Tim Sylvia

Timothy Deane Sylvia or Tim Sylvia is an American who is a mixed martial arts (MMA) professional fighter. Born on March 5, 1976, he had also been a heavyweight champion at the former Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC. He upholds a magnificent record professionally of just 3 losses and 23 wins. He provides training as an associate with Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS). He also form an essential part of MFSE (Miletich Fighting System Elite) group sponsored by them.

 When he was still young, Sylvia took admission in a karate school and started wrestling while still in high school. After the completion of his graduation, he worked community gardening, construction, painting houses and hanging sheet rock. It is at this time that he finally made up his mind to go for grappling and boxing. After a rigorous training of one year, Sylvia participated in his first ever contest of grappling, in which he bagged the first position. Immediately after this, he got an opportunity in a no-holds-barred amateur event to fight to be held at Rhode Island. Here he obtained victory over his opponent within 17 seconds.

He had been a big time fan of UFC, and went to Atlanta City in New Jersey to attend UFC 28 in 2000. They chanced to arrive early at the arena and got an opportunity to see MMA trainer and former UFC champion, Pat Miletich. In a conversation with him, Miletich simple invited Sylvia to meet him in Iowa to train him. Later that year, Sylvia sold everything that belonged to him and relocated to Iowa to train under Miletich.

Sylvia made his debut as a professional MMA fighter for IFC in 2001. He recorded three wins consecutively in organizations like Extreme Challenge and SuperBrawl. In 2002, Ultimate Fighting Championship signed Sylvia and he recorded a TKO triumph at UFC 39 by defeating Wesley "Cabbage" Correira. Furthermore, he also defeated at UFC 41, Ricco Rodriguez and won his first ever UFC heavyweight championship. Just after this, he recorded another victory at UFC 44 by defeating Gan McGee.

After wining his fight over Mc Gee, Sylvia was found guilty of consuming an anabolic steroid that has been banned by the name of Stanozolol. Because of this, his title was taken away from him and was suspended for six months. He also had to pay a fine of $10,000 to by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). It was later revealed by him that he actually consumed it to reduce excess weight. He apologized for what he did, and did not make any effort to claim his innocence in any way.  

In June 2004, at UFC 48 in his fight with Frank Mir, Sylvia got injured in his radius bone and Mir was declared victorious. He then returned after six months and defeated Wes Sims at the SuperBrawl 38.