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Don’t think for a second that Tim Sylvia wouldn’t do anything in his power to earn another chance to compete inside the Octagon.

Sylvia, a former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, has been turned down by UFC president Dana White over the past few months in regards to competing with the company again.

During a recent appearance on The Hammerfisting Podcast, Sylvia made a comment regarding the reality series The Ultimate Fighter. As a veteran of the sport, it would seem below Sylvia to need to go on the show to get in the UFC, but that’s not how the 30-win veteran sees it.

I watch The Ultimate Fighter, and I would definitely do it if I needed to. I helped coach season two with Matt (Hughes) and Rich (Franklin).

Sylvia has won six of his last seven fights, falling to Abe Wagner in early 2011. However, a 2009 knockout loss to boxer Ray Mercer stains his resume.

It’s possible that the UFC could always look to Sylvia as a challenger for a rising star in the division, but given White’s choice words for “The Maine-iac,” it seems unlikely that we’ll see the 36-year-old inside the Octagon again.

“Beast Mode” per Tim Sylvia…

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Tim Sylvia wants back in the UFC so bad he’s “pretty much begging” at this point.

Yes, you read that right. That’s what he told MMA Junkie Radio today on a media campaign to get back in the UFC.

“I made a mistake. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I screwed up. But give me a second chance please. I’m pretty much begging… It was a stupid mistake I made (leaving the UFC for Affliction), especially with how it all worked out,” Sylvia today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “But I know (UFC co-owners) Dana (White) and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and all those guys have given second chances – Tito Ortiz being one of them, B.J. Penn, Mark Coleman, the guys who did the rape jokes on Twitter and all that stuff. Even Nate Marquardt is getting a second chance with Strikeforce.”

If given a second chance, Sylvia promises he’ll beat any of the UFC’s heavyweights outside of the top five and he’s even willing to take an entry-level contract to prove it. Here’s Tim making that bold proclamation on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani earlier today.

“Have me come in, put me against Stefan Struve, Cheick Kongo, (Matt) Mitrione,” Sylvia said. “I’ll fight anybody. I don’t care. And see if I can hang with them. If I can’t, I tell you what, it’s going to be a hell of a fight… Right now you have three studs: Alistair, Junior and Cain, and the rest are OK. There’s also Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, but besides the Top 5, if you put me in there I’ll beat them all.”

“If the UFC comes to me with an offer for $5,000 and $5,000 I would take it,” Sylvia said. “I know that’s very entry level money but I’d have an opportunity to win Knockout of the Night and make $50,000.”

This is all started when Sylvia posted a very heartfelt video on YouTube recently asking for fans to tweet Dana White and tell him that they wanted to see the big guy back in the Octagon. Surprisingly, Sylvia received a lot of overwhelming fan support but it wasn’t enough to convince Dana to give him a second chance. At least not yet. Perhaps Sylvia’s offer to fight on the cheap will, but that remains to be seen.

Image via Dave Mandel for Sherdog

Dana White’s post-fight interview with FUEL TV’s Ariel Helwani along with a rundown of UFC on FUEL 1 post-fight news and notes…

Tim Sylvia has always been a sensitive guy to how fans react to him. He has a lot of haters and he wants to know why. Tim also wants to get back in the UFC where he believes he will knock dudes out and become a top contender in the heavyweight division. What do you think? Should the UFC take him back?

HT: MMA Mania

A case of insomnia led to Lorenzo Fertitta breaking some pretty big news items in an impromptu Twitter Q&A session late last night. Here’s a quick rundown…

— Lorenzo confirmed that Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem will headline their Memorial Day Weekend card on May 26. The card is expected to take place in Las Vegas.

— Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir is in the works, but Fertitta didn’t say when it would happen.

— Tito Ortiz’s final opponent will in fact be Forrest Griffin. It’s also unclear when that fight will happen.

— TUF 15 coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will meet on July 7 in Las Vegas on the UFC’s July 4th weekend card. Those two have already started getting back into it on Twitter.

— In reaction to Nick Diaz’s positive marijuana test, Lorenzo said he was “disappointed because [he] really likes him,” but it’s in the NSAC’s hands now. He added that Nick “just needs to get it together,” and that he will be back once his suspension is over. Lorenzo’s “a sap for real fighters.”

— Lorenzo isn’t sure if Carlos Condit will defend his interim welterweight title before fighting Georges St. Pierre.

— Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva might be a possibility down the road.

— Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo is a “good idea” if Edgar beats Ben Henderson.

— Lorenzo agrees with Dana White that Mayhem Miller “looked terrible” against Michael Bisping.

— “Sure,” they would still consider signing Fedor Emelianenko for the right price and terms.

— Not interested in bringing Tim Sylvia back.

— They would be interested in signing Bellator’s Hector Lombard and Alexander Shlemenko.

Image via MMA Junkie

It looks like a pair of Fedor Emelianenko’s former foes will square off in Japan this New Year’s Eve.

Heavy.com is reporting that Tim Sylvia and Brett Rogers will meet in a heavyweight bout at DREAM New Year! 2011 in Japan.

Tim Sylvia and Brett Rogers will fight on Dream’s New Year’s Eve show at the Saitama Super Arena just north of Tokyo. Sources close to the negotiations on Wednesday confirmed the fight booking to Heavy.com. The fight has not yet been announced by Dream.

The report also notes that a rematch between Fedor and Sylvia was considered, but the fight never came together.

If the Sylvia-Rogers fight pans out, Rogers will be at a disadvantage preparation-wise when he steps in the ring with Sylvia. Rogers was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in jail in connection to a third-degree felony assault charge stemming from a domestic abuse incident with his wife. He’ll likely only serve 14 days of that sentence, so he should be released a couple weeks before the fight, but he will lose two weeks of training.

On a related note, MMA Junkie is reporting that a women’s fight between Karla Benitez and Megumi Fujii is also in the works for the DREAM card.

Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce

“I want to get up there. I want to get on the big stage again and prove myself. It’s not about winning titles. I’ve won five of them in the UFC, I’ve won other ones in other organizations; I don’t care about fighting for the UFC title again if it never happens. But I do want to get back in the UFC and I do want to fight all the fights that I think the fans want to see (and) the fights that I want. I want to fight (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira again. I want to fight Frank Mir again. I’d like to fight Brock Lesnar, you know, Alistair Overeem… I want to fight all those guys. I just think it would be great for the fans. Just keep me around and let me have those great fights. I’m going to put on a show no matter what. I’m going to fight. I’m going to show up and I’m going to fight. …. Dana White, I don’t know if (you’re watching) but give me a shout.”

— Tim Sylvia telling Sherdog (transcribed via MMA Mania) he wants to fight in the UFC following his win over Andreas Kraniotakes at ProElite 2

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say if Tim Sylvia wants back in the UFC, going out and hugging guys to death in boring decisions probably isn’t the best way to get the UFC’s attention.

Does anyone want to see Tim Sylvia fight the likes of Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem?

I didn’t catch it, but word is last night’s ProElite 2 card was pretty bad. Even the promoter T. Jay Thompson admitted as much, tweeting “never again” after the event.

Tim Sylvia picked up a win against Andreas Kraniotakes in the main event, but apparently it was a 15-min hugfest on the fence that earned Sylvia nothing but boos from the crowd. Things also didn’t pan out too well for BJ Penn’s brother, Reagan Penn, who ProElite has been heavily promoting. Penn gassed early and dropped a one-sided decision to Evan Cutts. He apologized for not being more prepared after the fight.

“I would like to let all the fans know that I’m gonna give it one more shot. Congratulations to Evan Cutts, he kicked my ass pretty good tonight. There were some things that went on in my training camp but I am not here to make any excuses. I could have done more, I was being stubborn and thought I could walk through this fight by half ass’ing it but now I know what it’s like when you’re in there and you feel like you can’t hold your arms up.

I disrespected the sport a little bit, but sometimes the best wake up call is getting your ass kicked. I promise my fans, friends and family that I will never let this happen again. Expect me back and better than ever in 2012.”

If there was one bright spot on the card, it was Andrei Arlovski’s head kick KO that literally came in the very last second of the fight. You can check that out above. Official results below.

ProElite is in the planning stages for their second event, according to a report on Cage Potato. Word is they’re looking at staging the event in Moline, Illinois on Nov. 5 and possibly reigniting an old UFC rivalry in the main event.

CagePotato.com has learned that ProElite’s second show under its new ownership and management will happen November 5 at the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. Although no announcements have been made regarding the event, which is tentatively dubbed “ProElite II” or the show’s fight card, there is strong indication that the promotion is working on a third meeting between former UFC heavyweight champions Tim Sylvia (29-7) and Andrei Arlovski (16-9) and that the bout could be the main event.

To add fuel to the fire, Sylvia tweeted last week that he’s fighting on Nov. 5 in Hawaii (the location ProElite originally planned to hold the event).

If Arlovski and Sylvia meet in the main event, it would actually be their fourth encounter. Arlovski took the first one at UFC 51 while Sylvia won the last two at UFC 59 and UFC 61. No one is really clamoring for a fourth fight, but both fighters have wanted the rematch for awhile now ever since they shared a girlfriend which led to Ariel Helwani’s breakout interview with Arlovski where he muttered the infamous line “How’s taste my pee-pee?” to Sylvia.

Image via Sherdog

Update: MMA Fighting has confirmed that Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia will fight on ProElite’s Nov. card, but they won’t be fighting each other. Instead, Sylvia will fight Pedro Rizzo and Arlovski will fight Travis Fulton. Reagan Penn and Tara LaRosa are also expected to fight on the card.