Ken Shamrock has been one of the biggest names in the 13-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

As far as Tim Sylvia is concerned, though, Shamrock has overstayed his welcome by several years.

Shamrock fights Tito Ortiz in the co-main event of a UFC card Saturday at Mandalay Bay, much to Sylvia's consternation. Sylvia, who holds the UFC's heavyweight title, defends his belt against Andrei Arlovski in the other co-main and is irritated that so much of the marketing, promotion and media attention have gone to the Shamrock-Ortiz light heavyweight fight.

Ortiz dominated Shamrock in a highly hyped 2002 grudge match at the MGM Grand, a bout that drew 13,055 fans, a state record for a mixed martial arts bout. Though Shamrock has had only one victory since -- a stoppage of the faded Kimo Leopoldo -- he's back in another pay-per-view bout.

And that irritates Sylvia, who said Shamrock's wrestling persona is hurting the UFC's attempts to go mainstream. Shamrock, who in 1993 competed in the first UFC event, spent several years wrestling for the WWE.

"Shamrock doesn't deserve to be fighting," Sylvia said. "He's a has-been. The only reason he's fighting is because he's got a mouth and he likes to do that wrestling (talk), that WWE stuff. He talks a lot of (trash) and pretends to fight. Tito beat (him) so badly the first time, I can't even fathom why he'd want to fight him again. It's a joke."

Sylvia, at 6 feet 8 inches and 255 pounds, can't understand why his fight with Arlovski isn't getting more attention.

Heavyweights typically are the most popular fighters in combat sports, but Sylvia said the UFC isn't marketing the heavyweights as hard as it is other divisions.

The result, he said, is a perception that the heavyweights in the UFC are weak and that all the best men in the division are in the competing Pride Fighting Championships.

But Sylvia, who knocked out Arlovski on April 15 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif., to avenge an earlier defeat, vows he will force people to notice the UFC heavyweights.

"Andrei has a lot of talent, and you knock him out twice in a row, that's making a statement," said Sylvia, whose only losses are to Arlovski and Las Vegan Frank Mir.

Mir won the vacant UFC heavyweight title by defeating Sylvia on June 18, 2004, when he snapped Sylvia's right forearm.

The injury required extensive surgery. But a stubborn Sylvia refused to take enough time to let it heal properly, agreeing to a Feb. 5, 2005, fight against Arlovski.

"I wasn't 100 percent healthy, and you can't go into a fight with Arlovski at anything less than 110 percent, because he's that good," Sylvia said. "In reality, the arm wasn't strong enough, and I didn't have the punching power I usually have."

He's healthy now, both physically and mentally. He said he wants to establish himself as one of the UFC's top fighters and knows an impressive victory will do just that.

But he won't resort to the wrestling-style trash talk employed by Shamrock to get the recognition he thinks he's due.

"I don't like Ken for the sport anymore (because) I think he misrepresents us," Sylvia said. "We don't need that. We are world-class athletes, and we need to let our talents make the case for us. People who really know the sport know that, but we're still growing, and we need to represent ourselves a certain way."

• CLOSED CIRCUIT -- Because only a handful of tickets remain, the UFC has opened three closed-circuit locations for Saturday's card. The pay-per-view card will be available on closed circuit at the MGM Grand Garden and at Ra Night Club at the Luxor for $50, and at Whiskey Pete's in the Primm Valley Resort for $40.