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[Technosteve]

Anderson Silva UFC 112, basically just ran out the clock. If you give GSP a guy that can actually kick his ass GSP will have to fight.

GSP vs Anderson Silva

 

[alr1ght]

So Anderson Silva who has had maybe 2 bad fights in the UFC, has one of the highest finishing rates in the company, is comparable to GSP?

 

[strikeselect]

I'm not convinced Anderson destroys GSP as easily as people are assuming right now. Aside from size, how is Anderson going to stop GSP's shot? I just don't see it. AS got dominated by a one dimensional wrestler with no striking skills, no submission skills, and laughable GnP.

Anderson's notable wins:
Hendo
Vitor
Maia (AS hid behind the ref and ran away for the last 2 rounds)
Sonnen (x2, 1 was by miracle sub)
Okami (the guy who got tim boestch'd).

GSP:
Motivated BJ Penn in his prime (x2, made Penn quit)
Matt Hughes
Koscheck
Condit
Fitch
Diaz
Shields


GSP's record is more impressive to me. Yes he didn't finish most of those fights but they were all ONE SIDED beatdowns. Plus he's avenged both of his losses while AS keeps ducking Chonan and Takase. Give GSP some Lutters and some Lebens so he can pad his record too.

That being said, Bones destroys both of 'em without breaking a sweat.

 

[Heel]

Ben Fowlkes: GSP does it again, but even perfection can get tedious

Clearly, St-Pierre is a great and wildly successful fighter. He's got the victories and the records and the sponsorship deals and the passive income and all the rest. But then, who says you can't be great and boring all at the same time? Who says you can't be so good and so consistent at your craft that you drain all the excitement right out of it? Middleweight champ Anderson Silva might occasionally produce a stinker, seemingly on purpose, but at least that injects some interesting element of doubt.

And oh, by the way, this is usually the point where we talk about a potential GSP-Silva superfight, right? That's how it was the last time we sat down to watch GSP talk past his icepack in that same Bell Centre restaurant. You knew it would be the same this time around, especially when the conversation turned towards GSP's next opponent, the fresh challenger he sorely needs.

"Right now, I just finished my fight," St-Pierre said. "I don't know what's going to happen. I got hit on the head and everything and you ask me all these questions."

You can't hate a guy who has a sense of humor when evading tricky questions. Although, I don't know, sure seems like I've heard that line somewhere before.

"I just got hit," said St-Pierre (23-2, 17-2), gesturing to a lump on his forehead that had come courtesy of a kick from interim champ Carlos Condit (28-6, 5-2), who dropped a unanimous decision in the title-unification bout. "I need some vacation before I make a decision."

Ben Fowlkes blowing up Georges' spot. Gear up for the very dangerous Hendricks, Ellenberger, Maia, Saffiedine etc.

 

[iLLmAtlc]

I'm not convinced Anderson destroys GSP as easily as people are assuming right now. Aside from size, how is Anderson going to stop GSP's shot? I just don't see it. AS got dominated by a one dimensional wrestler with no striking skills, no submission skills, and laughable GnP.

Anderson's notable wins:
Hendo
Vitor
Maia (AS hid behind the ref and ran away for the last 2 rounds)
Sonnen (x2, 1 was by miracle sub)
Okami (the guy who got tim boestch'd).

GSP:
Motivated BJ Penn in his prime (x2, made Penn quit)
Matt Hughes
Koscheck
Condit
Fitch
Diaz
Shields


GSP's record is more impressive to me. Yes he didn't finish most of those fights but they were all ONE SIDED beatdowns. Plus he's avenged both of his losses while AS keeps ducking Chonan and Takase. Give GSP some Lutters and some Lebens so he can pad his record too.

That being said, Bones destroys both of 'em without breaking a sweat.

What about the 2nd Chael fight? Chael is the bigger, stronger maybe even better version of GSPs gameplan and he couldn't make it out of the 2nd after Anderson stuffed him.

 

[Jaladinozozo]

are you trying to say they have no employable skills?

 

[Deadbeat]

So Anderson Silva who has had maybe 2 bad fights in the UFC, has one of the highest finishing rates in the company, is comparable to GSP?

Pretty much. At least he is entertaining. GSP is boring as hell.

 

[Hunter S.]

The popularity of the sport has pretty much plateaued. It's not really growing. That's why Dana got desperate and jumped on the Ronda bandwagon.

I would believe this if you had numbers. Putting free fights on Fox would have grown the audience by a lot. Many would not pay for a fight or want to go to bars to see them. Plus many who finally watched the free events are then pulled into paying if they like it. With that in mind it is hard to imagine the sport is not growing still. Rhonda is boring, you should complain about her, other than bulging cleavage.

 

[Hex]

I would believe this if you had numbers. Putting free fights on Fox would have grown the audience by a lot. Many would not pay for a fight or want to go to bars to see them. Plus many who finally watched the free events are then pulled into paying if they like it. With that in mind it is hard to imagine the sport is not growing still. Rhonda is boring, you should complain about her, other than bulging cleavage.

I think the hardcores like to think that it is declining, but the reality is that it is mainstreaming.
You see it more and more in the public eye, you hear normal people talking about it and you see more and more MMA gyms popping up.
You see more and more MMA shirts being worn (most terribly so).
It is just not the MMA that people want it to stay as.

 

[parrotbeak]

lol igoring his recent subscription to the Alex Jones channel, some of his likes are great.

Were Nick's handlers trying to tell us something?

 

[dream]

I think the hardcores like to think that it is declining, but the reality is that it is mainstreaming.
You see it more and more in the public eye, you hear normal people talking about it and you see more and more MMA gyms popping up.
You see more and more MMA shirts being worn (most terribly so).
It is just not the MMA that people want it to stay as.

The problem is, the only way to quantify this is using PPV buys. And the days of the Ultimate doing 1 million, 800k, or even 600k buys are long gone. The Rousey Era may turn things around, but the numbers support Ninja's claim that, at this point, the sport has plateaued.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I think the hardcores like to think that it is declining, but the reality is that it is mainstreaming.
You see it more and more in the public eye, you hear normal people talking about it and you see more and more MMA gyms popping up.
You see more and more MMA shirts being worn (most terribly so).
It is just not the MMA that people want it to stay as.

lol NO.

Look at the PPV numbers before and after the Fox deal, which in theory should have made the UFC much more of a mainstream market.

 

[muddream]

Boxing ain't no mainstream sport neither, you've got 2 stars that draw in normal people just like the UFC had with Brock.

 

[Tabris]

What are regular sports? Because if you take out the major 5 (Hockey, Baseball, American Football, Football, and Basketball), everything else doesn't compare.

I think MMA is more popular than Boxing in North America... Well at least in Canada. I think it's close to being the top sport outside of the major 5. Nothing will ever compare to those major 5 though.

 

[mr2xxx]

There's more to PPV numbers than mainstream acceptance. Nevertheless I agree with you. MMA is far from the standing and acceptance boxing has, no matter how much people at GAF like to shit on boxing. Then again, even without Lesnar I'd at first glance the PPV buys are exactly what you'd expect - a match like Silva vs. Bonnar wouldn't draw more buys in boxing.

That's the thing with boxing, they had multiple champs at the same weight class. While people hate it for obvious reasons due to different organizations/champs playing politics and ducking each other, it allowed every organization to develop a champ and hype that individual up. Which is UFC's main problem, they can't develop enough talent that the public wants to see. Then UFC makes the problem even bigger by holding PPV events every month and there are not enough marketable stars to warrant that. All it does is dilute the product and decrease fan interest.

 

[Tabris]

If the US boxing commissioners weren't so lame, I would love a return to the grand prix. That would re-vitalize interest for sure.

 

[Tabris]

Infrastructure? There's more general MMA gyms than Boxing gyms in Vancouver.

 

[mr2xxx]

I think boxing has an advantage because of its amateur scene and (in general) bigger talent pool due to the myriad of smaller boxing "organizations" that hold events. Give MMA time and it might arrive there one day. Having multiple champs at the same weight class is obviously helpful for marketing, but I'm not sure it'll do much. Competition in general of course could do wonders.



I don't doubt that it's more popular, at least among the younger demographics, but my impression is that there's not as much of an infrastructure as e.g. boxing has (or wrestling in the US), though I suppose that might simply be due to the nature of MMA.

MMA gyms have popped up all around in the past few years so that wouldn't be a big issue in the future. I still don't think that is an issue because it is not the lack of talent, its the lack of organizations making stars. If you have multiple organizations with their own stars it is much better than having one organization with all those stars because they will have to fight each every time and lower each others popularity.

 

[VASPER]

Exactly. I believe GSP could finish fights if he wanted to. He would rather just play it safe and smart to rake in the dough and prevent brain damage. It makes his fights predictable, which in turn makes them boring. I don't blame the guy at all. I'll still watch his fights but for my own personal entertainment I'd rather watch Condit or somebody else more willing to take risks for big rewards.

Boo ya, thank you my sentiment exactly. Ever since GSP got KO'd by Serra he never decides to stand very long, he will take it to the ground and stay on top and make it look like he is dominating and win doing so. I don't get super excited at a GSP fight especially when he is know to do this type of strategy and to people that can't wrestle (Diaz).

 

[Heel]

I don't wanna seem like I'm piling on, but seriously, when is the last time GSP has thrown a two punch combination that wasn't pumping a double jab? It feels like he's deathly afraid to get caught slipping again.

 

[Novid]

Serious sports are dead. The less the UFC resembles one the better it will do.

boy. tell that to all of Hollywood and Madison Ave. the ratings even face palm at that statement.

 

[LowEndTorque]

GSP used to be a killer before Serra. It's sad. The guys he's been fighting aren't exactly easy to finish- especially Condit and Diaz, but still. Even on the ground and in a dominant position he's still cautious and doesn't take risks.

 

[TOM f'N CRUISE]

so how did GSP win??

 

[Hex]

I don't wanna seem like I'm piling on, but seriously, when is the last time GSP has thrown a two punch combination that wasn't pumping a double jab? It feels like he's deathly afraid to get caught slipping again.

I think after getting popped a couple of times in round three you will see him engage even less.

 

[Heel]

so how did GSP win??

 

[TOM f'N CRUISE]

lol

 

[SnakeXs]

GSP used to be a killer before Serra. It's sad. The guys he's been fighting aren't exactly easy to finish- especially Condit and Diaz, but still. Even on the ground and in a dominant position he's still cautious and doesn't take risks.

 

[Hex]

On a tilted scale it reminds me of Arlovski.
After he got knocked out the first time, he became a massively different fighter only difference is he did not have any other skills to fall back on to try and grind out decisions.
But he totally became a wuss and lost every trace of killer instinct.

 

[Hunter S.]

So yes the sport peaked in the mid zeros without much drop since. I think there is not even close to blaming a peak on too much wrestling. Not everyone likes violence and it seems like a much greater reason popularity would stop climbing more than too much wrestling. As the young fans of this sport have kids the sports popularity will grow as MMA is young man.s sport at this time.

 

[charsace]

So yes the sport peaked in the mid zeros without much drop since. I think there is not even close to blaming a peak on too much wrestling. Not everyone likes violence and it seems like a much greater reason popularity would stop climbing more than too much wrestling. As the young fans of this sport have kids the sports popularity will grow as MMA is young man.s sport at this time.

Knees to a downed opponents would make fights overall exciting and MMA needs a Ali, Tyson, Sugar and/or Durran. Most of these fighters can't draw for shit and GSP only draws because he's Canadian and they love having him dominate a big sport.

 

[Pakkidis]

Knees to a downed opponents would make fights overall exciting and MMA needs a Ali, Tyson, Sugar and/or Durran. Most of these fighters can't draw for shit and GSP only draws because he's Canadian and they love having him dominate a big sport.

Would also end fights incredibly fast.

 

[alr1ght]

They just need to tweak the rule. One knee + one elbow = downed. The little game they play now tapping their hand to the mat is ridiculous.

 

[Technosteve]

nick diaz has no ground game why didn't diaz train for a ground game?

 

[Hex]

nick diaz has no ground game why didn't diaz train for a ground game?

He was going to train his ground game
But then he got high.


Seriously I have no idea what his gameplan was other than try and insult GSP into ignoring every bit of training that he has ever had and going school yard.

 

[Banglish]

nick diaz has no ground game why didn't diaz train for a ground game?

This was the main thing that stuck out in my mind. Where were all those problems on the ground?

 

[muddream]

GSP's spies got wind of the kneebar roll Diaz was practicing and GSP was content with riding a guy who's constantly giving up his back instead of causing problems of his own.