FanHouse RayMercer

In 2008, Tim Sylvia had two fights: One against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the UFC heavyweight belt, and one against Fedor Emelianenko for the WAMMA heavyweight belt. He lost both, but no one could dispute that Sylvia was one of the major players in the heavyweight division in MMA.

Fast forward to tonight, when Sylvia will have his second fight of 2009. He lost the first in embarrassing fashion to Ray Mercer, a 48-year-old boxer making his MMA debut, and if he loses the second, he'll be banished to permanent irrelevancy.

Welcome to FanHouse's new and improved MMA podcast. It's so improved that we decided to change its name to FightHouse Radio, tape it from the AOL Studios in Manhattan and stick a video camera in the booth. That's right, you can choose to either download and listen to the show or just watch it below.

In this episode, I am joined by MDS, Mike Chiappetta and AOL Studios' Mike Rubens to talk about the Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer mess, UFC 99 fallout and the weekend ahead in MMA. Oh, we're also joined by WEC featherweight star Urijah Faber (23:00 mark). Enjoy.

Tim Sylvia's shocking nine-second knockout loss to Ray Mercer on Saturday has proven to be more costly than originally thought. Affliction Entertainment vice president, Tom Atencio, informed FanHouse on Monday that Sylvia has now been taken off the upcoming "Affliction: Trilogy" card. "It's his second knockout in a row, and I don't want to take a chance on anything," Atencio said. "The fight is less than 60 days away."

Lost in the aftermath of Tim Sylvia's shocking nine-second knockout loss to Ray Mercer on Saturday night is how it may drastically affected Paul Buentello's summer plans. "The Headhunter" was scheduled to face Sylvia at "Affliction: Trilogy" on August, but is now unsure as to whether or not that fight will happen.

FanHouse spoke to Buentello on Sunday about his thoughts on Sylvia's loss and why he may now have to wait a little longer to face the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Tim Sylvia and Ray Mercer have been struggling to gain media attention for their boxing match ... err, MMA fight on the same weekend as a UFC event.

Sylvia, however, might get the wrong kind of attention for this: the 6-foot-8 former UFC heavyweight champion weighed in at 310.6 pounds for his fight, which will take place on an Adrenaline MMA card in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday night.

There's an unsanctioned fight Saturday night in Alabama between over-the-hill boxer Ray Mercer and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, the kind of ridiculous fight that gives combat sports a bad name. But the fight just got even more ridiculous, because just two days beforehand, the promoters have changed it from a boxing match to an MMA fight.

News and notes from around the world of mixed martial arts:

* A heavyweight bout between Tim Sylvia and Paul Buentello has been penciled in for "Affliction: Trilogy," a source close to Sylvia informed Fanhouse on Friday. A member of Buentello's camp told FanHouse that he already signed the bout agreement and Sylvia will be doing the same shortly. Sylvia was last seen losing in 36 seconds via rear naked choke to Fedor Emelianenko at the first Affliction event last July. Meanwhile, since losing the Strikeforce heavyweight title to Alistair Overeem in November 2007, Buentello has won his last two fights in a row.

- Heavyweight Brett Rogers is keeping himself ready for a potential fight on the upcoming June 6 Strikeforce event in St. Louis. As of Friday morning, Rogers' involvement on the card is not official, as Strikeforce is looking for a suitable opponent for him. The former EliteXC fighter was once rumored to be fighting current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, but thus far, no deal has been reached. Right now, there is one slot to be filled on the Showtime portion of the card, as the Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante vs. Jared Hamman fight has been moved to the non-televised undercard.

- Former WEC lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough, pictured right, underwent a second surgery to repair his broken right hand on Thursday. McCullough injured the hand in his most recent victory against Marcus Hicks at WEC 39 in March. It appears as though he will now be out of action for the remainder of the calendar year.