It's not exactly a secret that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia is trying to get back into the world's foremost MMA promotion, campaigning energetically on Twitter to get one more chance in the promotion he made his debut for 10 years ago this September.
It's also not a secret that UFC president Dana White wants nothing to do with the "Maine-iac."
At a press conference this spring, he cut off a question at the mention of Sylvia's name with an emphatic "Hell no!"
The former heavyweight kingpin - the product of an era when MMA's best heavyweights fought in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championship - hasn't exactly covered himself or the sport in glory during his career, from the drug suspension that got him stripped of the UFC title in 2003 to his nine-second loss knockout loss to boxing great Ray Mercer in a heavily hyped "Boxing vs. MMA" showdown. Given that history, it's hard to quarrel with White's reluctance to do business with Sylvia.
However, as both Mike Chiapetta and Dave Doyle of MMAFighting.com noted on Wednesday, Sylvia is 7-1 in his last eight fights, amassing a record that would likely get just about any other fighter some attention from the UFC, if only as fodder for the preliminary card. Given his recent success, maybe there is something that Sylvia can offer the UFC at this stage in his career.
As has been noted in the past, Daniel Cormier is the heavyweight division's most intriguing prospect after he dominated Josh Barnett in the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, but is contractually obligated to fight once more in Strikeforce before he can make the leap to the UFC, as is Barnett. Since the rest of Strikeforce's heavyweight division has been absorbed into the UFC - and since a rematch between Cormier and the "Warmaster" isn't likely - Cormier's final Strikeforce opponent will have to come from outside the promotion.
Sylvia could be just the man for the job.
Previously in this space, we've suggested Alistair Overeem as the ideal opponent for Cormier, and that matchup still has a certain attraction, especially since White seems frustrated with the former K-1 World Grand Prix winner. However, given that the UFC declined to cut Overeem following his April suspension for elevated testosterone levels, it's fair to say that the promotion still sees significant value in Overeem, and might not want to squander a potentially intriguing Overeem-Cormier bout on Strikeforce, a promotion that seems to hold little long-term interest for Zuffa brass.
Enter Sylvia. As a former two-time UFC champion, his name would look nice on Cormier's résumé, and he would solve Zuffa's problem of needing to move a UFC fighter back over to Strikeforce to give Sylvia an opponent. There is always the possibility that the UFC wouldn't want to run the risk of Sylvia beating Cormier and derailing the heavyweight division's Next Big Thing, but in all honesty, as well as Sylvia has performed in recent years, it's hard to imagine him giving much of a challenge to Cormier.
What do you think of the idea of a Cormier-Sylvia fight closing out the former Olympic wrestler's Strikeforce tenure? Leave your thoughts below.
