Quote of the Day

"I still smile from ear to ear thinking about it. I have sacrificed a lot and it finally paid off. As far as wearing the belt to school, I wore the first three days after my fight. And not just to school, but everywhere. Then my fiancé said she would no longer be seen in public with me if I continued to wear the belt. I really miss being seen in public with her!" -- Nick Thompson pulling a Tim Sylvia after becoming the BodogFight Welterweight Champion

A hypothetical

I was thinking last night about which fighters I'd like to see train together. There are a host of excellent fighters in excellent camps, but its interesting to think about how their skills would develop were they to train with others.

For my money, I'd like to see the following people train together:

GSP and Karo
Karo and BJ Penn
BJ Penn and Matt Hughes
Arlovski and CroCop
Rampage and Chuck
Yamamoto and Sherk
Vera and Arlovski
Nogueira and Vera
Sylvia and Brazilian Top Team
Alistair Overeem and Matt Lindland

List your match-ups in the comments section.

Quote of the Day

“It’s kind of funny, all of these Pride guys are supposed to be the best and they’re better than the UFC. Then you got a guy who isn’t ranked in the top ten of the world [Gabriel Gonzaga] knocks out the number two guy in the world [Mirko Cro Cop]. I think it goes to show you how much tougher the UFC guys are. Heath Herring came here and he didn’t live up to expectations. Wanderlei got pounded on and Gomi got beat by Nick Diaz… I just don’t know why the fans don’t realize how good the UFC guys are. Things are changing and I’m looking forward to getting back in there and mixing things up with all these guys.” - Tim Sylvia making a point that a lot of people (including me) are only now realizing

Hat tip: UFCMania

Video of the Day

Tim Sylvia on Blind Date. This one is a classic.

Is Arlovski that good?

I honestly have my doubts. When I first heard he was fighting Fabricio Werdum, I thought he was nuts. Arlovski is a physical sight and very well-rounded, but I've never been convinced he was a championship caliber fighter. He looks good crushing B-level and the occassional respectable fighter, but very rarely earns a win against elite competition.

Just look at his record. He's 10-5. He's got wins over Roman Zentsov, Paul Buentello, Justin Eilers, Vladimir Matyushenko, Aaron Brink, Marcio Cruz, Cabbage Correira, Ian Freeman and Tim Sylvia. Not bad. But the difference for me are his losses. Aside from his one win over Sylvia, he's never defeated an elite fighter. (By "elite" I mean a fighter who at the time they faced was - or is even now - top 10 fighter). He's lost to Ricco Rodriguez, Pedro Rizzo, and twice to Tim Sylvia in subsequent rematches. At the time he fought each of them, all were top 10 or top 5 in the heavyweight division. And make no mistake, Fabricio Werdum is top 10 in my view. Also keep in mind Arlovski has a great deal more to lose here than Werdum. The Brazilian risks a drop in rankings and further obscurity, but Arlovski's putting a legacy up for grabs.

If Arlovski losses tomorrow, that will confirm my suspicion that he is the "anti-Lindland". That is, whereas Matt Lindland is an enormously talented fighter, his look makes him far less marketable. Arlovski, the muscular powerhouse, is highly marketable, but often comes up short in critical challenges.

So let's look at Arlovski's and Werdum's most recent fights. Watching the two side by side, its hard for me to get excited about a potential Arlovski victory. In fairness to the Belarussian, I'm also the dumbass who picked Holman over Hamill. So if you disagree, tell me where I'm wrong. What am I missing about this fighter than should be pointed out? Someone's got to tell me because I sure as hell don't see it.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcio Cruz

UFC66 Arlovski vs Cruz
Uploaded by ganjamandu59

Fabricio Werdum vs. Aleksander Emelianenko

FabricioWerdum vs Aleksander Emelianenko
Uploaded by jefersonseven1

Arlovski's English

Since his first fight with Tim Sylvia where he couldn't tell Joe Rogan how he felt in the post-fight interview, he's come a long way.

UFC Heavies

This division is now very respectable. Pramit Mohapatra of MMA Insider sums it up nicely:

The UFC heavyweight division looks quite strong all of a sudden. With the announced signing of Antonio Nogueira -- former PRIDE heavyweight champion -- last night in addition to previous signings and the return of Randy Couture to the division, there is plenty of top-notch depth. In addition, with Brandon Vera reportedly signing an extension with the UFC, there is good up-and-coming talent in the division to complement the cadre of proven fighters such as Nogueira, Couture, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Mirko Filipovic. Heath Herring's victory in UFC 69 also keeps him in the picture as a solid contender in the division.

Let's not forget Fabricio Werdum, Gabriel Gonzaga, Jeff Monson, and Assuerio Silva. The division is still missing other top-tier fighters (the Emelienanko brothers, Sergei Kharitonov), but it's coming along.

Which makes last year's column from Sherdog's Jake Rossen all the more idiotic. Notable quote:

Letting Arlovski go frees the UFC up to do something radical: eliminate the division entirely. It’s a tattered mess of half-baked rankings and ugly bouts (Jordan-Buentello and Jordan-Gonzaga were mind-numbing). There is no talent on the horizon to try and salvage the mess. It’s only going to get worse, and paying Arlovski to clean up the scraps would be a bore.

Instead, activate the super heavyweight (over 265 lbs.) class. By excising the weight limit, you immediately open the gates for a fresh roster of compelling talent: Ron Waterman; Ricco Rodriguez; Jimmy Ambriz; Eric Pele; Tom Erikson, among others.

Even if Rossen's column is Jonathan Swiftian-trolling, this article is still moronic.

Everybody hates Tim

Yet more vitriol for the former champ. Here are a few choice examples:

-Tim, I keep waiting for you to act like a man. It keeps not happening."I was fighting a legend, a Hall of Famer -- Randy Couture. He's everyone's idol. He's 43 years old, coming out of retirement, fighting me and everybody was rooting for him." That is cry baby shit!

-Good luck on that road to the belt, With cro cop in the ufc you will never see it again, you should go to kotc there you can be king.

-Im glad Tim lost. He was the worst heavyweight ever! All he ever does is use his height advantage. I'll say this, if he was the size of Couture or Cro Cop, he wouldnt amount to squat! Oh and by the way, his image problem is nobody likes him. e isnt enjoyable to watch and he has the personality of a branch.

-Tim, Get some sleep before your fights! Your style bores us all!

-I've mud wrestled tougher chicks than Timmy Boy.

-Yes i'm a big RANDY fan and wanted nothing more for him to win but I think Tim is full of nothing but excuses

Did Tim Sylvia fuck your mothers?

He must have because I simply don't understand the hate in the comments here and here and here and here.

I've never understood the mentality of hating someone so much that you don't even know. And more importantly, he hasn't done anything to you.

Are people wound up so tight in their personal lives that they need to dump frustration on professional athletes?

Sylvia confesses

To having self-esteem issues.

In an excellent and penetrating interview with Pramit Mohapatra of the Baltimore Sun, Sylvia confesses that to this day he struggles with self-esteem issues. Notable quote:

White also said in the UFC 68 post-fight press conference that you have an "image problem." Do you agree with his assertion?

I have an image problem? What does he mean by that? Explain it to me.

He didn't elaborate on that.

Well, if he can't elaborate, neither can I … I don't know. I always have a self-esteem problem. I was physically and mentally abused as a child, growing up with my mother. So, I think it still sticks with me to this day that I have a problem with that.

This is Sylvia at his most honest and most vulnerable. Fighters, either as part of the fighting culture or because of the heightened sense of masculinity, are forced to never admit weakness, physical or mental. It's frowned upon and viewed as weak.

But there's a difference between the two types. While neither is "acceptable" as an excuse, there is at least the expectation that physical ailments will hamper a fighter from time to time. You can't use it as a crutch for explaining poor performance in a fight (most of the time, anyways), but it has its places. But feelings of insecurity? Low self-esteem? That's for girls and has no place among men, or so that's what we may lead ourselves to believe.

I don't know Tim, but I believe his insecurity is his both his engine for success and the albatross around his neck. The burning desire to prove himself helps him to succeed, but it also gnaws at him, hindering his ability to shake the demons. Unfortunately, this formula cannot last. He says he's happy and I think that's mostly true. But in terms of how he views himself, that won't improve so long as being #1 or holding the belt is what's required to feel like #1 or the champion. He cannot place personal self-worth in those goals and expect to be happy. His view of self must come from an internal satisfaction. Proving others wrong is satisfying, but its not the place to rely upon for self-worth.

Whether he becomes champion for a third time or not is irrelevant. Eventually he won't be champ. Eventually he won't be #1. So what will he do then? Will he live with regrets? Will he worry if others still view him negatively? What will he do when he can't use proving others wrong as a way to prove to himself he's great?

We'll find out.

Monte Cox

Says Tim lost fair and square. Or is that fairly squarely?

Randy agrees with me

Well, he didn't say so explicitly, but you know, I'm assuming and stuff.

Randy comments on a number of issues in this video clip including Tim Sylvia. Rightly in my view, he says if Tim would show his personality a little more to the fans they'd be more receptive to him. I've heard from those who know Tim best that he's friendly and possessing a great sense of humor. I'm not a doctor and don't know him personally, so I can only speculate as to why he plays the Dr. Sylvia-Mr. Maine-iac card. Could it be fear of rejection? Could it be confusion? Could it be strategy? All I know is now's the perfect time for Tim to just be Tim.

ATBUFC681
Uploaded by Barneyk

Tim Sylvia: great fighter, bad champ