Tim Sylvia: No One Controls Me Anymore
June 15, 2009 – 7:15 am by Tas Melas
Tim Sylvia recorded this interview before getting in to the ring with former Heavyweight Boxing Champ and Olympic Gold Medalist, Ray Mercer, this past weekend. The two got together in a boxing match and it ended very, very quickly (watch it here). 15 years Sylvia’s elder, Mercer’s gut is definitely bigger, but so is his punch apparently. Sylvia is an interesting case.
He’s a guy who made his name in the UFC and then went out to make his own money free of license requirements and such. He gets in to a great little debate of boxing versus MMA from a fighter’s perspective below, but still makes a point of saying he wouldn’t mind returning to the UFC. Sylvia joined Hardcore Sports Radio to discuss the benefits of being independent, the UFC’s current heavyweight division, and the new MMA video game he has signed on for with EA Sports.
If you could do it all over again, would you have got in to boxing earlier?
“I would have definitely loved to have gotten in to boxing a little bit earlier. I love MMA, and I’m still doing MMA, I got another fight in August, there are a lot of things I still wanna accomplish in MMA, but boxing is just so much easier money. But, it’s a tough road if you don’t have a name like myself. Normally, I’d have to fight for four or five years and fight bums and no-names and pad my record, become 35-0 before you can get a title shot and get recognized, and that’s kinda why we went after Ray (Mercer).”
How has your life been after the UFC?
“It’s been very, very good to me. I’m glad we made this decision. I’ve got nothing bad to say about the UFC – I’d like to finish my career there maybe – but Affliction is top notch, they make you feel like rockstars, superstars, they take care of you. And, I’m a free agent, so I can fight for Affliction, I’m fighting for Adrenaline this weekend, and then I can turnaround and fight three or weeks later and still fight for Affliction. I can do what I want, I’m the one who owns me, nobody owns me anymore. I no more have a sole contract with the people like UFC that say I can and can’t go to certain shows, or I can’t wear certain shirts, or if I wanna put a sponsor on my shorts I can’t do it because they don’t wanna give the UFC money. It’s not like that anymore, I do what I wanna do, I sign where I want to sign, and I make a lot more money that way.”
What do you think of the UFC’s heavyweight division?
“There isn’t anybody in the UFC that can beat Fedor (Emelianenko). Fedor’s a bad ass, no doubt about it. (Frank) Mir wouldn’t last a minute with him, Brock (Lesnar) might last a round with him just because of his style.”
Have you signed on to make an MMA video game with EA Sports? How is it different than THQ’s new hit UFC game?
“I’m on it, I signed the deal, dude. Randy (Couture) and I are both on it, it’s a done deal. They paid us very, very, very well and then the UFC paid us nothing and got all the money. That’s just another thing, you sign your licenses away when you fight for the UFC. When a game agency attempts to, and they wanna make that type of a game, all they gotta do is come to the UFC and say, ‘Yep. We’ve got 150 fighters under contract, give us $5 million dollars and you can make this game,’ versus EA Sports, they’re going out there and getting all the big names but they’re paying each guy individually very, very well. So, the guys actually get the money and not one person.”
Listen to Tim Sylvia on Hardcore Sports Radio (Sirius Ch. 98 (starts at 1:15)
Tags: Brock Lesnar, Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Mir, MMA, Tim Sylvia, UFC
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