Mark how do you feel about Conor/Floyd?
I do not want it to happen
I think if it does, Conor never fights in UFC again
Why would he? after making upwards of 25 mill before PPV bonus. The new owners would never give him that on normal PPVs
Mark how do you feel about Conor/Floyd?
I do not want it to happen
I think if it does, Conor never fights in UFC again
Why would he? after making upwards of 25 mill before PPV bonus. The new owners would never give him that on normal PPVs
I'm ecstatic about it (apparently) happening. I don't agree that it means Conor's done in the UFC though.
Looking forward to Aldo/Holloway but its a joke that it's billed as a champ vs champ unification when neither is really the champ.Originally Posted by Nash Diesel
Michael Chandler isn't a top guy? Why? Because he's not in the UFC? He just beat Benson Henderson for fuck's sake. He's choked out Eddie Alvarez. If there's any real credible division in Bellator it is for 155, imo one of the most if not the most dangerous division in all of MMA. The depth is crazy. Only other division I'd put up against it would be 170. Those are 2 divisions where killers from essentially 2 other weight classes could move up and down and beef up.
I don't even get the USADA/Michael Chandler connection.....
Last I checked Aldo was the champ and Holloway was the interim. Yes, McGregor had the belt but he was stripped. See I'm a big fan of McGregor, a biggggg fan, and even I can put my fanboyism aside and realize, he's not the fooking champ lol. Maybe if the motherfucker was out there defending it instead of taking circus fights he'd be the champ but he's not. You need to get over it man. Guess what, the buyrate when he does dip back down to 145 (probably never happening again but you never know), the story will be fucking huge.
I mean, do you not consider Tyron Woodley the WW champion? Or do you still claim GSP is the champ?
Last I checked Aldo got humiliated in 12 seconds and is a paper champ soley because DW wanted to wave his dick around so no, you're wrong about that, but you're right about Chandler being legit. He'd be top ten in UFC for sure, he needs to hurry up and make the jump before his prime escapes him.
I'm wrong about what? That McGregor isn't defending his title, it's been over a year, time to move on. And again, the facts are facts. McGregor isn't the FW champion anymore. He wasn't injured so there really wasn't any real reason to keep the belt on him. He fought 3 times in 2016, not once did he defend his title. Idc why he didn't defend it, I respect he had bigger fights to do. But the reality is if you're not going to defend your title....Again, he wasn't hurt, he wasn't lacking in challengers, and if he reallllly gave a fuck he would stop with this Floyd nonsense.
Who's competing at 145 more deserving than Aldo or Holloway?
What do you mean?
Conor McGregor. Has stated on more than one occasion that he'd still fight at 145 but the UFC apparently isn't interested in taking that route, presumably because they want as many champs as possible to ensure a sellable ppv every month.
I mean who is currently a competitor in the 145 division that is more deserving of legitimately being called champion than those two.
And Mark I think you know Conor is full of shit about defending at 145. He's apparently not even interested in MMA atm.
Yeah he talked about it but the reality is, he wasn't going to go back to 145. Ever. If he was, then he would have by now. Instead, he's talking about Floyd. And then what after that? Again Mark, I get it man you are a HUGE McGregor fan but we need to be realistic. The way you sound it's like if McGregor retired tomorrow you'd still want the title "vacant" because who knows McG might come back! He's not competing at 145, it's been over a year. If this were a situation like he was hurt for 7 months or even 3 months but he's not, he's healthy, he pretends like he'd make the cut again and defend it but when? Like I said, stop being a fanboy for a minute and let's say this is Max Holloway we're talking about or JOSE ALDO, I don't see you being as forgiving if they won the title, fought 3 non-145ers, and then went on and on about fighting a 40 year old boxer, then MAYYYYYBE he'll defend the 145 belt. You would be begging for them to be stripped.
Nobody...especially when you consider one is the actual champ and the other is the interim. McGregor has a claim to be first in line IF he ever returns but that's about the only card McGregor has to play.
Maybe, probably even, but DW irrationally stripping Conor doesn't erase Jose's brutal loss to him 2 fights prior; he is a paper champ in every sense of the word (so is Max, even more of a paper champ) at least until he has a successful 'defense' or two.
That was to percussion btw, posting from a phone.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; February 16th, 2017 at 6:34 PM.
Right on but I'll comment and say you should at least give Aldo respect. Calling him a paper champion when knowing he's one of the best of all time is honestly stupid. Cool, he got caught, so did Cain V, and in the rematches he took decades of JDS' life. Aldo could have easily fucked McGregor in the ass and I have no doubt if they fought again Aldo has just as much of a chance at destroying McGregor as McGregor does destroying him.
They told McGregor from the jump, you're not holding 2 titles, you're giving one up so the other division isn't held up. They knew McGregor had a lot on his plate for the future, movie, child, this nonsense with Floyd, I mean fuck, he probably won't even fight in the UFC in 2017 if the Floyd fight actually comes through. I mean even his coaches said he wasn't going to try and make that cut and would stay at 155, which he should he's way more dangerous imo at that weight class. And that's just after him having 1 fight in the UFC at that weight. But look what he did, WOOOOO BOY.
I didn't like him being outright stripped either.
Nonetheless, he wasn't coming back (to 145) and we're left with who we're left with. They're both deserving of being called a champion, theyre atop the division plain and simple, and it just goes to show Conor's greatness.
Is it that hard to be a fan of the sport and Conor equally?
Really? I've been a die-hard megafan for years before Conor showed up so I'm not sure where youre going with that.
Maybe he's saying you don't need to be THAT big of a McGregor fan when you know you wouldn't be saying this if it were anyone else. Imagine Jose Aldo in McGregor's shoes. No way you go to bat for Aldo. I mean you just called him a paper champion, one of the best of all time and he's a paper champion. Because of one lucky punch.....
You certainly have, and a knowledgeable one at that. I'm talking since Conor's arrival as a great. Seems many, and this doesn't necessarily have to mean you, have a problem in rooting for both. There's an air of his being bigger than the sport, by my estimation, by a number of his fans.
I say this thinking Conor is clearly tremendous and that the sport at large means more to me than he does. And you don't at all have to agree.
Holloway is not deserving of being champion. He had an interim title because Daniel Cormier got injured and they needed a title fight to sell the ppv. Rightly or wrongly McGregor was stripped of the belt and Aldo fought Edgar for the interim title which then became the defacto title. There was no need for Holloway to fight a guy who was 1-0 in the division and 1-3 in his last four fights for an 'interim' title when they had a champion already.
Yeah, had no problem with Aldo/Edgar for the interim title, Holloway/Pettis was just silly though. I guess the "interim title fight" prefix got them an extra 25 PPV buys or something.
Holloway IS deserving of being champion but not the way he did. I think that's what made the whole situation even worse. I do not know the research the UFC have done so maybe they found that even interim title fights do better than a standard main event but to me that whole situation didn't make any sense. They should have just had stripped McGregor and then said the winner of Pettis/Holloway will face Aldo to determine the new 145 champion.
And Mark again, I get your frustration, if this was a fighter I was absolutely bonkers about like BJ Penn or Chuck Liddell, I very well could be just like you about it. But you will one day realize that the sport will never be about 1 man, no promotion will be about 1 man, and it's not like the guy is going to suffer not carrying around a belt he'll never defend. Just like in the promotion prior he won 2 belts in 2 different weight classes, never defended either lol. He still hasn't even defended the 155 title and that was 4+ months ago.
How is Holloway deserving of being champ when he's never beaten a reigning champ? And when he fought (who is now) the legitimate champ of his division he was 30-27ed pretty easily. Deserving of a title shot, yes. Deserving of being champ, well no, not until he beats a champ.
Well that's what I'M saying. If he were a legit champion I wouldn't have an issue with it. He won 9 UFC fights in a row in a tough division, not even McGregor did that prior to getting a title shot. Personally as I said I would have rather seen the winner of Pettis-Holloway challenge Aldo and then the winner would be deemed the 'new' champion. Down the road IF McGregor ever made it back to 145, he has an immediate title shot, a solid story that will be told that he doesn't even have to do his gimmick to sell. I am still thinking sometime next year we'll be looking at 145 champion Aldo v. 155 champion McGregor. Run it back. If we buy into Cain V v. JDS 2, and 3 lol, we can buy into Aldo looking to prove that it was a fluke and he can beat McGregor...and McGregor can prove it wasn't a fluke, that 1 punch is all he needs, and he's still the man.
Cyborg unbanned and cleared. Oh boy Mark Hammer is not going to be happy.
So we're gonna get another Cyborg vs Who? fight in Brazil probably, just this time it will be for a belt.
I love Holly but I would have much rather seen her get destroyed by Cyborg in a main event title fight than screwed by an unmarketable no-name.
If GDR has surgery I wouldn't mind seeing Cyborg/Cat Zingano in the interim, not for the interim though..
Very excited to post that Cindy Dandois will be making her UFC debut against Alexis Davis at UFC Fight Night 108 April 22nd. That's a pretty big fight for Cindy. Check out her fight in Invicta against Jessamyn Duke where she won with a weird neck crank submission. But I won't front, this is why I love this lady, she's beautiful and a killer:
You're so weird.
Yeah, pretty much since birth I've thought "You're so weird" was actually my birth name.
I get the feeling you'd be a huge fan of roller derby..
There are 2-3 teams here in Des Moines, and I shit you not, there are/were some hot females. I know I know, I have a wide range of what I consider hot but the "traditional" opinion of what is hot, these women fit.
But they're all from Iowa.
And?
There are extremely beautiful women that live in every state.
But whose definition of 'extremely beautiful women' are we using here?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With that said, it's not like we never agree on beautiful women lol.
Triple J v. Jessica Andrade is set for the SW championship. They will be the co-main at UFC 211 under Stipe v. JDS 2. This card will also feature Fabricio Werdum v. Ben Rothwell.
Triple J or Double J?
Jeff Jarrett
Jo Janna Joedzrchk
Alex Gustafsson vs Glover Teixeira set to headline an upcoming card in Sweden.
Crazy this fight has never been scheduled before but I'm not complaining. Two fairly long-time top 4-5 staples of the division in a fresh match-up; LHW needed this.
It was scheduled for Germany back in 2015, June I believe. I was planning on going but Alex withdrew.
If only Gus could put one more round together he'd be champion twice by now.
Unfortunately I can't see him getting back to that old form. From what I hear his back is pretty fucked up and his motivation isn't exactly on top.
It definitely feels like he's been injured a lot over the last couple years. Too bad. LHW was really starting to heat up when him and Jones first fought. Now with him hurt quite a bit, Jones' bullshit, and most of the other top guys having fought for over 10-15 years it's looking a little lackluster. But that's always been 205 I guess. 5-6 really good guys, everyone under that, forgettable.
I did hear a rumor that Maia v. Masvidal would be headlining a May card. One has to think it's a dangerous fight for both men but a title shot has to be on the other side right? If Masvidal wins, it'd be hard to deny him unless GSP was waiting in the wings.
They are working on LHW. It will be better by this time next year. Just like how HW was dire a year ago and now there is a glimmer of excitement on the horizon. Jones will be back and he's gonna either rematch DC or he's going to be welcomed back by the terrifying Rumble Johnson, both of those fights will be great. Should Gus beat Glover he's right back up there, plus Corey Anderson (who I had beating Shogun) slowly working his way up with a fight night main event coming up. Plus that Misha whatever his name is character. Etc. I think the state of the division will be ok.
I just see a lot of the draws are going to replaced by people that are so far under the radar. Corey Anderson v. Jimi Manuwa is a main event. I guess if you put them in a main event people will think they must be important fighters for the UFC to give them the nod. Not realizing that with 10x the events they had even 5 years ago that they can't have even mediocre draws headlining every card, it's just not possible. So you get these cards and just hope that something happens and a buzz follows them.
It's a shame for Gus. I figured he had a good chance of being a good draw for the division but he's so inactive.
And I don't care for Maia/Masvidal. It's a dangerous stay-busy fight for Maia and one of them is about to have his momentum destroyed.
But it's a smart move by Dana. Jorge wins and DW is out 200K but Demien is out of the title picture leaving space for a cushier return for GSP. Demien wins and DW wins that bet plus resparks the Maia train possibly opening a spot elsewhere for GSP's return while Maia finally gets his shot.
Tough spot for Maia. Of course he doesn't want to derail his title shot, but he also doesn't want to stay shelved for up to a year or so waiting.
Be fantastic if he just railroads Masvidal here the way he did Condit. Nothing against Gamebred either, just want to see an on fire Maia get one more crack at a belt.
He pulled out of UFC 178 when I flew all the way to Vegas to see him against Jones/DC, he also pulled out of the fight with Mousasi here in Stockholm and he pulled out of the Texeira fight in Berlin, thankfully I hadn't paid any tickets, hotels, flight etc yet. I feel he has pulled out of 1-2 more fights I can't remember right now.
UFC 212 just got another big fight. Claudia Gadelha v. Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Tasty.
Dana White is not actually going to bet 200k against his own fighter. He wouldn't even be allowed to.
Masvidal beats one top 10 guy in his entire career and all of the sudden he's Jon Jones.
You're the only person who has ever said that.
Ok?
It's just a way to express how absurd this guy is with telling Dana that anyone he puts up against Jorge he will bet Dana 200k of his own money that he could beat them.....I don't remember this guy talking that way 2 years ago. Or even 6 months ago.
Ok?
Max Holloway has also turned up the volume in recent months, why aren't you irrationally criticizing him?
Because we weren't talking about him in that conversation. Not exactly rocket science there homeboy.
Calm yourself. Keep in mind I'm really the only person who was giving Masvidal props leading up to that Cowboy fight while you were taking a big shit on him.
That is also something that only happened in your personal reality.
So did you think my "Jon Jones" comment was something I stole from 100 other people on Sherdog or something? I never said "Everyone is saying this guy thinks he's Jon Jones" I'm not saying anyone else feels this guys is acting like he's the GOAT, or one of the GOATs. I don't need to steal other people's sayings to get over around here lol. 99% of the shit I post is original. No McGregor Manual Needed.
Gustafsson vs. Glover has been confirmed to main event in Stockholm and is being advertised as a title eliminator. Probably accurate considering the lack of depth in the division. I don't think I mind that if I get a combination of Cormier, Jones, Gus and Rumble every 6 months for the belt. Glover I think is on the slide, Gus should be too quick for him and his TDD should put it in his favour. Can't believe it has been 3 and a half years since Jones/Gus and they haven't run it back yet.
In terms of interest, the title fights going Rumble > Cormier, Jones > Rumble, Jones > Gus, Jones > Cormier, Jones to HW would be the money.
I have to admit that Jones-Gus 2 fight has really lost a lot of appeal for me. Sometimes I feel Gus will go down as simply "the guy who almost beat Jon Jones." Very inactive, 5 fights in a little under 4 years, just turned 30 so he has time to really pick it back up and it's a good thing he's in the division he's in where he can get knocked the fuck out in seconds and be given a title shot the next fight.
I will never be able to buy Teixeira in another title fight the way Rumble cleaned his clock. Gus would be a hard sell too outside of finally rematching Jones. And in fairness that rematch has been scheduled before.
Just reading up on Gus' wikipedia, holy shit this guy has pulled out of a lot of fights due to injury. I think I'm up to 6 and I haven't even got to his most recent fight lol. Even this fight with Glover was supposed to happen a couple years ago but Gus injured his back and had to pull out. He's pretty much trying to one up Lil' Nog lol.
So the idea would be the winner of DC/Rumble v. Jon Jones. The winner of Glover/Gus v. the champ?
It's official but for a different card than expected. Maia v. Masvidal at UFC 211 in Dallas, TX. This card is stacked. 4 big fights already on the card. They're going all out to make another good impression and I can tell they're aiming for the Cowboys stadium.
They'll need a big Hispanic draw for a Cowboys event I think. Could you imagine if Yair Rodriguez won the 145 title then went up to challenge Conor? That would probably fill it. Other than that I can't see them breaking any records. Pacquiao at the peak of his popularity half filled it if I remember correctly, that's a figure Conor can possibly better with a more accessible pricing structure but to sell that place out it would take a massive event.
I hope they do start looking to put big fights in stadiums. Like they're halfway there with international fight week but they should expand on that and basically advertise it as the show of the year, the Superbowl/Wrestlemania of the UFC and tour it around the NFL stadia.
Regarding Maia vs. Masvidal, it's a sensible fight for Maia to take considering GSP's back. Leave no doubt that you're the next challenger, and even if GSP gets next you've kept dharp. Masvidal is great but ADCC Maia is otherworldly since he reverted back to ground crusher.
Last edited by Fanny Batter; March 1st, 2017 at 11:44 AM.
Dana White literally just confirmed that GSP will return to challenge Michael Bisping for the MW title. They're not sure the date, GSP has to be tested for the next 3 months by USADA before they pick an actual date.
On one hand, cool fight, interesting, shocking to say the least even though it was one of the top fights he wanted and were rumored. On the other, kind of feel like Romero deserved it over GSP but I get the WHY behind it all. This is nothing new gentlemen. Lesnar got a title shot after only 3 fights in MMA. Couture and BJ Penn, same thing. McGregor, zero fights at 155 but had a belt he never defended. All about the draw or the state of the division. Works out.
Not sure who I'd even pick. Bisping is a tough bastard and GSP's been out 3+ years and moving UP to a weight class he shyed away from the entire time we wanted Anderson v. GSP.
I think GSP wins and then gets mauled by the bigger MW's.
I could have sworn BIsping/Romero was already booked?
I don't like this fight. Romero is deserving based on resume alone, the way he murdered Weidman made him undeniably next in line. And as a fan of GSP I have no desire to see him get destroyed by the monsters in that division. A return to WW and immediate shot would have been fine, so now why is Maia taking a keep-busy fight if GSP isn't returning to the division? I'm not a fan of sitting out but he could plausibly be scheduled to fight in 4-5 months vs the winner of Woodley/Wonderboy this Saturday. No good really comes from Maia/Masvidal, the fight is not worth the risk to Maia imo.
Yeah I thought I heard they were fighting in May.
It does make you wonder, did the Maia-Masvidal fight come about because they thought GSP would come in and want to fight the winner of Woodley-Thompson? Maia-Masvidal is a lot like Liddell-Babalu when Liddell was wanting to stay active while Tito fought Ken Shamrock the first time. It was a crazy fight to take even then. Maia hasn't fought in awhile it seems so I get wanting to stay active but I'm with you Mark, not sure though of the WHY in terms of the booking of this fight.
IF GSP wins, will this be like a McGregor thing where he wins and then uses the fact he's 185 champ to create a super fight with the 170 champ? This is one of those situations where we have to just wait and see and wait we will lol. We're looking at probably August before this fight goes down, maybe July at the earliest.
Guaranteed if GSP wins he drops back down for an immediate title shot. 2 weight world champion Conor Mcgregor challenging 2 weight world champion GSP in a bid to be the first 3 weight champion would be their ideal scenario. I see Bisping beating him though.
This is such an amazing opportunity for Bisping. A middling, gammy eyed gatekeeper who scraped past CB Dolloway to earn a hometown retirement fight against Anderson Silva going on to defeat probably the best 185er today Luke Rockhold to win a world title, avenging his biggest defeat against top 10 P4P legend Dan Henderson, and beating 2 of the 3 consensus "GOAT's" in Anderson and GSP? Circumstances be damned, what a story. Likewise, GSP going for a second world title and cementing GOAT status with a win. Can see why they made it.
But... Yoel Romero is about as emphatic a number one contender as there has ever been. Kennedy, Brunson, Machida, Jacare and Weidman. 4 wiped out brutally. Mad that he's going to be waiting longer than 2 years after he clinched the spot against Jacare.
I rather see a GSP-McGregor fight than GSP-Bisping.
Ngannou vs Struve on the Sweden card in May.
That's been nixed, fortunately for Struve.
Heavyweight is actually pretty interesting now. Miocic vs. Dos Santos 2 is a great fight, you would think Werdum gets the winner if he beats Rothwell. Then the Reem vs. Hunt fight will set up the next contender fight after that - I'd say make Reem vs. Velasquez if he wins, and Hunt vs. Black Beast if Hunt wins, with Velasquez maybe fighting Ngannou. Then do a PPV in September/October with, say, Miocic vs. Werdum 2, Velasquez vs. Ngannou, Hunt vs. Black Beast, JDS vs. Reem 2 and Minakov vs. Struve.
I want Werdum to face the winner of Stipe-JDS 2. I just think the story all of this tells is great. So Stipe, who did a good job against JDS but fell short, gets his rematch to avenge that loss. Werdum would then have a chance to avenge one of 2 big losses. The JDS loss cost him his job in the UFC. The Stipe loss cost him the title. Both times he was pretty much waxed with ease.
I don't even think Cain needs to win another fight before a title shot. JDS is getting one on a one fight win streak and Stipe/Cain sounds better anyways. Not JDS/Cain 4 though and that is very much a possibility now.
I'm not as negative toward JDS v. Cain 4 after witnessing Arlovski v. Sylvia 4 lol. It's unfortunate though because Cain really fucked him in those last 2 fights but until one of them get out of the top 3-5 spot it's almost impossible to deny them a title shot.
Yeah, how could you deny Cain a shot at new champ JDS when he's already murdered him twice in completely dominant one-sided affairs? Stipe needs to win this imo, and I think he will. The first fight was a lot closer than people let on, JDS very narrowly won that affair and he's declined since.
Has he declined since that Stipe win? I didn't think he looked terrible against Overeem, he just got caught by a guy who isn't exactly pillow fisted. Then he dominated Ben Rothwell....
Could you deny JDS though if the shoe was on the other foot and he had some quality wins behind him and Cain was the champ?
Honestly, they'd probably book that fight and it would fall through due to one of them getting injured, more than likely Cain
I think he has slowed down significantly. It's been a minute since I've seen the fight but I remember the shot that Reem knocked him out with being somewhat grazing, a far cry from the Zombie JDS that had his face morphed by Cain across two fights.
I'm with you on the fragile Cain sentiment btw. What a waste of potential, he's the HW GOAT imo, or he would be if his body would allow him to fight more than once every year or two.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; March 3rd, 2017 at 2:30 PM.
Also I'm bummed about Ngannou/Struve being nixed. Hopefully Ngannou gets someone in that timeframe in the same tier as Struve. Maybe a Ben Rothwell or Josh Barnett. Anyone besides Black Beast, those two don't need to cancel each other out right now.
All that it takes in HW is a glancing punch. Plus it's Overeem man. The guy is a killer striker, everyone he's fought he put on queer street even in defeat.
Dude....Cain would be no doubt considered the GOAT at Heavyweight if he fought more. It's a shame. Which begs the question....Why don't we give Werdum his props and say he's the best? He defeated Fedor and Cain V, finished them. Why is Cain in the mix but not Werdum? Have some of his losses over the years taken that away? I mean, a lot of people consider Anderson Silva the GOAT and he had some pretty bad losses prior and post-MW title run.
Because (and I realize I might catch shit for this) the altitude in Mexico City beat Cain more than Fabricio did. I would call Cain with conviction in a rematch.
Fabricio has some great wins but he has also looked like absolute dogshit plenty throughout his career which makes it hard for me to hail him as GOAT in spite of his victories over Fedor and Cain.
Anderson and his win streak during his prime is more impressive than anything else we've seen in that division so right now he's pretty much hands down the MW GOAT. Everybody believed he was unbeatable during his peak (even me), plus his hail mary over Chael and their subsequent feud was probably the most epic rivalry that division has ever seen.
Had Weidman not shit the bed vs Rockhold and Romero (two fights he was winning and could have won with slightly different calculations) he'd probably already be past Anderson in most people's eyes but alas.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; March 3rd, 2017 at 3:14 PM.
GSP gets decimated by guys like Romero/Jacare, I don't ever see him fighting them if he beats Bisping
hell, I see Bisping knocking him out, I don't know why
I can agree with that. I think it would be an argument someone could make if they said Michael Bisping should be considered GOAT if he beats GSP because he also beat Anderson Silva. Context is everything for sure. I just think with Werdum, regardless if Fedor made a dumb ass mistake or altitude being an issue, those are still wins. You don't like when people discredit Weidman for those Silva victories, I don't think we should totally discredit those wins from Werdum. But like you said and I agree, the lackluster performances do hurt him.
But I mean, look at Fedor.....The first 10 years versus the last 5 are like night and day lol.
GSP will wrestle hump Bisping to a decision, but he's too small to stay at the top for long. He'd better have bulked up, that's for sure.
I wonder if the UFC and parent company are even thinking about GSP's future at 185. I'm thinking this is just a snatch and grab to make a fight bigger at a smaller weight class. They're trying to WWE this thing and I imagine it's to lead to McGregor v. GSP in this crazy super fight.
I can't even knock Bisping. People tend to scoff at his resurgence but how many people do you know that defeated Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold, and then throw in Hendo....You could scoff at going the distance with Hendo but finishing Luke Rockhold is a pretty sweet accomplishment, he's no scrub by any means. GSP is going to have a tough time with Bisping imo.
Not even trying to be funny, and this is such a bizarre psychological thing that happened, but I swear to fuck I just read that as funeral instead of future.
Anywho..
Legit LOL.
It's just crazy to me that after all these years of GSP saying this and that about not wanting to move up in weight that he's moving up in weight. And it's not like he hasn't had his reservations about 185 recently, he literally just did an interview where he said that some 155ers are actually bigger than him lol.
It just boils down to Bisping and the sweet matchup St Pierre sees that as. Which is legit on his part but shit planning on behalf of UFC sans the immediate cash in potential.
And the real endgame being a ridiculous GSP/Conor showdown. And again, it's hard to argue with wanting to take the chance on that actually being the most hyped to the moon fight ever.
Bisping's run has been incredible and imo he's in the peak of his career at the ripe age of 37-38 but we have to call a spade a spade and while wins over Silva, Hendo, and (potentially) GSP are great they will have all happened well past those fighters' primes and he was nearly murdered in both the Silva fight and the Hendo rematch (though in fairness in Silva's case it was a cheapshot).
His win over Rockhold was the stuff of legend but I have to believe Luke would have wrecked him (again) had he not been such an arrogant prick.
Last edited by Mark Hammer; March 6th, 2017 at 2:33 PM.
Oh yeah there's definitely some **** next to some of those wins in terms of context but outside of that it's pretty incredible that it's happening with a guy like Bisping. But we've seen these fairytale stories a lot over the last couple years. Bisping, Robbie Lawler, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum, a lot of these middle tier fighters hitting an incredible stride at awkward times in their careers.
It's not crazy at all. GSP himself said it would take something big to bring him back and big this fight is even if it's random. There was nothing overly appealing at 170. Woodley doesn't draw money (neither does Thompson or Maia) not to mention after Saturday night Tyron doesn't even deserve to fight him.
He also said he has just a few fights left in him because he will by 36 by the Bisping fight and doesn't want to be any up-and-comer's punching bag. This is superfight era Georges; running a division don't really matter to him anymore.
It's crazy when a guy who spent X amount of years being really hesistant about moving up, even in the last week he's talked about how he's going to be a small 185er and that there are 155ers bigger than him. His coach had said you would see GSP challenge Frankie Edgar or Benson at 155 before you'd see him move up to 185 (this was obviously a few years back). I get the idea of coming back for big fights, I don't get the idea of coming back to a division you basically sounded like you are scared to enter due to the size difference-and rightfully so.
It's not crazy at all. This is not the same Georges who was concerned with being the king at WW. Bisping is probably the safest fight imaginable for GSP at that weight, he can win a title and will then likely challenge for the WW title (he'll probably do that anyways win or lose vs Bisping), duplicating Conor's acheivement of being a simultaneous two weight world champ, then probably fight LW champ Conor in the biggest fight of all time before riding into the sunset. Not crazy whatsoever, in fact GSP is a very smart man.
Again I just think it's "crazy" that he's fighting at 185 while for the last 6-7 years, including an interview last week, where he's basically saying the same thing-he's too small for the division. I mean I get everything else, again it's just weird that he's still talking "negatively" about fighting at 185 no matter what the intention is or who it's against.
He is too small for the division.
But perhaps just not too small for the current Cinderella Man champion.
if GSP loses at MW his legacy is still in tact
if he wins the most favorable possibe title fight available at MW he cements himself as one of the GOATs even though he still prolly goes down as one of the GOATs even if he loses in brutal fashion anyway (long lay off, going up in weight, etc)
its a win/win for him
he absolutely will not defend his belt against any of the other killers at 185, that is a given
Bisping as much as I love him is a much safer option than any other champion right now
then if he wins this, he has the option to go for a more dangerous fight or another even bigger money fight. Can you imagine how big GSP vs. Conor would be after this?
IDK. Bisping isn't exactly small, he did spend a good chunk of his early career fighting at 205 and only lost once, a split decision to Rashad.
Not trying to say Bisping is a small man, but seemingly just as favorable a size matchup (and stylistically) as St. Pierre is ever going to find at 185.
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