Gillespie could be Champ if he stopped goofing off

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Fishing won't bring him closer to the belt. Fighting will. The guy has always looked like a force if nature. Sure Kevin Lee has his number, but damn, i actually think he's champion material. He's an excellent wrestler, with great grappling and serviceable striking. It's just... He doesn't fight often enough. Also that cdf fight was amazing.
 
not when there Islam in the division
 
3 fights in 2014
2 in 2015
3 in 2016, 3rd of which is his UFC debut
2 each in 2017, 2018, and 2019

He's fought at least twice a year in every year except 2020, coming off a brutal head kick knockout, the first loss of his career, in a global pandemic

I'm not sure what specifically he had going on in his personal life but he probably had stuff going on
 
Poor guy isn’t allowed to fish I guess. NO HOBBIES FOR YOU!
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He seems susceptible to getting hurt on the feet, though. There were moments were, if Ferreira had pushed forward with slicker strikes, he would've finished it. And his takedowns, when he's getting tired, get real telegraphed.

So I don't know about champ shit, but whatever, he's very good and I wanna see him against the top guys, especially Ismak and Oliveira. This fight, for example, was really fun. High level grappling vs high level grappling is where he should be at, enough with these dumb dumb "striker vs high level grappler fights", it's so boring.

But UFC will probably have Oliveira vs Doostin, Hooker vs Mak and Gregor vs Felder next cause fuck you.
 
not when there Islam in the division
Would you like to see that as the next fight? I would. It would certainly be better than islam vs striker without wrestling background. I agree islam... Yeah man, i overlooked him. I'm not confident in gillespie's chances there. But it's competitive and my op is "could" be a champion. Islam doesn't beat him 10/10 times.
 
I thought he looked decent. But how the hell do you come to the conclusion that he's "champion material" from last nights fight?
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How is he NOT champion material? Apart from a select few, who's gonna deal with that top game and survive? Who's going tk maintain composure with the takedown threat? Come on. Let's not pretend that this guy is some middling contender. I guarantee you, nobody will respond if he calls them out. Everybody will ignore him and start talking about injuries when his name comes up. You think he can't take and hold conor down? You think dustin walks through him? He's a problem for everyone. It's just that he's 34. Won't be able to do this foreva.
 
How is he NOT champion material? Apart from a select few, who's gonna deal with that top game and survive? Who's going tk maintain composure with the takedown threat? Come on. Let's not pretend that this guy is some middling contender. I guarantee you, nobody will respond if he calls them out. Everybody will ignore him and start talking about injuries when his name comes up. You think he can't take and hold conor down? You think dustin walks through him? He's a problem for everyone. It's just that he's 34. Won't be able to do this foreva.
Will he beat Mark Madsen, who has much better wrestling credentials than him? Gillespie is all right, but he is far from champ material, although I agree he could give problems to a lot of higher ranked fighters.
 
How is he NOT champion material? Apart from a select few, who's gonna deal with that top game and survive? Who's going tk maintain composure with the takedown threat? Come on. Let's not pretend that this guy is some middling contender. I guarantee you, nobody will respond if he calls them out. Everybody will ignore him and start talking about injuries when his name comes up. You think he can't take and hold conor down? You think dustin walks through him? He's a problem for everyone. It's just that he's 34. Won't be able to do this foreva.
But as it stands, he's not even " middling contender" at 155. The guy he lost to, Kevin Lee, now he's a "middling contender". Don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying. He poses an interesting style match up with a lot of guys in the division. But, top tier, I just don't see.

And yes, I believe Dustin pretty much walks through him. And I'm not even much of a Dustin fan.
<Fedor23>
 
Would you like to see that as the next fight? I would. It would certainly be better than islam vs striker without wrestling background. I agree islam... Yeah man, i overlooked him. I'm not confident in gillespie's chances there. But it's competitive and my op is "could" be a champion. Islam doesn't beat him 10/10 times.

Islam beats him 100/100 times imo barring extreme circumstances. He's just as good as a grappler than him if not better, way better striking, younger, very good gas tank as well, bigger and taller (although Gillespie has slightly longer reach). I would bet the house on Islam.
 
I posted about this in another thread. Gillespie is a different dude. He fights because he likes the paycheck, and enjoys training. He has no burning desire to be champ. He could care less about call outs. He would much rather fish than fight. He is pretty vocal about this in the wrestling community and it' pretty well known among that world. He will always frustrate fans because they have more desire for him to be champ and be active than he does himself.

And to those suggesting he fight at 145; The dude wrestled 157 his last 2 years in College. So how do you think a 34 year old would fair cutting to 12 lbs below his fighting/wrestling weight when he was a 20 year old.
 
3 fights in 2014
2 in 2015
3 in 2016, 3rd of which is his UFC debut
2 each in 2017, 2018, and 2019

He's fought at least twice a year in every year except 2020, coming off a brutal head kick knockout, the first loss of his career, in a global pandemic
I'm not sure what specifically he had going on in his personal life but he probably had stuff going on

He frequently stated he was in no rush earlier in his career and that he didn't prioritize fighting big names. He wasn't in a hurry, which colors public opinion that he doesn't fight often, when in reality he's had a fairly average schedule timing wise.

Typically guys on the rise will squeeze in 3 fights at least one year in a 5 year span, but he hasn't. So there's that.

Kevin Lee should have been his coming out party and pushed him to title contention, but instead he got highlight KO'd right out of the gate. MMA can be a cruel sport. That led to a year off.

He's starting to age out of the system, especially considering so much of his style requires freak athleticism. He can still get something done in the division, but he will need to keep a pace rolling.
 
Will he beat Mark Madsen, who has much better wrestling credentials than him?

FWIW, Gillespie beat Chandler in collegiate wrestling, so by that logic I guess it's
Madsen > Gillespie > Chandler

Though of course Chandler has much more MMA experience than the others. It would be interesting to see how those D1 guys would do vs. Islam, too. It's too bad Madsen is 36, Chandler is 35 and Gregor is 34, though.
 
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