Former UFC heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has set his sights on slap-fighting after retiring from MMA in 2015. He has penned a deal with USA’s first slap-fighting regulated promotion, SlapFIGHT Championship. Bellator MMA commentator John McCarthy discussed this deal in a recent episode of his podcast on his YouTube Channel.

Tim Sylvia is 47 years old. He had to retire from MMA in 2015 after he failed to get licensed by the Mohegan Athletic Unit due to sustaining some serious damage in accordance with his age. Now he has jumped ship from fighting inside to fighting on the stage.

Details on Tim Sylvia joining SlapFIGHT Championship

Tim Sylvia is one of UFC’s greatest heavyweight fighters, capturing the title on two occasions. He had suffered some severe head injuries over the course of his mixed martial arts career. Sylvia’s manager also explained eight years ago that he had suffered damage from blunt force trauma. However, that hasn’t stopped ‘The Maine-iac’ from venturing into the new controversial sport of slap-fighting.

Sylvia’s has joined America’s first regulated slap-fighting league and will face a competitor who goes by the name of ‘Bulldozer’. The fight will take place in the main event of SlapFIGHT 25 in a super heavyweight battle. Let us see what Bellator commentator John McCarthy had to say.

John McCarthy weighs in on Sylvia’s new venture

In a recent episode of his podcast ‘Weighing in’, McCarthy and Josh Thompson discussed why ‘The Maine-iac’ walked out of MMA due to medical issues. He said, “Tim [Sylvia] kind of walked away because he had some problems.” McCarthy added, “Little bit of health issues. He’s real big now, I know that and there will be no weight class or someone’s gonna be slapping a guy who’s 6 foot 8 and probably 310-15 pounds.”

McCarthy then asked Thompson what he thought of Sylvia’s new slap-fighting venture. Thompson said, “It’s up to him [Sylvia]. I am a believer that someone can do whatever the f*** they want. Who am I to stop them from doing it?” 

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Thompson also mentioned that he would consider watching his fights since Sylvia and he are friends. He said, “I’d watch him because he’s my friend, yeah. And he’s a big guy.” Thompson added, “He’s got a little extra skin in the game cos’, you know, I do like him. He is a good guy, man.”

John McCarthy then took the opportunity to wish the former UFC champion well and said, “All I say is to Tim, if that’s what you’re gonna do [then] good luck. I think you should go back to hunting… that’s a great thing and I hope he’s successful with that.”

McCarthy and Thompson appear to be in support of whatever the former UFC champion decides to do. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments down below.

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