Headline bout not at top of marquee

Tim Sylvia will try to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight title for the third time in his career in the main event of a UFC card tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

But you wouldn’t know it from the marketing of the event.

The debut of former World Wrestling Entertainment star Brock Lesnar against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has been the focal point of most of the UFC’s advertising and media focus leading to the card.

Sylvia, who will face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim heavyweight crown, has noticed. But he prefers to cite the positives.

“As I get older, I understand business,” he said. “This is to make our sport better. Brock has a lot of WWE fans, and they are going to tune in to watch him. They will stick around and see our fight, and then they will become fans of the UFC.”

Whether or not they will become fans of Sylvia is a different question.

The 6-foot-8-inch 31-year-old has built a professional record of 24-3 and won the heavyweight title twice, but fans never fully have embraced him.

Sylvia has taken criticism for being a fighter who wins but doesn’t do so in exciting fashion. Five of his last six fights have gone to decision.

But no matter the reason, Sylvia is aware of it.

“I just kind of laugh at those guys. The guys that are booing, there are a half-dozen of them compared to the thousands that are cheering,” he said. “The thousand that are cheering get to laugh in the other guys’ faces when I win the fight.”

For his part, Lesnar knows other fighters might be jealous of him getting so much hype in his UFC debut.

His answer to that is simple: It’s all about money.

“According to some, I’m getting a T-bone steak earlier than the rest of them got it, but this is a business,” Lesnar said. “You’ve got to understand those concepts.”

Hype or not, Sylvia will fight for the heavyweight crown. It would be an interim belt but likely would become official when Randy Couture formally is stripped of the title.

Couture resigned from the UFC, and the organization is suing him.

“If I win the belt, basically I get the golden ticket,” Sylvia said. “One of two things is going to happen: Randy is going to man up and come back and fulfill his contract, or they are going to strip him and I become the technical champion.”

Along with the two heavyweight bouts, the card features a middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt and Jeremy Horn and a lightweight clash featuring Las Vegan Tyson Griffin against Gleison Tibau.

On Wednesday, Alan Belcher was forced to withdraw from his fight against Ricardo Almeida with bronchitis. Almeida instead will fight Rob Yundt.

The nine-fight card will begin at 5:15 p.m., with the live pay-per-view telecast at 7.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 224-5509.