Did GSP get heat like Jon Jones for ducking entire MW division?

[SuspectChin]

GSP got some blowback for at one time saying he'd like to fight Anderson Silva, but then backing down when the UFC actually tried putting the fight together.

It's mostly forgotten though since he had a lot of contenders at WW and Silva had a lot of haters.

LOL. He didn't back down. UFC personally flew him out to Abu Dhabi at 112, as they were planning to announcing a super-fight between him and Silva post-fight but Baldfather was so disgusted with Silva's performance against Maia (for embarrassing the company in their Abu Dhabi debut) that he called the fight off.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

What significant differences? Literally a bunch of bs.

Jon didn’t forfeit title like GSP? Who cares about the title, it’s make believe.

Bullshit argument. Obviously the title matters.

The actual fights are what matters. Tom vs Blaydes for title or not for title, same fight.

Wrong title. And obviously it matters who the champ defends against.

Boo hoo cause there’s a so called ranking and title attached to it, meaningless.

It obviously means who is the right next person to defend against. And none of the bullshit arguments you just made address holding up the division that Jon did and GSP didn't.

GSP retiring if anything is worse. He killed a division whereas Jon at least stuck around and put on more fights.

He put on ONE more fight, 20 months later, that was ultimately meaningless. And the argument that GSP's actions "killed" the division have already been pointed out as obviously bullshit.

And Jon didn’t lie about sticking around whereas GSP did. Clearly lied.

Jon actually did lie about sticking around, cuz he said that he wouldn't, and yet he's still holding the belt hostage. And it was alreadying pointed out to you why GSP couldn't stick at MW, which you conveniently ignored.

Literally everything you're saying is obviously wrong and continues to seemingly purposeful ignore the arguments you don't feel like addressing.

Edit*

The title is literally a marketing ploy, you trying to say everyone is that easily manipulated by the UFC marketing team?

You acting like GSP "ruined" a division because he didn't defend a supposedly "meaningless title" would seem to indicate that YOU have been manipulated into thinking the title is important

 

[markg171]

Sure he did, Tom should be wearing that undisputed belt and lining up contenders. Instead we're going to watch Jon Jones Gollum the belt for as long as he can get away with it.

We're now at the delusional stage that it's Jon's fault that Tom isn't fighting anybody.

Funny how that works eh. Jon's "ducking" Tom, but what does that make Tom then for ducking the rest of the division to sit and wait for a Jon fight that you seem to think is never even happening?

If Jon won't fight Tom then shouldn't Tom be fighting other people?

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Everyone knew GSP was a one off.

Jones is acting like he is moving to HW but is not fighting top contenders.

 

[Tweak896]

I bet there are tons of GSP fans who had no problem with GSP never defending title with interim champ Whittaker while simultaneously screaming how Jones is a duck for Aspinall

 

[Mammothman]

Yes but GSP vacated after a month and then Whittaker and Romero fought for undisputed not long after.

 

[cmw43]

Did GSP get as much heat as Jones for hand-picking Bisping, promising to not retire, and then ducking entire MW division?

Or is it just bias against Jones for refusing Aspinall?

Did Sherdog treat GSP with same energy?

GSP vacated the title 30 days after winning it.

 

[cmw43]

He promised he wouldn’t retire and would defend. Jones didn’t hold anything up. Tom got his Interim belt.

GSP got the title shot because he promised Dana he’d defend, didn’t do it and then wanted a shot against Khabib lol.

GSP wanted a legacy fight against Khabib non title at 170.

Khabib would only do it at 155 though to try and delete GSP who's never made 155 in his life. Khabib has about 11 or 12 fights at 170.

 

[cmw43]

I bet there are tons of GSP fans who had no problem with GSP never defending title with interim champ Whittaker while simultaneously screaming how Jones is a duck for Aspinall

GSP retired a month after winning the belt and didn't take any more fights.

You don't think this is a different situation?

 

[markg171]

GSP retired a month after winning the belt and didn't take any more fights.

You don't think this is a different situation?

Given it hasn't yet been a month since Jones/Stipe...

Why yes I do think people like you are handling it rather differently.

 

[Mammothman]

People also need to remember GSP was contracually obligated to face Whittaker next, so he didn't any choices at all.

 

[Tweak896]

GSP retired a month after winning the belt and didn't take any more fights.

You don't think this is a different situation?

Jones is retiring a month after defending belt. I mean it's probably like GSP defending belt against an older Silva instead of defending against Whittaker. Then retiring.

 

[SuperNerd]

Anyone paying attention knew Georges wasn't going to defend. He wanted in and out, and the UFC wanted more. Georges played them.

I said it at the first presser.

Anyone who believed he would, wanted to be upset about it.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I bet there are tons of GSP fans who had no problem with GSP never defending title with interim champ Whittaker while simultaneously screaming how Jones is a duck for Aspinall

The reason GSP fought Bisping in Nov 2017 is because Woodley "lost" the GSP fight and Rob was injured at the time, and Rob would continue to have medical issues forcing him out of fighting until June 2018, 6 months after GSP vacated. That and the medical problems GSP had mean there really never should have been much of an issue of GSP 'avoiding' a fight with Rob, other than Rob fans who wanted him to have an opportunity at crown-making. But then, that's the same "avoiding" argument any champ who decides to retire without losing the belt faces, and one he got a bunch of for Hendricks already too. That's not putting the ready and willing interim champ on hold or anything

Jones is retiring a month after defending belt. I mean it's probably like GSP defending belt against an older Silva instead of defending against Whittaker. Then retiring.

Yeah, that'd be more comparable, if GSP held the belt hostage for 20 months in order to get that ridiculous legacy fight against Silva and then vacated and retired without fighting Whittaker when Rob was there and able to.

 

[ChickenBrother]

What interim champ existed when Jones beat Gane like existed when GSP beat Bisping?

Different situations because while Gane was never the undisputed champ, he previously won the IC by beating Derrick Lewis while riding a 9-0 MMA record and 6-fight UFC win streak. Then Gane lost his IC by losing the title unification bout vs. Ngannou. Then he KO'ed Tuivasa before fighting Jones for the vacant HW strap. But with Ngannou vacating, Gane had a legit claim to being the #1 UFC HW until Jones came into the picture. And you're correct in that Aspinall had not yet won the HW IC.

But in GSP's case, while Whittaker was already IC, he was out due to injury and thus couldn't fight Bisping which wasn't GSP's fault.

Gane was handpicked because of his vulnerability to Jones' wrestling. A more comparable situation would be if Jones waited for Gane to be champion, which isn't what happened. Dana certainly didn't set up a championship bout between GSP and the top contender who was most vulnerable to him

Agree Jones defending vs. Stipe was weak shit but Gane had a legit claim to being #1 HW in the UFC when they fought. Although I would have liked to see Gane fight Blades prior to that, Blades had just lost to Black Beast, who Gane then beat for the IC.

 

[El Fernas]

didn't he retire and give up the belt instead of holding the division up?

Jones is about to do that tho, when he was supposed to fight Miocic the first time Aspinall wasnt on the title picture, he wasnt the backup, fight falls through, he wins the Interim, Jones held the division and not, he fought the former champion he was supposed to fight the first time, now he is actually holding it, after the Miocic fight, i believe its a matter of time before they schedule Aspinall and Jones will be stripped on fight night.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

GSP was upfront with his ducking per se. It's pretty obvious he picked the right time to go up weight and fight the champ at the time who was a tailor made fighter for him ala Bisping.

Why didn't he go up when Anderson Silva was champ? It's pretty obvious wanted nothing to do with Anderson.

 

[markg171]

Jones is about to do that tho, when he was supposed to fight Miocic the first time Aspinall wasnt on the title picture, he wasnt the backup, fight falls through, he wins the Interim, Jones held the division and not, he fought the former champion he was supposed to fight the first time, now he is actually holding it, after the Miocic fight, i believe its a matter of time before the schedule Aspinall and Jones will be stripped on fight night.

People are acting like Jones is ducking Aspinall because they're not fighting this weekend or something.

Even IF they got what they wanted the earliest they'd ever even fight is like March given training and promotional needs. And Anik's already said he thinks it's probably not happening until July if it does. Neither will be fighting for months regardless of what happens.

People need to calm down. Unless Jones decides to retire nothing's happening until the new year at the earliest. And even if he did do that before then it's not like Tom could fight the Gane/Volkov winner in a faster manner than he'd be fighting Jones either. Tom's still returning under a similar timeline regardless of it's Jones or not.

I'd also take all these talks a bit more seriously if they were being applied equally. Jon and Tom apparently need to fight ASAP meanwhile:

• Weili hasn't fought since April and has no fights lined up
• Islam hasn't fought since June, which was a nonsense defence over Poirier, and has no fights lined up despite Arman being the clear #1 contender
• Dricus hasn't fought since August, which was a nonsense defence over Israel, and has no fights lined up despite Khamzat being #1 contender or a rematch with Strickland
• The rest also haven't fought that recently nor have fights lined up apart from Pantoja who's fighting this weekend

There's an obvious double standard being applied.

 

[Lawrence]

He got criticism but not anywhere near as much because he didnt stick around holding up the division for years by sitting at home with the belt and making BS defences while shamelessly ducking obvious contenders because they "dont add anything to his legacy" and "havent done anything".

Exactly.

And I'll add that GSP vs Bisping was a pretty darned fun fight to watch and very competitive. I thought it was a great fight.

I don't get mad with controversial matchups if we all end up being entertained.

 

[eiyuu]

LOL. He didn't back down. UFC personally flew him out to Abu Dhabi at 112, as they were planning to announcing a super-fight between him and Silva post-fight but Baldfather was so disgusted with Silva's performance against Maia (for embarrassing the company in their Abu Dhabi debut) that he called the fight off.

GSP has gone on record to say he wasn't in Abu Dhabi for UFC 112, so that was basically a rumor earning the mandela effect.