Not Dead Yet: Tim Sylvia on the Comeback Trail Following KO of Paul Buentello

After dropping three straight fights, including a KO loss to aging pro boxer Ray Mercer, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia may finally be on the comeback trail. He’s still a long way away from becoming relevant again in today’s constantly-improving, constantly-evolving Heavyweight division, but at least he’s begun to get some wins under his belt. And speaking of belts, Sylvia’s most recent fight scored him the Powerhouse World Promotions Heavyweight Championship. For two rounds, Tim Sylvia fought fellow veteran and former UFC fighter Paul Buentello, and he did it by doing the last thing anyone who has seen a Tim Sylvia fight expected him to do: he adopted a superior gameplan and stuck to it.

Tim Sylvia has always been a massive Heavyweight. He’s even fought as a three-hundred-pound Super Heavyweight in some of his more recent fights. Against Buentello, he weighed in at 274½. He still has about ten pounds to lose if he really wants to get back in the UFC, but at least he no longer looks like someone’s fat, creepy uncle when he fights. Sylvia seems to have found some dedication again, and even if he didn’t make 265, I commend him for getting within shouting distance of it, because honestly, I think the only reason Sylvia let himself go in his last few fights was because he literally let himself go and stopped caring about getting in shape.

This is not to say that he was in the best shape of his life in the Buentello fight, but he did have the stamina to continuously work his gameplan. For most of the fight Tim Sylvia didn’t allow Buentello an inch to breathe, and I mean that quite literally, as much of the fight involved Sylvia dragging Buentello to a corner of the ring, dirty boxing him, leaning on him, and seriously depleting his stamina. Despite several restarts, Sylvia was unflinching in his desire to grapple against a corner and grind Buentello out. With a combination of leg kicks, body kicks, and body punches, Buentello seemed unable to cope with Sylvia’s ability to dictate where the fight went. The finish was just as surprisingly technical as the fight itself: Sylvia set up an uppercut with a kick to the leg, hit Buentello square on the chin, and got the KO.

It will be interesting to see where this championship reign leaves Tim Sylvia once all is said and done. It’s been confirmed that the first challenger to his belt will be Pedro Rizzo, another MMA veteran best known for his run in the UFC. Like Sylvia, Rizzo’s status as a comeback kid is still a bit in doubt: he’s won three straight, but it hasn’t been against the best competition you could ever possibly face. Personally, I think being a champion again will be a big wake-up call for Tim Sylvia.

If he can get his weight under control and keep utilizing a smart gameplan, if he can keep picking and choosing his shots instead of blindly bull-rushing, if he fights like he means it, Tim Sylvia may get enough wins together to get back in the UFC. I know that’s a lot to ask for, especially for someone that’s been derided as a “best of the worst” UFC Heavyweight Champion. But stranger things have happened by far, and with the UFC’s recent penchant for signing aging MMA stars for seemingly no other purpose than to see if they can still go while milking whatever’s left of their name value, Tim Sylvia would be a no-brainer for the UFC so long as he continues to win these mid-level fights. I’ve never been a huge Tim Sylvia fan, but I admit that he’s entertained me a time or two. I wouldn’t mind seeing him back in the UFC.

And what about you, fans and friends? Is this win the beginning of Tim Sylvia’s big comeback, or just a prolonging of the inevitable? And if Tim Sylvia were to step into the now-radically-different UFC Heavyweight division, how successful do you think he would be?