Morning Report | Tim Sylvia recalls rough UFC relationship: ‘This is how I know Dana hates me’

Tim Sylvia wanted more than a piece of Brock Lesnar.

The year was 2008 and Sylvia and Lesnar were at distinctly different points in their UFC careers. Sylvia was a two-time heavyweight champion looking to stay at the top of the ladder, while Lesnar was set to make his debut in the promotion. Both fought and lost at UFC 81, with Sylvia losing an interim title fight to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Lesnar being submitted by Frank Mir.

Lesnar joined the UFC with plenty of hype around him as a former pro wrestling star with the WWE and the pedigree of a legitimate NCAA Division-I champion. Suffice to say, he was paid considerably more than the average first-timer when he joined the UFC roster. Sylvia has spoken in the past about his issues with Lesnar’s compensation, and he revealed in a recent interview on the JAXXON podcast that he actually asked the matchmakers if he could fight Lesnar for his contract.

“When I was the heavyweight champ, we found out what they brought Brock Lesnar in [for],” Sylvia said. He was getting [$300,000 to show and $300,000 to win] and money per pay-per-view buy, so every fight he was making over a million dollars back then. My contract was 100 and 100, so $200,000 on the win, I made maybe 40 or 50 in sponsors. Brock is getting a million and he’s a nobody.

“So like, ‘Hey man, we want this contract. Why is he getting it?’

“‘Oh, he’s a bigger name than you.’

“‘How the f*ck is he a bigger name?’ Because of wrestling. OK, let me fight Brock. If I win, I get his contract. If I lose, I’ll go back, I won’t say a word, I’ll take my 100 and 100.

“‘No, we’re trying to build him, we can’t do that, it won’t be a good fight for him. We’re afraid for that fight.’”

Following the loss to Nogueira, Sylvia had one fight remaining on his contract and he claims the UFC told his management they would not be renewing it. Soon after, upstart MMA promotion Affliction came along offering Sylvia a three-fight contract starting off with a million for his first fight.

That was a much more appealing prospect than what the UFC had on the table, which was a fight with Cheick Kongo in England, where Sylvia’s pay would be heavily taxed.

“England takes, what, 40 or 50 percent of your money?” Sylvia said. “So I would have made 100 grand and my contract’s over with, and if I lost, I wouldn’t be as valuable. So we’re like, OK, will you let us out of the contract and the UFC’s like, ‘Absolutely. He’s gone. There you go, you’re released.’ They released me, and I signed with Affliction, and then Affliction announced it, and [the UFC] was pissed. They were pissed at me because I did that.

“I just did something to better myself, and they thought I was trying to screw them. No, you weren’t going to renew my contract. So what’s the problem?”

Despite reigning as UFC champion on two occasions, Sylvia says he has never had a warm relationship with UFC boss Dana White. He claims White shut the door for good on an octagon comeback in 2011 when Zuffa, LLC purchased the Strikeforce promotion and was in a stage of talent acquisition.

Sylvia’s manager Monte Cox attempted to work out a deal with the UFC, but Sylvia heard White himself shut it down.

“This is how I know Dana hates me,” Sylvia said. “[UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby gets a hold of us when Strikeforce is getting ready to go under and he goes, ‘We’ve got an offer for Tim if he’s willing.’ Monte is like, ‘What is it?’ Forty-forty, fifty-fifty, sixty-sixty. ‘Well, what’s the deal?’ [Shelby] goes, ‘First fight is going to be in Strikeforce, it’s going to be against [Daniel Cormier].’

“Monte’s like, ‘We’ll take it, but his next two fights are guaranteed in the UFC. Even if he loses his first two fights, he has three fights.’ They’re like, ‘OK. Deal.’ They send the contract. We sign it. We send it back and a week goes by, Monte’s like, ‘Hey, what’s going on, Sean?’

“‘Dana just hasn’t signed it yet.’

“‘OK. Is he going to?’

“‘Yeah, he’s just been busy.

“Another week goes by, ‘What’s going on, Sean?’

“‘Dana’s not going to sign it.’”

The relationship between Sylvia and White has remained frosty, with Sylvia taking a shot at White in 2020 for not offering to help him with arm surgery, and White rarely having anything nice to say about the former UFC heavyweight star.

Sylvia has no interest in dredging up his feud with White and there’s a part of him holding out hope he can make it into the UFC Hall of Fame—but not for himself.

“I’m at my age where I don’t hold any grudges,” Sylvia said. [White] don’t like me. Him and I didn’t have a really good relationship. I wasn’t a ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, sir’ type of guy. I said a lot of things. I speak the truth. I’m from the east coast, if you want to know the truth, but it’s going to hurt your feelings, don’t ask me because I’m going to tell you.

“We had a lot of conflict, and then with the way I left and stuff, they got mad at me for it, going to Affliction, certain things happen. I had my arm break and the fans were all pissed off about I needed another surgery to get it fixed, and he wouldn’t do it, but he spends a lot money at blackjack and stuff like that, he was just kind of talking shit, but like I said, it is what it is. I don’t have a problem with him, I’m too old to have grudges. Honestly, I kind of want to get into the Hall of Fame for my son, so I think I’m kind of being blackballed.”

“I think the UFC Hall of Fame is the Dana White Hall of Fame,” Sylvia added. “I don’t care, I don’t give a shit about it, but it’d be cool for my son. My son’s 14 and he’s all about all that stuff.”

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Shout out to Tim Sylvia, one of the forgotten champions of the UFC’s early boom period.

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