When Brock Lesnar first arrived within the UFC, he immediately became one among the promotion’s top stars.
After a rocky begin to his MMA profession, Lesnar would go on to change into the heavyweight champion as his stock continued to ascend.
He had already achieved star status within the WWE by the point he made the walk to the Octagon for the primary time in 2008, and he was compensated for that.
While Lesnar did briefly return to avoid wasting UFC 200, his run with the promotion led to 2011 following one of the crucial significant careers within the history of the game.
The previous champion brought loads of attention to the UFC and with that got here envy from his heavyweight rivals.
Tim Sylvia says he desired to fight Brock Lesnar for his UFC contract however the promotion weren’t interested
In 2007, Tim Sylvia’s heavyweight title reign got here to an end after he was dethroned by Randy Couture at UFC 68 following back-to-back defenses.
His final UFC fight took place at UFC 81 in 2008 where on the identical night that he lost an interim title fight to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brock Lesnar was submitted by Frank Mir on his UFC debut.
Sylvia recently spoke on the Jaxxon podcast that after checking out what Lesnar was making for his fights, he spoke to the matchmakers about matching them up.
“Once I was the heavyweight champ, we came upon 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 1,000,000 dollars back then. My contract was 100 and 100, so $200,000 on the win, I made possibly 40 or 50 in sponsors. Brock is getting 1,000,000 and he’s a no person.”
Sylvia said he questioned the UFC on why Lesnar was being paid significantly greater than him and pitched a proposal to the promotion.
He desired to face the previous WWE star in a fight where if he won, he’d be given Lesnar’s contract, however the UFC weren’t sold on the concept as they hoped that their big signing could bounce back and go onto achieve success.
“‘How the f— is he an even bigger name?’ Due to wrestling. OK, let me fight Brock. If I win, I get his contract. If I lose, I’ll return, I won’t say a word, I’ll take my 100 and 100.
“‘No, we’re attempting to construct him, we will’t try this,’” Sylvia claims the UFC responded, “‘It won’t be a superb fight for him. We’re afraid for that fight.’”
Tim Sylvia says the UFC weren’t completely satisfied about him signing with Affliction despite granting his release
During his appearance on the Jaxxon Podcast, Tim Sylvia also spoke about how his UFC profession got here to an end after he wasn’t offered a fight with Brock Lesnar.
He claims that the UFC weren’t going to renew his contract and tabled a proposal for him to fight Cheick Kongo in London.
As a substitute, he selected to pursue a contract offer from the brand new MMA promotion, Affliction, which he claims the UFC weren’t completely satisfied about even after they agreed to release him from his contract.
“So we’re like, OK, will you allow us to 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, after which Affliction announced it, and [the UFC] was p—–. They were p—– at me because I did that.
“I just did something to higher myself, and so they thought I used to be attempting to screw them. No, you weren’t going to renew my contract. So what’s the issue?”