Paul Buentello on Tim Sylvia Loss: 'I Wish He Never Took the Fight'

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.

Ariel Helwani: What was the first thing that went through your mind when you heard that Ray Mercer knocked out Tim Sylvia in 10 seconds?
Paul Buentello: The first thing that went through my mind on the whole Tim Sylvia fight was that he lost. He definitely made a mistake or got caught. But how is Affliction going to ... are they going to use someone who just came off of a loss? And that's my biggest concern now, because now just came off of a loss. Does Affliction use him for the next show? That's my big dilemma. So I got in touch with "Crazy" Bob [Cook] [Buentello's trainer] and they are trying to figure it all out if, as of right now, is the fight still going to happen now that he lost? I wish he never took the fight.

You really wish he didn't take the fight?
I kinda wish he didn't because me and him were slated to face each other a couple of times in the UFC and it got passed down. Then we were slated to fight this last [Affliction] show when I fought Kirill Sidelnikov. And now I just wish he didn't take the fight because being a straight MMA guy and going into a boxing match, and then changing to MMA, you know, he's Tim Sylvia for God's sake, and that's Ray Mercer, and it's two different styles going against each other. I don't know if Tim was taking it seriously or not because Ray Mercer is a boxer, and he paid for it dealing with that boxer's mentality going in there and trying to stand with him, I guess. You know, watching it on YouTube, he got caught. He got caught really hard.

Prior to Saturday night, did anyone at Affliction ever tell you that they would consider scrapping this fight should Sylvia lose badly to Mercer?
No. Affliction never gave me any word about what happens, but on most instincts of other promoters, it depends on how they lose. Plus, on the commission, too. if you lost a decision you only got a couple of days suspension before you can start training again. If you lose by knockout like he did, what is it: 60 or 90 days from the commission? So, I'm looking at it from a promoter's standpoint dealing with the commission, and from being in fighting for so long, you know 12 years now, when someone loses that bad, I can most guarantee that I'm not going to be facing him in my next fight. (Note: FanHouse contacted Affliction Entertainment VP, Tom Atencio, to find out the status of the Buentello-Sylvia fight, but did not hear back yet).

What did you think of the fact that he weighed in at 310 pounds on Friday?
I don't know. I don't know what was going through Tim's head before the fight. I can definitely know what's going through his head now, you know, from being in that position of getting knocked out so fast. I don't know what was going through his head before this fight coming in at 310 pounds.

Are you still even interested in fighting him?
Well, most definitely. But now you gotta take a step back and go, 'Man, you know, it would be great to fight him but what would it do for me now? What would it do for me now in front of the fans?' I don't know if the hype is still there after him getting beat. I hope Affliction still allows the fight to happen because it's still going to be a great a fight, but I don't control those pens and papers over there.

Do you feel as though this knockout has now rubbed some of the luster off your fight?
That's a good way of putting it -- you hit the nail on the head. You know, I was just at the largest bike rally here in Texas, and these bikers, you know, they are rugged, bearded, belly-popping bikers hanging out, and they knew who I was, and they go, 'Is it true you're fighting Tim Sylvia?' It's funny because the Buentello-Sylvia matchup was getting good buzz, and I don't know what's going to happen now.