When Brock Lesnar first arrived in the UFC, he instantly became one of the promotion’s top stars.
After a rocky start to his MMA career, Lesnar would go on to become the heavyweight champion as his stock continued to ascend.
He had already achieved star status in the WWE by the time he made the walk to the Octagon for the first time in 2008, and he was compensated for that.
While Lesnar did briefly return to save UFC 200, his run with the promotion ended in 2011 following one of the most significant careers in the history of the sport.
The former champion brought a lot of attention to the UFC and with that came envy from his heavyweight rivals.
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Tim Sylvia says he wanted to fight Brock Lesnar for his UFC contract but the promotion were not interested
In 2007, Tim Sylvia’s heavyweight title reign came to an end after he was dethroned by Randy Couture at UFC 68 following back-to-back defenses.
His final UFC fight took place at UFC 81 in 2008 where on the same night that he lost an interim title fight to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brock Lesnar was submitted by Frank Mir on his UFC debut.
Sylvia recently spoke on the Jaxxon podcast that after finding out what Lesnar was making for his fights, he spoke to the matchmakers about matching them up.
“When I was the heavyweight champ, we found out what they brought Brock Lesnar in [for],” Sylvia said. He was getting [$300,000 to show and $300,000 to win] and money per pay-per-view buy, so every fight he was making over a million dollars back then. My contract was 100 and 100, so $200,000 on the win, I made maybe 40 or 50 in sponsors. Brock is getting a million and he’s a nobody.”
Sylvia said he questioned the UFC on why Lesnar was being paid significantly more than him and pitched an offer to the promotion.
He wanted to face the former WWE star in a fight where if he won, he’d be given Lesnar’s contract, but the UFC were not sold on the idea as they hoped that their big signing could bounce back and go onto achieve success.
“‘How the f— is he a bigger name?’ Because of wrestling. OK, let me fight Brock. If I win, I get his contract. If I lose, I’ll go back, I won’t say a word, I’ll take my 100 and 100.
“‘No, we’re trying to build him, we can’t do that,'” Sylvia claims the UFC responded, “‘It won’t be a good fight for him. We’re afraid for that fight.’”
Tim Sylvia says the UFC were not happy about him signing with Affliction despite granting his release
During his appearance on the Jaxxon Podcast, Tim Sylvia also spoke about how his UFC career came to an end after he wasn’t offered a fight with Brock Lesnar.
He claims that the UFC were not going to renew his contract and tabled an offer for him to fight Cheick Kongo in London.
Instead, he chose to pursue a contract offer from the new MMA promotion, Affliction, which he claims the UFC weren’t happy about even after they agreed to release him from his contract.
“So we’re like, OK, will you let us out of the contract and the UFC’s like, ‘Absolutely. He’s gone. There you go, you’re released.’ They released me, and I signed with Affliction, and then Affliction announced it, and [the UFC] was p—–. They were p—– at me because I did that.
“I just did something to better myself, and they thought I was trying to screw them. No, you weren’t going to renew my contract. So what’s the problem?”