Sylvia Replaces Duffee at TFC 16
Mike Whitman Dec 30, 2010
Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia
will replace Todd Duffee
at Titan Fighting Championships 16 on Jan. 28 at Memorial Hall in
Kansas City, Kan. Sylvia will now meet “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 10 alum Abe Wagner in
the show’s main event.
TFC officials made the announcement on Thursday. According to a TFC press release, the acquisition of Sylvia was necessary after Titan CEO Joe Kelly gave Duffee permission to compete against Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem at “Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010” on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
“Titan is a fighter-friendly organization. We treat the athletes that work with us like people and not commodities. While we were excited to have Todd be a part of our HDNet debut, we also realize how important the Overeem fight was for him at this stage of his career,” Kelly said. “I have a longstanding friendship with Todd’s manager, and Titan’s burgeoning relationship with HDNet is also very important. We didn’t want to stand in the way of this great fight happening on New Year’s Eve with everyone in the States also being able to watch on HDNet.”
Sylvia rides a four-fight win streak heading into the contest, defeating the likes of Paul Buentello and Mariusz Pudzianowski. Prior to his those victories, Sylvia had lost three consecutive bouts, as he was finished by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko and former WBO heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer. His loss to Nogueira was the last bout in his lengthy UFC run, which saw “The Maine-iac” best the likes of Brandon Vera, Jeff Monson and former heavyweight titleholder Andrei Arlovski (twice).
TFC officials made the announcement on Thursday. According to a TFC press release, the acquisition of Sylvia was necessary after Titan CEO Joe Kelly gave Duffee permission to compete against Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem at “Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010” on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
“Titan is a fighter-friendly organization. We treat the athletes that work with us like people and not commodities. While we were excited to have Todd be a part of our HDNet debut, we also realize how important the Overeem fight was for him at this stage of his career,” Kelly said. “I have a longstanding friendship with Todd’s manager, and Titan’s burgeoning relationship with HDNet is also very important. We didn’t want to stand in the way of this great fight happening on New Year’s Eve with everyone in the States also being able to watch on HDNet.”
Sylvia rides a four-fight win streak heading into the contest, defeating the likes of Paul Buentello and Mariusz Pudzianowski. Prior to his those victories, Sylvia had lost three consecutive bouts, as he was finished by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko and former WBO heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer. His loss to Nogueira was the last bout in his lengthy UFC run, which saw “The Maine-iac” best the likes of Brandon Vera, Jeff Monson and former heavyweight titleholder Andrei Arlovski (twice).
