Originally Posted by IronMan @ MMAOpinion

There was a time when 6′8 menace Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia was the most feared heavyweight in the western hemisphere, perhaps the world. People laugh when I say it, but Sylvia (24-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) was an incredible fighter. Emphasis, however, is placed heavily on the was.

After his recent loss to former WBO champion and 1988 Olympic boxing champion Ray Mercer (36-7-1 Boxing, 1-1 MMA) by knockout at a measly nine seconds into the bout makes it hard to give Sylvia any sort of credibility at this point in his career. While the experience and explosiveness of a former champion in boxing is duly noted, losing to a 48 year old making his professional debut is not what top fighters do.

Those fans newer to the sport, though, may require a reason why it is even relevant, why Tim Sylvia is important. Perhaps, in retrospect of a division that has given us champions like Randy Couture, Sylvia is not as significant as some, but his prime is often disregarded and not discussed by MMA fans. This disenchantment is largely due to Sylvia’s Mediocre title defenses following his knockout of Andrei Arlovski to retake the belt at UFC 59.

Sylvia went a career 5-4 looking for the UFC heavyweight title belt (including his win over Gan McGee, though Sylvia was stripped of the belt for testing positive for steroids in the aftermath), but the fact that he was allowed to fight for that belt as a challenger on five separate occassions speaks to his role as a proud prospect and, later, a villain in the division.