Once upon a time in a far away land, Tim Sylvia won a unanimous decision over Andrei Arlovski. Once upon a time in a far away land, Tim Sylvia put up a laborious fight against Randy Couture. And once upon a time in a far away land, Tim Sylvia was a heavyweight champion.

I guess all this "once upon a time" stuff means that this should be called "Why I Loved" Tim Sylvia. And don't worry - this isn't' a script for "Punk'd." No one's gonna jump out from behind you, start laughing and tell you that you are part of a social experiment. No - no worries. Okay. Now stop for a second. Put aside the past two, maybe three, years of Sylvia's career and just focus on those proud moments. Right... those ones. He has a 25-6 record. He had an unbeaten streak of 13-0 before he came to the UFC. With a 9-4 UFC record, he took part in a title fight on nine different occasions. Now if you can't see how he helped bolster the heavyweight division for a few years, then you're looking through some sham-filled glasses.

When Sylvia got matched up against Wes Sims recently, I cringed. Whatever happens, it's not going to be a good fight. And it got me thinking: what the heck happened? I remembered watching Timmy and having a grand old time. Some people have never liked him because he doesn't have all the skills in the world. But for a heavyweight - and especially a heavyweight who was around at the time when he reigned - he was racking up decisions and (T)KOs like he had nothing better to do.

"You are a big son of a bitch! Do you fight?" That's what Pat Miletich apparently said to Sylvia upon meeting him. When he said that he could, he packed up his extra long jeans, sunglasses and hope, and headed for Iowa. Who knew the big boy would become heavyweight king?

Don't shake your head. Don't say he got decimated by Ray Mercer, don't say he's never going to be the same again. Okay - he did get decimated by Ray Mercer, and he hadn't been fighting well for a bit of time before that. Honestly, who knows why the hell he approached Mercer the way he did. Did he forget how long his limbs are? He's 6'8"! Enough said. So, yes, he wasn't prepared, and, yes, he got his ass handed to him.

We can't lie here. The man suffered a few bad losses. And does he have too much longer in the game to get his act together? No, probably not. Actually... no. He just doesn't. A lot of people have already written him off completely. If he doesn't get his ass in gear, people aren't gonna care, and he might even end up on one of those D-list celebrity reality shows.

But stop. Jump in your magical time portal. Take some herbal medicine. Let's travel back in time. Sylvia was king, he had the belt wrapped around his waist. Twice. Yeah. Twice. Remember? He knocked out Ricco Rodriguez and then TKO-ed Arlovski. Sure, Frank Mir snapped his arm in the process, but Timmy barely flinched. The man argued with Herb Dean...