#2 Tim Sylvia
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Tim Sylvia is a former two-time UFC Heavyweight (HW/265 pound) champion. Sylvia is one of the rare fighters in MMA who made it to the pinnacle of the sport, in spite of not having a proper martial arts foundation.
Sylvia trained briefly in boxing and grappling in his youth, and jumped right into the MMA pro circuit using his size and athleticism to overwhelm his opponents. Throughout his MMA career, Sylvia never demonstrated development in his skill-set, and apart from a good usage of the jab in his third fight against Andrei Arlovski, he never really relied on skills inside the cage.
Sylvia first won the HW title at UFC 44 against Ricco Rodriguez but was stripped of it after his first title defence against Dan McGee. Sylvia tested positive for the PED Stanozolol after his fight against McGee, and was stripped of his title and suspended.
At UFC 59 Sylvia became a two-time HW champion after knocking out Arlovski in a back-and-forth brawl. Arlovski dropped Sylvia with an overhand right that had him on jelly-legs, and Sylvia started swinging at the air after miraculously getting up to his feet.
One of his wild punches connected on Arlovski and a few ground-and-pound shots later, Sylvia was a two-time UFC champ. Sylvia went on to lose the HW title to former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and went on a terrible downward spiral that lasted until the end of his career.
Furthermore, Sylvia was also infamous as one of the most undisciplined athletes to have ever competed inside the Octagon.
Now, before anyone brings up the name ‘Brock Lesnar’, I’d like to point out that Lesnar was a NCAA Division 1 champion. Lesnar had a legitimate athletic background although he also dabbled into the world of pro-wrestling that is more entertainment-based with scripted outcomes.
On the other hand, Sylvia had no athletic background. Apart from a brief stint as a semi-professional Football player, Sylvia had no elite athletic credentials that’d help propel someone toward a UFC title. Considering this, the very fact that Sylvia won the UFC HW title not once but twice, is nothing short of a miracle.
With his terrible stand-up skills and limited grappling game, Sylvia plodded forward in the UFC HW division and bagged the HW crown two times. If that’s not luck, I don’t know what is.
