At UFC 77 former two time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia will make his return to the octagon against undefeated Contender Brandon “The Truth” Vera.  In this must read fightbeat exclusive a confident Timmy pulls no punches: predicting the round he will knock out Vera in, why Pride fighters are overrated, and why he thinks UFC fighters are under paid.  All this and much more...

JB:  Your opponent at UFC 77 in Cincinnati, Ohio is Brandon Vera.  How was your training camp for the fight?

TS:  It went really well.
 

JB:  Vera is very good with both high and low kicks.  Given the size difference it is likely that he will try to chop you down from the outside.  Is this what you’re anticipating?

TS:  That’s what we’re pretty much expecting from him: throwing kicks and trying to give me angles.  I’m just going to stay in his face, rough him up, and let him know he’s a little guy in a big man’s world.

JB:  In your last fight you had some back problems going into the fight.  Are you injury free going into this fight?

TS:  Yeah I wouldn’t be fighting if I wasn’t.  We booked this fight right after we were done rehabbing.

JB:  You both have high knock out rates.  Do you see the fight going the distance?

TS:  No, I don’t.

JB:  You got a round in mind?

TS:  The first.

JB:  What do think Vera’s biggest disadvantage in this fight will be: the size difference, his long lay off, your reach advantage, his inexperience, or the fact he talked a lot of shit about you before this fight?

TS:  All of the above.

JB:  How many more fights do you need to win until you deserve another shot at the title?

TS:  One or two more I would imagine.

JB:  You weren’t a crowd favorite the last time you fought in Ohio.  But who is when you’re fighting Captain America.  Do you anticipate a better reaction from the crowd this time around?

TS:  I would like to hope so.  I think that will happen to anybody that fights Randy.  I am from the Midwest, so I’d like to think they will be behind me.

JB:  What did you think about Randy’s resignation from the UFC?

TS:  I knew it was going to happen.  I was out at his camp six weeks ago working out with Forest and Whitehead.  Randy and I started talking and I asked him before he retired to please give me another shot!  He was like “I don’t know, I think I’m done.  I’ve had enough.”  Then his wife chimed in and was like “yeah I think he’s done.”  And I was like the wife spoke that’s it for him. (laughs)

JB:  Your teammate Jason Black is on the card against Don Grice.  Is he ready for this fight?

TS:  Yeah he is in a lot better place for this fight.  He cut weight more properly this time around.  His last fight was his first fight at 155.  During cutting he did some things he shouldn’t have done.  He has learned from his mistakes.

JB:  Your teammate Ben Rothwell is the top, or one of the top heavyweights in the IFL.  Having trained with him where do you rank him in the overall heavyweight picture?

TS:  He is easily top twenty.  Maybe even top ten.

JB:  What did you think about his win over Ricco Rodriguez, and Ricco spitting on him?

TS:  I think Ricco is a piece of shit.  Ben got that fight on real short notice: he had a lot to lose in that fight.  It was his last fight on his IFL contract.  If he lost that fight he would have no where to go, and no room to negotiate. Ben fought a smart safe fight.  He did what he had to do.

JB:  If Ricco had spit on Ben in the UFC, on live TV, in front of Dana White, what do you think would have happened?

TS:  (laughs) There would have been a lot of repercussions for Ricco.  He would have been suspended no doubt about it.  It was ridiculous how the IFL handled it.  They didn’t do shit about it.

JB:  Before the merger of Pride with the UFC most spectators thought Pride fighters were superior to the UFC fighters.  Now that top Pride stars like Cro Cop and Shogun have been beaten in the UFC people are starting to change their tune.  What do you think are the biggest factors for the poor showing of many former Pride fighters: is it the octagon, the rules, the drug testing policies, or were Pride fighters just overrated?

TS:  All of the above: the drug testing, the octagon, the elbows, and a lot them are overrated.  Pride was great at building fighters.  They were feeding Cro Cop nobodies, so of course he would knock them out in devastating fashion.  Fedor was fighting nobodies too.  Yeah these guys were big monsters, but they didn’t have the same skill level as he did.  I mean they whoop these guys and then become superstars.  I mean how many times did we see Wanderlei fight Sakuruba.  Sakuruba was not a bum, but he was well past his prime the last couple of times they fought.  They were knocking out these Japanese pro-wrestlers who had no business fighting.

JB:  Why do you think the UFC couldn’t sign Fedor?

TS:  I think Fedor went where the money was.  The UFC demands a lot when it comes to likeness.  They pretty much own our asses.  I don’t think Fedor wanted to give that up.

JB:  I heard you have met Fedor a couple of times.  What did you think of him?

TS:  He’s little.  Nice guy, but little.

JB:  There has been a lot of talk lately about UFC fighters not getting paid fairly.  Dan Henderson and Randy Couture have been out spoken about this.  What’s your opinion?

TS:  I agree.  The UFC is making 25-30 million a show.  The total payouts of all the fighters on the card combined wasn’t even a million dollars.

JB:  What do you think about this season of the Ultimate Fighter?

TS:  I think Matt Serra is a puke.  I think at the end of the day Matt Hughes will beat the shit out of him.

JB:  Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawyer recently left the Militich camp to start Team Hughes.  Did this upset you?

TS:  I didn’t like the way it went down, but at the end of the day we are all here to better ourselves.  Matt is a real family oriented man.  St. Louis is only 2 1/2 hours away from his house oppose to the Militich camp that’s 3 ½.  You know if someone comes to you with a large amount of money and says I’m going to build this gym, and I want your name on it, and am going to give you half of it, that is pretty hard to turn down.  Same with Robbie he’s a young kid that just got married, and he was also offered a percentage of the gym.  You know I can’t blame those guys they have families to think about, so I understand but I would of handled it differently.  I mean we heard the rumors before they even said anything.  So I called Matt up about it and he said the reason he didn’t say anything was because he wasn’t sure if it was going to actually happen.  It was just bad communication.

JB:  You took a lot of criticism for wearing your belt around everywhere when you were heavyweight champion.  Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz did the same thing.  Why do you think you were criticized for it and not them?

TS:  (laughs) I don’t know.  I really don’t know.  Can somebody please tell me?

JB:  Good luck with your fight.

TS:  Thanks man.