TIM SYLVIA IS JUST READY TO GO ...HAPPY TO BE HEALTHY

After a seven-month absence from competition, successful back surgery, and a small fall into relative obscurity, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (23-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) makes his return to the octagon next weekend at UFC 77. There, he’ll take on undefeated heavyweight contender Brandon Vera.However, the 31-year-old Miletich fighter — whose obsession with the heavyweight belt became one of MMA’s biggest inside jokes — now says the title is something he’s not necessarily worried about. Sylvia says he just wants to compete.“I want to get get another fight as soon as possible,” Sylvia told MMAjunkie.com during last week’s UFC 77 media conference call. “Win or lose, as long as I come out healthy, I want to fight as early (as possible) in 2008.“So, if he posts a victory over Vera next weekend, he won’t ask for a title shot?“No, I mean, that’s in the UFC’s cards,” Sylvia said, just hours before current champ Randy Couture announced his resignation from the UFC.Sylvia assumed the earliest he — or anyone else — could fight the champ for the title would be in February. Couture, who scored a unanimous-decision victory over Sylvia to win the belt at UFC 68, broke his arm back in August during a victory over Gabriel Gonzaga and was expected to headline a Feb. 2 event on SuperBowl weekend.However, after the 44-year-old UFC Hall of Famer complained of the UFC’s inability to sign Fedor Emelianenko and claimed the organization lied to him about what other fighters were being paid, Couture quit — and threw the entire heavyweight title picture into disarray.Regardless of what the UFC decides to do with the now-vacant title, Sylvia will surely be a part of the plans. Love him or hate him, the fighter is one of the most-accomplished heavyweights in the sport today. In an eight-year career with 26 professional fights, Sylvia has never been knocked out. In fact, he’s been stopped just twice — once by an Achilles lock in a fight with Andrei Arlovski (a fight which went only 47 seconds), once by armbar in a fight with Frank Mir. And while fans criticize his sometimes-safe and calculated game plans, the fact of the matter is that Sylvia has only gone to decision in five of his 23 career victories.After his loss to Couture in March, Sylvia underwent extensive back surgery. He now says he’s completely healthy — and that the procedure had nothing short of spectacular results. Feeling good, he’s now ready to compete, whether it’s for the title or not.“Surgery obviously went well, or I wouldn’t have taken this fight because Brandon’s a tough guy,” Sylvia said. “Surgery went awesome. As soon as I came out of anesthesia, I jumped out of bed. The nurse told me to settle down, but I couldn’t because the pain was all gone… I’m now just ready to get back in there and fight again.“