Former UFC Heavyweight Champion ends ‘retirement’ to win Slap-Fighting tournament
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia returned to Combat sports as a Slap Fighter. He proceeds to win the tournament in Oklahoma.
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Tim Sylvia wins Slap Fighting Tournament (Image Courtesy - MMA Mania)
In the early days of the UFC, Tim Sylvia was a force of nature. There were very few fighters at that time with his size. Sylvia fought over 40 professional fights in his MMA career. He announced his retirement after losing to Ruslan Magomedov in 2013. However, he returned to Combat sports recently, competing in a slap-fighting contest.
Tim Sylvia made his slap-fighting debut in SlapFight Championship 25 at Oklahoma. He competed against a man nicknamed “The Bouncer.” Sylvia displayed tremendous power in his slap hand by demolishing his opponent. The opponent did not get back on his feet, and the referee waived the fight.
Tim Sylvia fought some of the best Heavyweight fighters of the 2000s era. He had notable victories over Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, Ricco Rodriguez, and Jeff Monson Brandon Vera. Sylvia held the UFC heavyweight championship twice in his career. At UFC 77, he defeated former ONE Heavyweight champion Brandon Vera via unanimous decision.
Sylvia, throughout his prime, only lost to the best heavyweight fighters such as Randy Couture, Frank Mir, Fedor Emialanenko, and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Over the years, Sylvia disagreed with Dana White about potentially mistreating an injury and voiced to receive reparations for his healthcare.
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Tim Sylvia had 22 knockout victories in his professional career
Standing at 6 ft 8 inches, Sylvia was the biggest Heavyweight in MMA until Stefan Struve came around. The size advantage and a massive reach of 80 inches handed a significant advantage to Sylvia. In his MMA career, he utilized that advantage by knocking out his opponents.
He started his MMA journey in 2001 with a swift TKO finish to Randy Durant. He entered the UFC with a 13-0 record, where Sylvia knocked out nine of his opponents. After just a single fight in the UFC, the company offered him the chance to compete for the UFC heavyweight title. He defeated Ricco Rodriguez by TKO to win the title.
In the rest of his career, he went on to get stoppage victories 13 more times. Of his 31 wins inside the cage, 22 came through knockout. Sylvia retired in 2013 after a string of losses and recently came out of retirement to compete at a Slap Fighting event.
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Nidhin Shibu
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