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Interview w/ UFC Champ Tim Sylvia (part 2)
Reported By: Chris Colderley - 08.08.2003 02:40 PM
Part II: Interview with UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia
He’s a Maine – iac for sure!
Boxing Insider Talks with UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia
By Chris Colderley ©
BoxingInsider.com: What are your thoughts about the Couture-Ortiz match on the September 26th card?
Tim Sylvia: Randy and I are friends.
BoxingInsider.com: You trained with him?
Tim Sylvia: Yes - several times. I would say we’re really pulling for Randy to win that fight – another tough fight! Randy has never had an easy fight in the UFC that I know of.
It’s another tough fight, and I am sure he’s going to step up and take it on. Obviously, he is stepping up and taking it on. Hopefully, he gives Tito [Ortiz] a little lesson in how to be respectful and how to defend the belt when you are asked to defend it and fight whoever steps in front of you.
BoxingInsider.com: Let me ask you about the Miletich Team. You have been with them for almost four years?
Tim Sylvia: Almost three years.
Photo: Joshua Hedges/UFC.tv
BoxingInsider.com: What first brought you to the Mileitch System? What attracted you to the team?
Tim Sylvia: Pat [Miletich] just seemed out going and down-to earth. He invited me out to train with him and that’s what brought me out. I met him down in Atlantic City at the UFC when Randleman and Randy [Couture] fought.
BoxingInsider.com: Once you arrived in camp, what did you like about the team?
Tim Sylvia: [I liked] just how down to earth everybody was and how many great guys there were to train with. You had all of these superstars in one place, but no one was really big headed or cocky. The workouts were incredible. They were just hardcore. I could go on and on, really.
BoxingInsider.com: How tough was it the first time you walked into the gym, and you were faced with Jeremy Horn, Jens Pulver, Matt Hughes, and Pat Miletich?
Tim Sylvia: I was a little star struck, of course! The first guy I rolled with was Horn so I was a little bit in awe. After four of five days I got over it, and I had a really good time training with everybody. They were very open-minded and open armed. If you did something wrong, they would say, “Why don’t you try this and see how it works for you?” They all helped me out even though I was only there for ten days.
BoxingInsider.com: And now, how does it feel to be on the other side: to have others walk into the gym and be star struck by the world champion?
Tim Sylvia: I try to greet them the same way I was greeted and help everybody out as much as I can.
BoxingInsider.com: One of the knocks against Miletich Fighting Systems, and I mean no disrespect by this at all, is that they are a little boring, they don’t really rush things, and they don’t really take chances. Having said that there has not been a more successful team in mixed martial arts.
Tim Sylvia: Exactly!
BoxingInsider.com: How would you describe the strategy that Pat [Miletich] and your other teammates pass on to you?
Tim Sylvia: The other guys are just so knowledgeable about fighters so they know what other guys are going to do. We go in there with a game plan and we stick to it. We don’t go out there and swing, wildly, for the fences. It’s methodical. We think it out, and we know that’s how we are going to win it – if we do this way and not that way. Anybody can go out there and start throwing bombs – anybody can! Not anybody can go out there, pick apart a fighter, and win.
I guess you could say Pat was a little boring in the beginning, but when Pat first started out, if you lost there was a good chance you weren’t coming back to the UFC. He didn’t take chances, but he did what it took to win, and he has had a very successful career in the UFC as a champion (probably the longest running next to Tito).
BoxingInsider.com: By the same token, you can also be so dominant to be considered boring. Matt Hughes may be at that point. “A Matt Hughes’ fight,” you say, “who’s going to beat him?”
Tim Sylvia: I don’t see anybody beating him.
BoxingInsider.com: There has been talk about him or Robbie Lawler moving up in weight? Is there any news on that?
Tim Sylvia: I believe Robbie is staying the same [weight]. Robbie might be fighting B.J. Penn in the November show. I think B.J. Penn is moving up [in weight].
Photo: Joshua Hedges/UFC.tv
BoxingInsider.com: Oh really? That’s very interesting!
As far as you style goes, you really don’t like to go to the ground. Is your game plan going to change [for the upcoming match with McGee]?
Tim Sylvia: It’s not going to change. I am a stand-up fighter. If you want to beat me, you have to beat me at my own game or take me down – try to take me down anyway.
BoxingInsider.com: How well is your ground game developing?
Tim Sylvia: My ground game is really good, but we’ll just leave it at that. Anyone who wants to find out how good my ground game is will have to become a good wrestler and get me down on the ground. They’ll find out!
BoxingInsider.com: Is there anything you would like to add in closing, Tim?
Tim Sylvia: I just want to thank all my sponsors out there. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today: Full Contact Fighter, International Sportswear.com, Fairtex, Westlake Mortgage, and my chiropractor, of course! There’s also Kaizen supplements, who I just picked up recently. They are going to get me all the stuff I need to make sure I stay healthy nutrition-wise.
BoxingInsider.com: Tim, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Tim Sylvia: Thank you.
BoxingInsider.com: Best of luck in September, I hope you are still the world champion.
Tim Sylvia: Thank you, I appreciate it.
Chris Colderley is a freelance writer and a boxinginsider.com contributor. Chris Colderley can be contacted at colderley@hotmail.com
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