Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has been out in the cold for several years now fighting for smaller scale promotions, but the 35 year-old still hasn’t given up hope that one day he can return to the organization that made him a star.
In an attempt to drum up support for a possible return Sylvia has released a new video pleading with the popular and influential MMA forum ‘The UG’ to get behind him.
It’s a move that could have lead to widespread ridicule, but so far the humility of his message appears to have struck a chord with many fans who are now warming to the idea of ‘The Maine-Iac’ setting foot in the Octagon again.
There are barriers to his re-entry however. For one thing embarassing losses to former boxer Ray Mercer and TUF reject Abe Wagner within the past few years continue to stand out like a sore thumb despite the fact that he’s also compiled six wins in that period.
His weigh has also been an issue given that he fought many of those in less than stellar shape at super-heavyweight, though he did manage to cut down to 265lbs for his last win at Pro-Elite: Big Guns, though his actual performance was pretty dire.
Finally there’s resistance from the UFC themselves who have never fully forgiven Sylvia for leaving in 2008 to take up a lucrative offer to fight Fedor Emelianenko for the now defunct Affliction promotion.
In fact in a recent Q&A session with fans on Twitter UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta was asked if he would consider bringing back Slyiva and his response was a rather blunt and to-the-point, “Nope.”
Check out Sylvia’s video plea below.
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