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White Thanks Fedor for “Ridding” of Sylvia


Tim Sylvia. Photo property of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

How times have changed…

When Tim Sylvia and UFC President Dana White first commented on Sylvia’s release from the organization back in March, both were relatively cordial towards each other, each leaving open a door if Sylvia did indeed want to return to the promotion he called home for many years in the future.

These days, it seems that isn’t the case. In a surprising move, White has now blasted Sylvia, essentially thanking Fedor Emelianenko for dispatching of Sylvia in less than a minute at Affliction’s debut show last month in California. Despite the win, White’s criticism of Emelianenko and his recent choice of opponents remains, albeit not as harsh as before

From Yahoo! Sports:

“He’s not the best pound-for-pound fighter, not even close, but he’s one of the four or five best heavyweights,” said White, who undoubtedly would be singing Emelianenko’s praises to the heavens the moment he got the stoic Russian’s name on a UFC contract.

“But we all have to thank him for getting rid of Tim Sylvia. He’d been stinking out the joint the last couple of years and Fedor did everyone a favor by beating him so easily and getting rid of him.”

At the post-fight press conference for UFC Fight Night 14, White did Fedor his props for beating Sylvia so easily and actually facing a top heavyweight for the first time in three years. But these comments towards Sylvia are new, almost echoing the sentiments of fans who voiced their displeasure with Sylvia’s lackluster performances against Andrei Arlovski (in their UFC 61 bout) and Jeff Monson among others.

This might not have been one of Dana’s best ideas though. Sylvia is riding a three-fight losing streak these days, but we have to remember that those three defeats all came against the current top trio of ranked heavyweights in the world. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of on his part. We’ve all seen Sylvia bounce back from consecutive losses before and I don’t think it would surprise anybody if he were to string together a few wins that would allow him to get right back into the mix.

White and the UFC may not need Sylvia at the moment, but they definitely shouldn’t be burning bridges for the future, especially when we’re talking about a guy that has been a top 10 heavyweight for over half a decade now.

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Comments:

1. Ix
Aug 15, 2008 8:44 PM

Classless. Dana White is classless.

2. Larry McGlade
from Manhattan, NY, USA
Aug 15, 2008 11:44 PM

My sentiments exactlty.
White is a piece of garbage.
I myself personally didn’t like Tim Sylvia, but he had a job and did it successfully for years in UFC. Now that he’s not there, White trashes him. No class.
I hope White gets hits with a big stick of karma. Maybe Shelia Labeouf can run his ass over, BETTER YET…Rampage in his custom ride!

White is the Adolf Hitler of mma.

3. AdaMBomB
Aug 17, 2008 11:08 AM

The monson fight disappointed me.. But dana is a douche…....

4. Anon
from USA
Aug 18, 2008 3:25 AM

It’s more stupid than anything. I’m waiting for him to start bashing Arlovski too. I’m not buying the whole “Dana White is just a good business man” deal either - in his own words, he’s a fucking moron.
“Hey, I know, let’s personally insult fighters who made me money so they get so pissed at me, they never want to come back and make me more!”
Good business my ass, especially when his heavyweight division pretty much sucks. He has no room to talk shit about any other heavyweight when the only decent fighter he’s got right now is Big Nog.
Dana White is going to develop such a shitty reputation - especially now that MMA is going more mainstream - that NO self-respecting fighter is going to want to do business with him. But he’s the man with the power. Let him bring it all down on his own foot if he wants to.

5. Larry McGlade
from Manhattan, NY, USA
Aug 18, 2008 3:55 AM

Amen to cooment no. 4

I hope more organizations come up and thrive and fail where IFL and ProElite have failed.

Your right, I was just reading an article about this and they had it on “InsideMMA”, the UFC is
touting their heavyweight division, basically it was made up of 3 no name fighters. Well one, they really hyped and sad to say I used to be a wrestling fan b4 I found mma, and I know Brock Lesnar. The other two were Cain Valesquez and I even forgot the other dudes name!

The heavyweight division has always been somewhat scarce, but thanks to Sylvia and AA AND Couture, they’ve managed to get by on what they had at the time.

After the Antonio Nogueira/Frank Mir fight, the next dude in line for a title shot will be one of those 3 on the list! Lesnar, Valesquez, damn I want to say Fabricio Werdum but it wasn’t him. Anyone knows, leave a post. wink

I can’t see Lesnar losing to Mir, and beating Herring by DECISION after he got that good first punch that caught Herring by surprise, be handed a titleshot.
The UFC is becoming more like the WWE day by day. People in lower weight classes having the lightwelt belt going up in weight classes to challenge the heavyweight champion (in fake wrestling. since it was only cruiserweight/lightweight and heavyweight).
Now with all the talk how UFC spent so much money on Lesnar, blah blah. Reminds me of Heyman and how he called Lesnar the next big thing, before Lesnar was anybody!

I’m sick of Dana White and “UFC”, but they have the best talent and put on some damn good ppvs and even televised cable fights on SPIKE for free.

The biggest b.s. I hate is how they screw around guys. Them being the sole reason we might never see Fedor/Couture.

Fedor is a smart guy. The UFC tried to tie him down, but he and his manager would have none of it.

6. Larry McGlade
from Manhattan, NY, USA
Aug 18, 2008 4:07 AM

Oh it was Shane Carwin. The UFC’s heavyweight division is laughable. They only have 20 heavyweights on their roster.
One of which is Dan Severn who hasn’t fought since 2001!
Another 2 are AA and Couture, both of whom have left and the others were beat by people who have left the UFC, like Jake O’Brien, Eddie Sanchez, Justin friggin’ Eilers!

Some funny reading to see their roster.

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=fighter.AllFighters&did=1&LName;=

7. Anon
from USA
Aug 18, 2008 10:31 AM

I don’t know if I’d go as far as comparing it to the WWE, but things are getting pretty bad. Penn hasn’t even defended his title yet and wants to fight GSP. I’m still having a hard time buying into the Silva hype, too. The middleweight division is too weak, he wasn’t that great pre-UFC, and no Rich Franklin isn’t too big of a name. He’s beat an over the hill Ken Shamrock and cleared a weak division. Silva obviously earns his keep, but I’m completely unconvinced he’s the best P4P fighter in the world.  To be the best, you have to BEAT the best. Silva hasn’t beat anyone with a name bigger than Rich Franklin…
If he moves up and completely clears out light heavyweight, I’ll change my opinion pretty damn fast.

In any case, it’s unfortunate we’ve gotta put up with this crap because in the end, the fighters are what matters and not the suits. That said, it’d be nice to see Affliction turn into competition, but on the other hand, the good MMA is PPV, and most people are only going to buy one show. There’s going to be brand loyalty. The bottom line is, there can be only one, because nobody is going to pay for two.
Dana White will probably always be on top, but because of that, we’re never going to see many dream matches, fighters will be forced to sign exclusive contracts, ticket/PPV prices will continue to rise, big names are going to walk, and eventually everything is going to come to a head and mainstream MMA is going to just collapse for a period of time. I’m calling it now. Dana White seems to be under the impression that everyone watches his brand because it’s UFC and Dana White. It’s not - Affliction Banned proved that. We watch because right now the UFC has the fighters we like. As soon as that’s no longer the case, I’ll have no interest in the UFC.

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