Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is set to make his debut in SlapFIGHT Championship, America’s first regulated slap competition league, on April 22 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, facing super heavyweight contender Bulldozer in the SFC 25 main event.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim “the Maine-iac” Sylvia is set to make his debut in SlapFIGHT Championship, America’s first regulated slap competition league, on April 22 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Though Sylvia hasn’t fought for almost a decade, this is a significant moment for the sport and, more specifically, for SlapFIGHT. He is the first former UFC heavyweight champion to compete in this new and controversial combat sport. The CEO of SlapFIGHT, JT Tilley, expressed his excitement for Sylvia’s debut, stating that he has reached a multi-fight agreement with SFC.
Sylvia finished his mixed martial arts career with a record of 31-10 (1 no contest) before making his way into the Octagon by winning a 16-man, two-night SuperBrawl tournament in Hawaii. He became the UFC heavyweight champion in just his second fight in the Octagon, defeating Ricco Rodriguez in 2002. Sylvia again became champion when he defeated Andrei Arlovski in 2006. Besides being a former UFC champion, Sylvia is known for his fights with such renowned athletes as Fedor Emelianenko, boxing champion Ray Mercer, and Olympic Gold Medal judoka Satoshi Ishii.
Combat sports fans may be more familiar with UFC president Dana White’s version of the controversial professional slap competition than with SlapFIGHT. But it was largely due to the work that SlapFIGHT put into the sport that White was able to get his Power Slap league approved in Nevada. Veteran combat sports promoter Tilley founded SlapFIGHT in 2017, aiming to legitimize the viral clips of unregulated slap contests that had gone viral on social media. With weight classes, uniform rules, and strict concussion protocol, SFC gained worldwide recognition and started leagues in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Colombia, and Morocco.
Despite the initial reluctance of state athletic commissions to accept slapping as a sport, Tilley and his team created a regulatory body to maintain safety and fairness in competition, with SlapFIGHT events now being televised in over 40 countries and having received over 1 billion viral views online, according to the promotion. Sylvia will be facing super heavyweight contender Bulldozer in the SFC 25 main event, which will be broadcast live on pay-per-view with the rebroadcast available for purchase on FITE and SlapFIGHT.live. International viewers can catch the broadcast on SPORT1.