[Who's Next]

Posted by UFC Junkie on May 21, 2007 at 10:35 am ET
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia will take part in a dance competition that is structured as a sort of Dancing With the Stars for Iowa-based media personalities.

Seriously.

John Marx, a columnist for the The Dispatch Rock Island Argus, made mention of the competition in a recent story, and lo and behold, Sylvia’s name was on the list of competitors.

Sylvia hails from Maine but fights of Iowa, where the event takes place.

From qconline.com:

Dancing — although some of the fellas I run with will laugh to hear this — is fun. Nail a step just the way Gianni shows you, or carry out a routine correctly more than once, and it feels as if you’ve accomplished something.

The goal is prepare myself to dance [at “Dancing With Quad-Cities Media Stars”] against three-time UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia (let’s see you make fun of him), WOC-AM’s Jim Victor, KUUL-FM’s Steve Ketelaar, KCQQ-FM’s Julie Jameson, WHBF-TV’s Keegan Feeney, Miss Iowa Emily Nicholas, and Davenport Police Officer Rhonda Green in a show June 29 at Davenport’s Outing Club.

We will dance in front of judges and an audience, and the money raised will go to charity.

Unfortunately, information about the event is hard to find, so all we have to go in is Marx’s description.

The nationally televised U.S. version of Dancing With the Stars, of course, pairs a number of celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, who each week compete by performing dances, which are then given scores by a panel of judges. The TV-program concept debuted in Britian but made its American debut on ABC in 2005.

Although Sylvia had a successful run as the UFC’s heavyweight champion and remains one of the division’s top contenders, poise and coordination aren’t exactly considered his strengths. It’s hard to imagine the 6-foot-8 265-pounder being light on his feet, so he doesn’t seem like the best choice for a dance competition.

Then again, perhaps the Team Miletich and MFSE elite group member will surprise some people. Or, perhaps, some poor girl is going to have her toes crushed by her towering dance partner.

If nothing else, kudos to Sylvia for having a sense of humor and a willingness to show UFC fighters as more than mere skull-crushers


Wow, looks like Big Timmy has another goal then winning the HW title