were just brought in for him to beat. That’s not really his fault, that’s just what has been put in front of him, so he’s taken the opportunity to do it. Me, on the other hand, for the last three years, I’ve been fighting people who have been in the top ten, so that’s definitely going to help me.”
As the old saying goes, you never forget how to ride a bike, but in Emelianenko’s case the phrase could just as easily be, ‘you never forget how to slap on a brutal armbar’ – a point which he has gracefully demonstrated by submitted each of his last four opponents with swiftly applied, tendon-stretching armlocks.
Sylvia says he is unconcerned by this point and instead has focussed his mind on the task at hand. “I’m not going into this fight being concerned about what he does best; I’m going into this fight being prepared as best I can. Obviously, we are doing a lot of armbar defenses in the gym, leg-locks, and we are covering everything that he does best. We are working on those day-in and day-out, trying to be prepared for it, but the game plan is to push him back and we are trying to train for it. Hopefully, it works when we get in the ring, but things change all the time. This is mixed martial arts.”
In his last contest against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Sylvia scored by far the better blows of the contest, consistently landing his piston-like jab on the teak-tough Brazilian, even knocking him to the ground with a beautiful left-right combination. Things did not go Tim’s way as the crafty Brazilian swept his way off the bottom to land a perfectly executed guillotine choke, after soaking up two solid rounds of painful abuse.
However, after landing so many hellish punches and combinations, Sylvia appears to have grown in confidence from the experience. Asked what kind of performance observers around the world could expect from him in his upcoming bout, Sylvia laughed. “Similar to the one we saw with Nogueira, only not getting caught in a submission!
“It’s going to be tough,” he continued, “But obviously I want to come away with a win. Knocking him out would be awesome if I could do that, but if it goes the distance, or I end up submitting him, that’s awesome too!”
Well aware the decision to move away from the UFC is a risky strategy, Sylvia is not taking the continuous support from his fans for granted. “I’m just happy and thankful that the fans are still following me and following this sport. Even though I’m not in the UFC, I’m getting a lot of great feedback, they’re happy that I’m stepping up and taking this fight.”
“I just fought the number two guy, now I’m fighting the number one guy in the world – and two fights before that I fought the number three guy in the world. I’m a fighter’s fighter,” Sylvia concluded with a sense of genuine pride. “I go out there and do what the fans want to see – and that is see all the top guys fight each other. Hopefully, we will sell-out the Honda Centre and have record buys in the pay-per-views.”
Heavyweights weigh in on Fedor vs. Sylvia
For months fans across the world were talking about who would win this dream fight. When dreams become reality, Fighters Only asked three common opponents of the two protagonists what they thought.
Frank Mir (Defeated Sylvia in 2004)
“It’s hard to bet against Fedor, he’s a super-tough guy – but Tim Sylvia is a pain is the ass for just about anyone to fight. As long as he stays back and throws punches and keeps Fedor off of him, it’s going to be very difficult.”
Heath Herring (Lost to Fedor in 2002)
“I think the main factor that leaves me undecided is that Fedor hasn’t really faced any top fighters in the last couple of years. Tim Sylvia has a lot of things going for him in this fight and Fedor has a lot of things going against him. I don’t know how he’ll handle that.”
Kevin Randleman (Lost to Fedor in 2004)
“Anyone who thinks there’s a chance of Tim Sylvia beating Fedor Emelianenko is very wrong. He’s good – you’ve got no idea! I’m telling you right now, Tim Sylvia has never fought anyone like Fedor. You’re not going to get Fedor to go backwards.”
The man, the myth
Some question if he is the experiment of a secret Russian super-soldier program, but Fedor Emelianenko is actually very, very human. A resident of the remote city of Stary Oskol, the humble heavyweight is one of three fighting brothers (his siblings being Aleksander, a fellow heavyweight MMA fighter, and youngest brother Ivan, who is currently training in boxing and judo).
A former military man and the second child in his family, he started MMA in 2000, fighting under limited MMA rules, but rose to prominence in Pride and became their heavyweight champion in 2003. He has lost only once in 29 fights, the sole blemish on his record coming by way of a questionable cut stoppage to a hometown fighter (he later avenged the loss in typically brutal fashion).
Known for his amazing ground ‘n pound skills and inhuman resilience, his position as top heavyweight in the world will be severely tested in this upcoming fight with Sylvia.
