The sport of MMA, like boxing before it, eats its own.
Ask Tim Sylvia, the former UFC heavyweight champion who wants so desperately to return to the Octagon that it makes me hurt for him.
"I'm sick and tired of watching a bunch of bums fight in the UFC," the 35-year old Sylvia said. "Guys that I know I can beat... They told Monte, 'Tim needs to keep winning. Keep putting wins together.' I've done that and nothing happened. And there are guys in there I think are absolutely horrible...Yeah, I've got an attitude about it. I'm tired of it. I've got to make my own destiny."
Despite literally hundreds of messages on Twitter, White has been uncharacteristically silent on the matter.
"I think after this goes on weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks, I think something is going to happen," sadi Sylvia. "The fans are speaking right now."
For Sylvia, a loss to Fedor Emelianenko in just seconds was the beginning. A weight gain that landed him in the super heavyweight division for several fights made things worse. Soon, a fighter who once ruled the UFC's heavyweight division became a laughingstock.
White, apparently, doesn't look back on Sylvia's reign with any nostalgia at all, calling the division at the time "s----y."
"I thought I had a great relationship with everybody in the UFC," Sylvia said. "It is hurtful. I busted my a-- for years in his fights to become champion, not once, but twice...it's not my fault the UFC didn't bring in better guys to the division when I was there. That's got nothing to do with me. I fought who they put in front of me. I never declined anybody."
"Keep tweeting Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta. They say they aren't, but I know they are seeing all these tweets," Sylvia said. "Just keep supporting me. I love you guys. In the past I've told fans, 'If you don't like me, to hell with you.' But you know what? If you're a fan of MMA, I love you no matter what."