GSP took the Bisping fight because a loss to Woodley would be bad for his legacy

[AnotherOldGuy]

GSP can always say i fought a man 15 lbs bigger if he loses to Bisping.

GSP has a better shot of beating Woodley than Bisping, but the Woodley fight is 50/50, with a loss likely being a Woodley KO, whereas the Bisping fight it's more like 40/60, with a more chance of a decision loss than a KO.

There a good chance Woodley can knock out GSP, which would look very bad.

GSP doesn't have the one strike to knock you down power of Wonderboy or the submissions of Maia. Woodley will not fight like this last couple of fights and will stuff takedowns and go for the knock out.

Its completely about PPV money for all of them.

Look, GSP isn't even ranked now, meaning he's not even in the top ten in the UFC in any weight division. In any real sport, after four years of retirement he'd have to prove he still belonged in the UFC, let alone get a title fight at any weight division - seriously, he hasn't been in the cage for four years.

So why do both Bisping and Woodley want to fight GSP instead of some guy who's actually in the top five (or at least top ten) of their division? Partly because GSP is right now going to be an easy fight (and I say that as someone who thinks GSP is along with Fedor, Anderson and Jones one of the GOAT candidates). But mainly because GSP is the biggest money fight they can get.

If it were about anything but money, Woodley wouldn't be calling out GSP, he'd be saying GSP has to prove he even belongs in the UFC, let alone deserves a WW title shot. But Woodley, like GSP and Bisping, understandably wants the biggest money he can get, even if its not a fight that should happen.

GSP is the same. Right now Bisping draws more PPV than Woodley does. Hence he's fighting Bisping. Its naive to think this is about anything but money for any of them. Bisping and Woodley would be asking to fight the number one contender in their weight division if it were about sport or legacy; GSP is about money for them. And Woodley is worried that GSP's PPV value is going to drop dramatically after his Bisping fight, when everyone sees just how much you lose when you retire for four years. GSP was one of the all time greats. This version of him is not.

 

[Munnings242]

GSP can always say i fought a man 15 lbs bigger if he loses to Bisping.

GSP has a better shot of beating Woodley than Bisping, but the Woodley fight is 50/50, with a loss likely being a Woodley KO, whereas the Bisping fight it's more like 40/60, with a more chance of a decision loss than a KO.

There a good chance Woodley can knock out GSP, which would look very bad.

GSP doesn't have the one strike to knock you down power of Wonderboy or the submissions of Maia. Woodley will not fight like this last couple of fights and will stuff takedowns and go for the knock out.

He just wants to copy conor two weight world champ at msg to raise his stock market in the money fight era y don't u guys get this

 

[Babaganoosh]

There is more money in a fight with Bisping than Woodley. Like everything else this is about money.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Your legacy is what the fans think of you. GSP has already hurt his legacy by ducking Anderson during their prime years and now coming back because he thinks Bisping is easier pickings.

GSP has no business getting a MW title shot when he's never even fought in the weight class before. I doubt anyone believes GSP would be coming back to fight Rockhold or Weidman if they still held the title.

Can't duck someone not in your weight division.

But if you can, GSP also ducked Jones, Liddell, Cain, Brock, Machida, Shogun, and every other MW, LHW and HW champ. Meanwhile Anderson ducked Jones, Machida, Shogun, Liddell, Cain, and Brock while Jones ducked Cain, JDS ... well you get the idea.

If not fighting heavier champs is ducking, then every body but HW's are ducking every time they fight. Its a useless definition of ducking because it simply redefines ducking to mean "Didn't fight at HW". Which is why ducking means not fighting guys in your weight division.

Having said that, GSP definitely has no business getting MW title shot. In fact, after four years of retirement he doesn't deserve a WW title shot either. He should have to work his way back up the ranking at WW, and the only reason he isn't is because of money. I think GSP is one of the four GOAT's (along with Anderson, Jones and GSP), but he hasn't been in the cage in four years, and its simply wrong that he's getting a title shot at any weight division right now.

 

[Munnings242]

woodley iz stock iz very low right now.
GSP has nothing to prove at welterweight, he comes back to fight some big names and show off 3 years perfecting his craft imo, +3 years with Freddie roach will be interesting.
he is going to ping bisping with left hooks all day.

He was training with Freddie like 8 years ago it's on youtube

 

[Munnings242]

"There is a good chance Woodley would knock GSP out"

Lets be honest - we saw how he fought against Maia, and Wonderboy. GSP's not getting KO'd by Woodley.

Lol big john scratched his head

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Gsp doesnt fight black people. There i said it.

Kos doesn't count?

 

[Munnings242]

I think gsp matches up well with woodley

Yeah Woodley has good tdd but his only offense is the blitz overhand right. Thompson and lawler both backed away from the blitz which got them tagged. Gsp would duck under and shoot.

When u think about it you are absolutely correct but can he hold tyron down tyron already fatigues easy Gsp will also be kicking the shit out of tyron stomach and punching it Gsp is a wrestling master and his coach excels in teaching takedown defense I changed my mind about the outcome if that fight were to happen

 

[Robert Baratheon]

He was training with Freddie like 8 years ago it's on youtube

I was under the impression 'fight camp' training is different. for me Georges taking the time off, and honing his craft outside of the pressures of being champ etc. will be much more beneficial and I'm hoping for a sharper more refined version of GSP (if thats even possible)

 

[Munnings242]

I was under the impression 'fight camp' training is different. for me Georges taking the time off, and honing his craft outside of the pressures of being champ etc. will be much more beneficial and I'm hoping for a sharper more refined version of GSP (if thats even possible)

What do u think is the purpose of training with Freddie lol to stay occupied

 

[UL]

Yes and no for the idiots who cant work this out

losing to woodley
he would have lost many opportunities
losing to bisping
he still has the chance to fight woodley at ww
he is making a payday and then is still guaranteed a ww title shot

bisping will beat gsp too

 

[Robert Baratheon]

What do u think is the purpose of training with Freddie lol to stay occupied

more focused training, when you have an opponent in mind your focus is training to beat them. where as outside of that you train to learn as much as possible and improve yourself. This is my interpretation, could be wrong because im not a pro fighter let alone champion.

 

[90 50]

Gsp doesnt fight black people. There i said it.

Jay Heiron

The woodley fight would look the same.

 

[90 50]

Woodley's way too strong for GSP. For the first two rounds the only grappling GSP could get away with would be tying him up against the cage; he could land some takedowns but I don't think they'd last long. If the fight went longer two rounds I think GSP would probably win it. And that victory would be far more impressive than beating Bisping at middleweight. And I think Bisping's going to light him up.

Woodleys too strong hahahahhahahahhahahhahahahhahhhahahhahhahhahahahajj

Cheal doesn't think so, you think wood is stronger than cheal hahahha

 

[90 50]

What do u think is the purpose of training with Freddie lol to stay occupied

I hope he hasn't been spending too much time with roach. While he has a really nice stiff jab now overall I think his striking has gone down hill a lot since training under roach. I don't think it's fitting into mma with George's style as well

Also glad he's stayed away from jacksons and is back at tri-star full time again now.

Tri-star striking is woods Achilles heal. His two worst beat downs came from tri-star striking.

 

[SuperNerd]

GSP is such a terrible match-up for Woodley. He's gonna duck under his silly flurries, and put him on his back.

You think Tyron is gonna out-box GSP like Nick Diaz couldn't? You think he's going to stuff all of GSP's takedowns, which he couldn't do to Rory? Do you think he's going to use his wresting for the first time in his ufc career to put down GSP?

He has one big punch. The same threat GSP has seen dozens of times.

There are two ways this fight goes, Tyron knocks out GSP, or Tyron gets out classed by GSP. He's better everywhere, more aggressive, more assertive, more active.

The suggestion GSP has altered his career path to avoid Tyron Snoozely is a joke.

 

[egk]

Can't duck someone not in your weight division.

I would have agreed with you if GSP had come back as a WW or simply stayed retired. His coming back for an instant title fight with Bisping is what ruins that argument.. In their primes, GSP vs Anderson would have actually been a superfight. GSP vs Bisping becomes two duckers looking for the biggest payday with the least amount of risk.

Having said that, GSP definitely has no business getting MW title shot. In fact, after four years of retirement he doesn't deserve a WW title shot either. He should have to work his way back up the ranking at WW, and the only reason he isn't is because of money. I think GSP is one of the four GOAT's (along with Anderson, Jones and GSP), but he hasn't been in the cage in four years, and its simply wrong that he's getting a title shot at any weight division right now.

I agree completely with the rest of that.

 

[SuperNerd]

Sherdog used to treat moving weight classes like the most holy act in MMA, then Conor did it.

Somehow it's honorable for Anderson to fight Forrest and Bonnnar, at different weights.. BJ drops fights Kenflo and Sanchez, and it cements him as a p4p legend, but GSP moves up to fight a bum TUF fighter, and he's avoiding fights.

 

[blaseblah]

If he's that scared of his legacy he shouldn't have come back at all.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I would have agreed with you if GSP had come back as a WW or simply stayed retired. His coming back for an instant title fight with Bisping is what ruins that argument.. In their primes, GSP vs Anderson would have actually been a superfight. GSP vs Bisping becomes two duckers looking for the biggest payday with the least amount of risk.

I'd be tempted to agree with that if GSP had gone up to fight Bisping but not Anderson before his retirement. But I don't like the consequences of the line of thinking that says once you go up you have to fight everyone in that higher division or be considered a ducker. For instance, it means that Anderson ducked Jones when he went up to fight Forrest but not Jones. My feeling is that going up is bonus activity rather than required, so gaining the ducker label by doing something extra just seems wrong. What Anderson did, in going up and fighting LHW's (but not current champs) was above beyond what was expected of him.

Ducker means someone who doesn't fight who they should be obligated to fight (ie folks in their weight division). I just don't see it applying to guys who refuse to take optional fights - there are just too many optional fights out there. Again, GSP could have fought any MW, LHW or HW, so he was ducking them all every time didn't fight one? Ducking ceasing to mean anything at that point.

GSP not fighting a WW contender when he was champ would be ducking. For instance, if he refused to fight Condit, or Hendricks, or if avoided the loss to Serra by refusing the fight it would have meant ducking them, because they were top WW contenders who he was obligated to fight as champ. GSP not going up to fight Anderson or Jones or Cain just isn't part of the job description of WW champ. It adds to your legacy if you go up, but its not ducking if you don't.

However, even beyond that, after four years of retirement GSP is just coming back for some quick cash, and what he does now has no more bearing on what he did before than Anderson's last fights have on what he did before. I still think Anderson is one of the all time greats, and his most recent fights haven't changed that - he's just in it for some extra cash now. Same with Fedor's fights now, same with Muhammad Ali's last fights, same with old Joe Louis's loss to Marciano ... what fighters do at the end for extra money doesn't mean much, its what they did in their prime.

If GSP fighting as a MW now, after not being the cage in four years, means was ducking in his prime, then you have to look at what every great fighter did at the end of their career (often not even with years of retirement involved) and say that affects what they did in their prime - do you really want to say for instance Trevor Berbick was better than Muhammad Ali because he beat Ali when Ali came back after retirement?