Tim Sylvia speaks after upset loss to Abe Wagner at Titan FC 16
You can now add two-time UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia to the growing list of fighters, fans, and promoters concerned with the job being done by MMA officials. Clearly rocked by opponent Abe Wagner this past Friday at Titan FC 16, “The Maine-iac” fell forward and then watched his four-fight win streak broken as referee Jason Herzog half-heartedly jumped in then waived for the bell.
Five Ounces of Pain caught up with Sylvia to gauge his mindset after the upset loss and learned a few interesting things. Though the 6’8” fighter didn’t deny the damage done by Wagner’s strikes, he expressed his belief things would have happened differently had Herzog considered some of his other performances before ending the action.
“Refs need to know the fighters. Did he see my fight with Andrei Arlovski – the second one – I got dropped, got up, and KO’d him. The Randy Couture fight I got dropped and fought for twenty five minutes,” Sylvia explained while citing past examples of his ability to overcome in-ring adversity.
“It was stopped way too early…It was bullsh*t,” he continued. “(And) the sad part is the ref told the promoter and my corner he was sorry because he knew he made a mistake and stopped it a little early.”
As far as what’s in store for the 28-7 Miletich product, Sylvia cited the intent to have a doctor look at a knee injury aggravated in relation to his bout against Wagner. He also made it clear he is done fighting north of 300 pounds.
“I still love this sport and always will. I went into the fight with a bum knee and it got worse somehow during the fight so I go in for a MRI sometime this week and might need surgery. We will see,” he began.
Regarding his recent run on the hefty side of the sport, Sylvia went on to say, “I will never fight at Super Heavyweight again. I fight much better at 265 so from here on out that’s what I am going to fight at.”
During his stint in the UFC Sylvia racked up nine dubyas in the Octagon including a pair of wins over Arlovski as well as success against against Jeff Monson, Ricco Rodriguez, and Brandon Vera. Eighteen of his overall victories have come by way of TKO.
PHOTO CREDIT – UFC
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I watched this fight again last night and I completely agree with Sylvia. I’m not saying Tim would have won the fight, as he was getting lite up pretty good, but that ref stoppage was BS. It looked like Herzog started to waive Abe back in after first calling off the fight. That’s two bad ref calls for Tim that have ended his wining streaks (the Mir call was bunk IMO too.).
As for getting back to 265….I’ll believe that when I see it.
The ref did jump in early and tried to back out of it but it was to late, Tim was rocked but not out so I would have liked to have seen him get a little leway in the fight. Abe did a very good job of getting inside Tims reach and power though.
How was the Mir stoppage a bad call? Mir broke Slyvia’s arm, and then Herb Dean stopped it.
I agree with Tim. The ref should have let him get completely KTFO.
Ha!
BuLL -
Sylvia never tapped and had rolled Mir over and was starting to throw punches when Herb stepped in. Sylvia protested then too and Herb had to tell him that his arm was broken.
If a broken arm is an indicator of losing a fight, then Gonzaga would have taken the belt from Randy and Chuck would have gone out with a win over Rich but Herb let both of those slide. Instead, both Randy and Rich won be KO (T) with broken arms. Odds were Tim was gonna win by TKO as well.
It’s completely immaterial now, but it’s one of those calls that’s always bothered me.
MCM , the broken arms sustained by both Couture and Franklin we not the same type as Sylvia vs Mir at all. Nobody even knew they had been injured until after the fights were over and the fighters said something. With Sylvia the ref was right there and saw (and heard) the bone snap. In that situation no ref should ever let the fight go on. I understand your point very well though as Tim really was seeming to take over the fight with Mir and didnt want it to be over at all. But a ref’s job is to protect the fighters from injury be and if they see a limb getting broken or already broke like that they have to stop that fight.
fanftna33,
Several people I was with saw Randy’s arm break when Gonzaga kicked it, so I wouldn’t say Nobody knew of that one. But I know what you mean.
I also take into account where MMA, and in particular the UFC, was at that point. Nowadays, fighters fight with broken limbs all the time, but back then, no one had ever seen something like that in the cage. So I know the shock it was to see his arm snap and, truth be told, I can’t fault Herb much for stopping the fight.
But my stance on it is that these men take punches to the face for a living, if they can battle through the pain without jeopardizing their or their opponents lives, I say let them fight. It’s not like a broken arm is life threatening, at least, not on the same level as getting choked out or receiving a concussion, in which case it is absolutely the refs job to stop the fight. Now, if Sylvia got his arm broke and made no further moves to improve his position or couldn’t make any moves, then I wouldn’t have taken issue. But the fact that Sylvia was continuing to fight instead of just laying there and had gained dominant position, to me, indicates a bad call.
But like I said, it’s so long ago that it’s immaterial now, and only useful when discussion the merits of Frank Mir.
Sylvia has said in the past if herb didn’t stop the fight he probably would gave had permanent damage …
Timmy is full of excuses and who can blame him, what else is he going to say?
Early stoppage or not Timmy came to the cage I’ll prepared… When he got caught by Mercer Timmy was 310lbs… Anyone see a pattern?
Yeah Timmy was wobbed(not a mis-sp.r sounds like w) . . . . .I wanted to see him get put to sleep & u ruined a nice highlight ref
so please don’t stop his next fight so soon u non reffin’ piece-a-sh*# !
He weighed in at 311 lbs and his bum knee “…got worse somehow during the fight“…
Somehow? Really? You don’t know why you’re previously injured knee doesn’t like hauling around 300+ pounds?
He was obviously out of shape and deserved the loss.
Sylvia will never again see 265. And if he EVER does show up to fight at that weight, he will gas out within a minute.
WWE here he comes.
Sylvia needs to do 4 things if he wants to get his MMA career back on track. 1) Go to AKA. 2) Go to Dream. 3) Drop 20 pounds 4) Learn new shit.
Although I think there are more than a couple of fighters out there that could beat Mir with 1 arm, I have to disagree with a broken arm not being reason enough to stop a fight. Sylvia wanted to continue and perhaps could of but he also could have ended his own career (and Herb Deans) by doing so.
No thumbs down because I see what you are saying but the ref has to protect a fighter.
A broken bone the size of a forearm is a fucking disaster. Its not a 4th metatarsal, which fucking hurts as well.
One more shot or press to that arm and he wouldve been screaming like 1990 Macauley Culkin at a paedophile convention
And his weight and his knee!
I’ve just had another reco, left knee, and the 6kgs I’ve dropped makes a considerable difference, albeit I’m still farked. 300+ pounds, if you look like Brock Lesnar’s Georgian Big Foot cousin!
Tim needs to go to strikefarce he would be a number 1 contender in that company, and people like MMA LOGIC would be saying how he is a top fighter.
Silvia is a bum. he has not drive to be a good fighter or to even make an attempt to get in shape. He should just go back to deer hunting and leave the fighting to real fighters.