For too long, our writers’ hyper-specific arguments have been confined to the private corridors of the Internet. Welcome to The Short List , where we take their instant message bickerings, add a little polish, and make them public. On tap for today: Fighters who found success in the cage despite obstacles physical and otherwise. * * * * * 1) Tim Sylvia, because he had no business wearing UFC gold, but did it anyway Ben Fowlkes: These days – and by these days I mean the period beginning in roughly 2008 and extending up through the present moment – it’s fashionable to hate on Tim Sylvia (31-10). He got knocked out by a pro boxer, got pee pee tasted by Andrei Arlovski (allegedly), and did the old “I don’t want to make excuses but here are some excuses” after losing to Randy Couture, who came out of retirement as a heavyweight specifically because he knew he could beat the then-champion Sylvia. If MMA fans are just a bunch of mean kids on a playground looking for someone to bully (and often they are), then the big, goofy heavyweight with little in the way of discernible skills seems like a perfect target. But before we get too carried away making fun of the guy, let’s remember that Sylvia is a man who showed up at Pat Miletich’s gym with nothing more than size, desire, and a total lack of coordination, and a few years later he was the UFC heavyweight champion
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