Former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia, will be back in action on New Year's Eve, fighting in Japan.  Sylvia announced the news on his Twitter account earlier today.

Sylvia (25-6) last fought on Sept. 18 against Jason Riley at Adrenaline IV.  While he scored a first-round TKO, he later revealed that he broke his right hand during the fight.  Sylvia was meant to debut with the Japanese promotion DREAM on Oct. 25.  But because his hand has not yet healed, he will not be fighting at the end of October.  While it is expected that Sylvia's New Year's Eve fight will take place under the DREAM banner, it has not yet been confirmed.  An opponent has also yet to be named.

"The Maine-iac" began fighting for the UFC in Sept. 2002 at UFC 39, when he had a 13-0 record under his belt.  While in the UFC, from late 2002 to early 2008, Sylvia held a record of 11-4, losing only to Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  During that time, he won the heavyweight belt twice and also defended it twice.  He has beaten the likes of Ricco Rodriguez, Assuerio Silva, Andrei Arlovski (x2) and Brandon Vera.

Since leaving the UFC and fighting for Affliction and Adrenaline, Sylvia holds a 1-2 record.  He lost consecutive fights to Fedor Emelianenko and Ray Mercer before defeating Riley.