Tag: Tim Sylvia

Today in MMA history: Affliction hosts star-studded ‘Banned’ event

Take a look back at the inaugural event of Affliction hosted 13 years ago today.

Thirteen years ago today, one of the best heavyweight fight cards in MMA went down in the U.S., but it wasn’t part of the UFC.

Back on July 19, 2008, Affliction hosted its inaugural event – Affliction: Banned, which took place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. This card featured a high-profile, heavyweight matchup in the main event with the legendary [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] taking on former UFC champion [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag]. Additionally,[autotag] Andrei Arlovski[/autotag] fought [autotag]Ben Rothwell[/autotag] and[autotag] Josh Barnett[/autotag] took on Pedro Rizzo.

The star-studded event even featured [autotag]Vitor Belfort[/autotag], [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag], and [autotag]Gary Goodridge[/autotag] the preliminary card. That’s how stacked Affliction: Banned was.

And to counter-program the card, the UFC put its middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, to fight on a UFC Fight Night event after headlining five consecutive pay-per-view cards. Silva moved up a weight class to take on tough veteran James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14, which aired on Spike TV.  That would be Silva’s only Fight Night performance in a decade, as he would fight again on a non-UFC pay-per-view in 2016 against Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 84.

Take a look back at the stacked Affliction: Banned in the video above.

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Every UFC trilogy ranked ahead of Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3

Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will meet in the 14th trilogy fight in UFC history when they clash at UFC 264.

Another chapter in the long story of UFC trilogy fights takes place Saturday at UFC 264.

[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] and [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] will clash for a third and likely final time – 2,483 days after they first fought at UFC 178 in September 2014.

McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) won the initial meeting by first-round TKO. In the rematch more than six years later, Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) got redemption with a second-round TKO at UFC 257 in January.

Now the two lightweight contenders will compete one final time in the winner-takes-all rubber match.

It will be the 14th trilogy fight in company history, and ahead of UFC 264, we rank the others that have happened so far. Check out our list below, from worst to best.

Former champion Tim Sylvia starts GoFundMe to repair infected arm, says UFC denied help

Tim Sylvia’s infamous injury occurred in 2004 when he suffered a gruesome broken arm during a fight with Frank Mir.

Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag] needs to undergo surgery to repair an old injury, but he needs help to make it happen.

Sylvia suffered a gruesome broken arm just 50 seconds into his vacant heavyweight title fight against Frank Mir in June 2004 at UFC 48. He refused to tap, but referee Herb Dean stopped the fight when he saw Sylvia’s arm break.

Now, 16 years after the incident, Sylvia took to Instagram to reveal new issues with his arm, as he explained that “the screws are backing out from my arm break.” He said the UFC told him “it’s not (their) problem and will not cover it.”

With no insurance, Sylvia issued a plea for assistance via social media and set up a GoFundMe to help raise his target goal of $20,000.

So my arm been giving me problems for over a year now. The screws are backing out from my arm break when i fought @thefrankmir my dr. Contacted the @ufc cause it was paid for by them the first time. Sort of under workman’s comp. The ufc says it’s not there problem and will not cover it. I don’t have insurance and it’s going to cost well over 10,000 dollars to get fixed. Any thoughts on what i should do?”

Sylvia, 44, retired in 2015 and holds notable wins over Andrei Arlovski (twice), Ricco Rodriguez and Jeff Monson.

Combat Rewind, April 27: Ben Rothwell sends ‘Meat Truck’ flying in Hawaii

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

    • Cage Warriors 104: [autotag]Jamie Richardson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Phil Wells[/autotag] – April 27, 2019
    • IVC 10: [autotag]Wanderlei Silva[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Eugene Jackson[/autotag] – April 27, 1999
    • SuperBrawl 24: [autotag]Ben Rothwell[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Kerry Schall[/autotag] – April 27, 2002
    • Pancrase – Shining 3: [autotag]Masaya Takita[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Manabu Inoue[/autotag] – April 27, 2008
    • King of the Cage – Sinister: [autotag]Charlie Kohler[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Matt Dell[/autotag] – April 27, 2007
    • SuperBrawl 24: [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Boyd Ballard[/autotag] – April 27, 2002

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat Rewind, April 26: A vintage ‘Cabbage’ Correira beatdown

If you weren’t around for prime “Cabbage” Correira, you missed some really fun fights. But now you can check him out in “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

  • Titan FC 54: [autotag]Rafael Alves[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Felipe Douglas [/autotag] – April 26, 2019
  • SuperBrawl 24: [autotag]Wesley Correira [/autotag]vs. [autotag]Kevin Jordan [/autotag] – April 26, 2002
  • IVC 5: [autotag]Milton Bahia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Eric Tavares[/autotag] – April 26, 1998
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2008: [autotag]Tyrone Spong[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Azem Maksutaj[/autotag] – April 26, 2008
  • SuperBrawl 24, April 26, 2002: [autotag]Tim Sylvia [/autotag]vs. [autotag]Mike Whitehead[/autotag] – April 26, 2002
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2008: [autotag]Freddy Kemayo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Catalin Morosanu[/autotag] – April 26, 2008

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat Rewind, April 7: Top highlights include pre-UFC ‘Rampage,’ Tim Sylvia

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

  • TKO 38: [autotag]David Daigneault[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Domenic Ruccolo[/autotag] – April 7, 2017
  • Pancrase – Truth 4: [autotag]Guy Mezger[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ryushi Yanagisawa[/autotag] – April 7, 1996
  • Gladiator Challenge 3: [autotag]Quinton Jackson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dennis Henderson[/autotag] – April 7, 2001
  • Pancrase – Truth 4: [autotag]Manabu Yamada[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Leon van Dijk[/autotag] – April 7, 1996
  • Gladiator Challenge 3: [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Gabe Beauperthuy[/autotag] – April 7, 2001
  • TKO 38: [autotag]Marc-Andre Barriault[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Yacine Bandoui[/autotag] – April 7, 2017

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Former UFC champ Tim Sylvia says birth of son altered his fighting spirit

Catch up with former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia to see what he’s been doing with his life, post-fighting.

It’s been more than a dozen years since [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag] fought in the UFC, and six and a half years since he retired from the sport.

At UFC 41 in 2003, Sylvia won the heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Ricco Rodriguez in just his second fight with the promotion and cemented himself as one of its rising stars.

Over the next few years, he remained one of the UFC’s most successful heavyweights. Although he was stripped of the title for a failed drug test after a second championship win, and lost title fights to Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski after that trying to get it back, he eventually went on a six-fight streak.

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Included in that mix, he beat Arlovski to win the title back, beat him in a rematch to defend it, and defended it against Jeff Monson, as well.

Sylvia fought overseas the last few bouts of his career on a skid, then walked away from the sport.

It’s easy for fighters to become forgotten when they don’t stick around the sport. But Sylvia has kept busy. These days, he has a son and his passion for hunting turned into a TV show, too.

Catch up with Sylvia through UFC Fight Pass’ “Where Are They Now?” series in the video above.