UFC 47: Tim Sylvia - wywiad

UFC 47 Interview: Tim Sylvia

He's been through quite a lot over the past year. Tim Sylvia rose up to take away the UFC Heavyweight belt from Ricco Rodriguez only to lose it by beating Gan McGee, but testing positive for steroid use. Having paid his dues, Sylvia is now back and he wants to regain the belt that he never really lost in the ring. He took time out from his busy training schedule to sit down and talk with Ryan Bennett. Here's what the former and, possibly, future champ had to say.

Ryan Bennett: What's up my man?

Tim Sylvia: What's up Ryan?

Ryan: How you doing?

Tim: I'm doing real good. Just got done training, getting ready to have a bite to eat before I have my message. Going to take a little nap and then get ready to train again tonight.

Ryan: What do you weigh this close to fight time, a week away?

Tim: 262 and a half.

Ryan: Do you get to eat whatever or are trying to watch your weight
right now?

Tim: I pretty much can, but I'm trying to look a little better for
t.v., so I'm trying to diet. Trying to get those abs to come out.

Ryan: They're in there somewhere right?

Tim: Yeah, they're in there somewhere trying to come out.

Ryan: Take me through what you're eating this week to try and keep your weight where you want it?

Tim: I eat 8-10 ounces of ground beef with a cup of broccoli and
usually half a cup of carbs which is either rice or pasta. I usually
have that 3 or 4 times a day with 2 or 3 protein shakes.

Ryan: Earlier in your fight career you where fighting at 280-290, now
you're always right at that 265 mark. How tough was it for you to enter
the UFC and fight at 265?

Tim: Not hard at all, I just had to get really strict with the diet.

Ryan: What was the highest that you weighed when you fought?

Tim: It was over 300.

Ryan: How long ago was that?

Tim: That was probably three years ago.

Ryan: Tell me what you've been doing training-wise to get ready for
Andrei Arlovski.

Tim: Just been keeping my hands up and making sure that I capitalize on my reach and make sure he doesn't counter any punches, see if I can get to him first and knock his ass out.

Ryan: How hungry have you been to get back in the octagon?

Tim: I can't weight. Eight more days, I need to fight.

Ryan: Arlovski's been on a very hot streak, knocking out guys. When you look at tape, what do you see in Andrei Arlovski?

Tim: I see that he's a really good standup fighter, pretty
intimidating. He seems to fold under pressure though. If you put it on
him, he seems to slow down a bit, he doesn't press the action.

Ryan: I think you hit it on the head. The bigger guys, he's had some
problems with, Ricco Rodriguez, Pedro Rizzo. What do you think in this
fight? Do you want to pick you shots, do you want to press the fight,
what do you want to do?

Tim: Everything. I'm just going to put it on him. I'm going to treat
him like a little boy. I'm going to press the action, get heavy on the
hand if we get in close and use my reach on the outside.

Ryan: You used that reach very well against Gan McGee. With Arlovski,
what does he bring to the table that's different than your last
opponent, Gan McGee?

Tim: He's definitely faster. He puts his feet and hands together real
well. And he's supposed to be a Sambo expert on the ground.

Ryan: Do you think he'll try to take this fight to the ground?

Tim: I think that once he starts getting tagged and getting clocked,
he's going to have to try, yeah.

Ryan: What's your biggest concern going into this fight?

Tim: Probably getting knocked out. Same as it is every fight.

Ryan: That's interesting to me. Guys like you, you've been so dominant.
Do you have, I don't want to say fear, but do you have concerns every
fight?

Tim: If you don't have concerns, it's bad, I think. You should always
expect the worst in that kind of situation. You have to realize, you're
fighting a guy that's trying to take your head off. If he gets a clean
punch, he can knock you out. I've just got to make sure that I do
everything right and don't do anything wrong in this fight. If I do
everything right, I'm going to win this fight, but if he capitalizes on
some the things that I do wrong, he's going to win.

Ryan: Tim, from a confidence standpoint, how was walking into the
octagon for the first time against Cabbage different now walking into
the ring against Andrei Arlovski?

Tim: I think I have a couple bigger fights under my belt than Arlovski
does. I think that's going to benefit me. I've been in the big fights.
I don't think that Arlovski has. I've been in there with some bangers.
I've been in there with some guys that can hit, like Cabbage and Gan.
When Arlovski's been in there with guys that can bang, he got hurt.

Ryan: When you made the walk to the ring versus Cabbage and then you made the walk to face Ricco for the title, how different was that?

Tim: I felt invincible when I went down with Ricco because I had my
whole team with me, I had all the Miletich boys right there with me. It
was like nothing can happen to me, I've got all the guys. I just felt
so confident for that fight with Ricco. And Cabbage, my chin's never
been really tested and Cabbage tested it. It withstood some pretty good shots. So, I feel real confident about being able to take some shots. I've seen Arlovski take shots and he doesn't take them very well.

Ryan: Does Arlovski have a glass jaw?

Tim: From what I've seen, it looks so, yeah. I plan on going out there
and breaking it. If I get hit, I'm in such good shape that I recover
well. I don't know how Arlovski's been training, I'm sure he's been
training hard, but I don't think he's training as hard as I am.

Ryan: Tim, your life has changed so much. You're finally getting the
chance to fight after everything that's gone down. How do you feel
coming back from all that adversity and getting a chance to fight in
the octagon again?

Tim: I feel excited. I feel like I'm a newborn athlete. I just feel
like this is my chance to come back and capitalize on a big win again
and get the belt around my waist. I love to fight. I wish I could fight
more often. The worst thing about being in the UFC is the fact that you
only get to fight two or three times a year, maybe four at the most.
I'd like to fight every other month, that'd be great.

Ryan: How hard was it when somebody told you, "Tim Sylvia, you can't
fight right now, we're taking you away from the fight game"?

Tim: It sucks! That's the worst thing, somebody else telling you what
you can and can't do. Once you reach a belt, that's not supposed to
happen anymore. And then here I've got a board of gentlemen telling me that you screwed up and, basically, you're being grounded. You're being punished.

Ryan: So, what was the biggest thing you learned from that time?

Tim: Basically, we all make mistakes. We're all human and we all screw up, but I feel that I can just use my head a little better and don't
worry about appearances. I need to be more concerned about the way that I fight and the way I dominate people and just let that be good enough.

Ryan: Tim is there anything good that came out of that whole thing?

Tim: Was there anything good about it? Yeah. I think so. You know, you
probably won't believe this, but I do have a low self esteem when it
comes to my appearance. I'm just not happy with the way my body looks. I wish I could get that big pack of washboard abs all the other smaller guys have. And everyone, Pat [Miletich] and all those guys, say, "You know, not everyone knocks guys out the way you do." You've got to give and take in this world. Everything can't be exactly the way you want it be. Look at the Microsoft guy, Bill Gates, he's one of the richest men in the world, but he's one ugly son of a bitch. He owns everything
there is, but he doesn't have looks.

Ryan: I'm going to put you on that ABC show "Extreme Makeover" if
you're that worried about it, dude.

Tim: [laughs] I'm afraid there isn't anything you can do for me man. I
work my ass off, I've worked my abs, it's just my body structure.

Ryan: Hey, you let your fighting do it, it doesn't matter. Who cares, you're knocking people out?

Tim: It's like the guys say, "Dude, you knock people out. Let that be
good enough."

Ryan: You got a chance for the belt again, that's never bad.

Tim: That's right.

Ryan: Take me from now to event week, what do you do training wise?

Tim: I'll work out for about a half hour to and hour at the most, per
day. I've been working out with Robbie [Lawler] and we're both right
on. We'll just eat right and maintain the weight and do all the P.R.
[public relations] stuff, weigh in and then chow.

Ryan: How's Robbie doing?

Tim: He's doing real good. He's like 168 or something like that.

Ryan: What do you think about him and Nick Diaz?

Tim: I think Nick Diaz is going to get his ass knocked out.

Ryan: Do you spar with Robbie?

Tim: No. Robbie and I have fooled around in the past. He'll just get me
to move around and stuff, we don't really spar. We'll roll, like five
minute goes, something like that.

Ryan: So, who do you train with at Miletich?

Tim: My main training partner is Justin Eilers. Mike Whitehead, who
just moved here, a great wrestler. Tim Holger. I work out with Jeremy
Horn, of course. I just flew Jeremy in for this fight.

Ryan: So, you've got some big guys to work with.

Tim: Oh yeah, Justin's 250. Stan's 270. Whitehead's 290. I've got some
big boys to work out with. I've got boys to cover every area.

Ryan: Tim, what's going to happen in this fight man?

Tim: Knockout! What else is there?

Ryan: First round?

Tim: Aww, no, I'll give Arlovski some credit, probably second or third.

Ryan: Are you bummed that all the hype has been on Tito and Chuck? This is a solid fight.

Tim: Yeah, well, I get back to those guys look great. When you got
6-pack abs, you can put those on the poster. They look pretty on the
poster. I'm so used to getting pushed on the back burner when it comes
to stuff like that. I think I've only been on one poster and this is my
fourth UFC I'm going to be in. I can understand my first UFC. I'm just
a swing bout, but my second one I was fighting Ricco Rodriguez for the
title, there's no picture of me anywhere. I'm looking at the poster
right now. I've got Uno and BJ and Ricco in the middle with a shiny
gold belt and Tank over his head. Not me though.

Ryan: I can hear it in your voice man. Here you are training as hard as
anybody else, that's got to fire you up.

Tim: Yeah. Definitely. Actually, we're probably training harder.
They're only training for three rounds, we're training for five. I just
got to go out here and do my job, knock him out. Maybe I'll get on the
next poster. If I win, I know I'll be on the next poster because I'll have to fight their poster boy Frank Mir. (laughs)

Ryan: So, that will be the next UFC right?

Tim: That would be my guess. The winner of this fight is going to fight
Frank Mir.

Ryan: That'll be good if you win this fight, you get to stay active,
right?

Tim: Yeah.

Ryan: I always appreciate you making time for the show. I'll see you
next week in Vegas.

Tim: All right Ryan. Later.