You’re right, but what always annoyed me about Silvia is how you just KNEW he had more in his toolbox that he never brought out. He smacked of being conservative not because it was the best way to win, but because he was terrified to take a risk and lose. I look at the last GSP fight and see a guy who pulled every tool he had out of that box; he didn’t finish, but he sure as hell wasn’t boring. Then I look at a guy like Clay Guida, who doesn’t have anywhere near the kind of physical advantages that Silvia or GSP have, and certainly doesn’t have the massive power of Big Tim, but who pulls out all the stops, all the time. He’s a guy who WANTS to win, but isn’t SCARED of losing.

I guess when I saw a massive guy with huge power, fundamentally sound boxing skills, and a history of laying people out, who also never seemed to develop much of a ground game and ended up spending most of his fights by pushing people up against the fence from the clinch, I just wonder why he didn’t A) improve his skill set each time out and B) bring the kind of effort later in his UFC career that he did in the beginning.

Maybe Dana values the same things I do, and I value well rounded fighters. Nobody can argue that Sylvia is that. Obviously Dana values his wallet. And Sylvia didn’t make it any larger. Winning fights is great— and for a time it made Sylvia considered a top ten heavyweight. He’s a heavy that’s best at fighting heavy’s (as in, legit heavy’s; lumbering heavy’s). But he doesn’t bring a lot to the table beyond that. I sort of always saw him as a freak-show fighter based on his size and reach.

If you’re infering that there’s a universal understanding of a fighter’s value, than I disagree.

A lot of stupid people were questioning his credentials as the best heavyweight. And is anyone at all surprised that Dana White is being an asshole again?