GSP asked for Diaz to distract us from avoiding Silva

I don't buy into GSP's rhetoric about him believing that Diaz is the #1 contender. He has always been a fairly level headed guy, an able commentator and analyst of the sport, a fair judge of his division and others. He must know very well, as we all do, that Hendricks is the guy who should be getting the shot. A guy coming from a loss, and not having fought in quite some time, being lower ranked than Hendricks cannot be reasonably said to be the #1 contender. I also don't think he still holds on to the grudge with Nick and that he desires to fight him above all things. And I don't think it's money that's speaking either.

So why ask for this fight? The Silva vs. GSP fight was, more than ever, on everyone's radar. Anderson had explicitly said he wanted it next, White said he wanted it and was going to try to make it. Silva shows up at the Condit fight, and says he wants to set it up. Clearly, in spite of the fanbase being divided as to whether Jones vs. Silva was a better fan, this was a fight that was drawing all the hype it was expected from it.

GSP was getting a lot of heat, given his fairly obvious reluctance to take the fight. Hendricks, for all his virtues, is not a particularly popular guy, nor do many believe he has much of a shot against Pierre. But Nick is obviously a star, and a fight with GSP would have the fans hyping it up. This is true even if the odds are still heavily on Pierre's favor, and if Hendricks is generally considered to be more deserving. Diaz is more popular, and more people would be excited for that fight, nevermind fairness.

Had GSP taken on Hendricks instead of Silva, the disappointment of not seeing the Silva fight materialize would have been quite steep. GSP would have drawn a lot of criticism for ducking, warranted or not. But a fight with Nick creates the sort of hype and pleases the many fans that wanted it to begin with. It's a great way to say no to the Silva fight, and not have to assimilate the bulk of criticism.

So I do think that GSP took the Diaz fight primarily as a way to dodge accusations, and to divert the public's attention from the fact that, well, he was explicitly backing down from the Silva fight. Just my two cents.

 

A master of strategy indeed.

 

Everyone wants to see the Diaz fight. Especially after what transpired in the past.

It's inevitable that he'll fight Anderson. GSP knows that.

If Diaz fights Hendricks for example, and loses, then he can't fight GSP. Anderson will still be there, Diaz might not.

 

But then Hendricks would be the rightful contender. GSP doesn't have to fight nick if he isn't good enough.

Although i do think Diaz has proven himself worthy. GSP might be one of those he felt he was the more dangerous guy in the condit/diaz fight but lost to a better strategy. And i think he has a legitimate rivalry with Nick too.

 

Diaz is low risk high reward and it's the one the majority wanted to see. Helwani talked about some poll after the Condit fight and Diaz was the #1 opponent for GSP.

 

Wtf should he fight Anderson? Why do we not hear about Anderson ducking Jones? Or Jones ducking Cain?

 

I agree, however TS implied GSP is dictating his next fight and selecting who he wants. If he wants Diaz, which he obviously does, then he has to take that fight now.

If the UFC conducted business like other sports, then yes, Diaz should fight Hendricks IMO.

 

Silva a is a mw gsp is a ww. I still don't see why they should fight.

Silva, however, has fought at 205. This is why him vs jones Is the super fight everybody should be asking for. It makes much more sense.

 

Very valid point. But everyone has a hard on trying to expose GSP. Bones b Anderson is a fairer fight and one I'd argue more fans would want to see.

 

Diaz: more money, less risk.

or... GSP is trying to distract attention from the moon landing hoax

 

I guess this is some form of reaction to that fans and journalists have pointed out that Silva started talking more about the GSP fight after people started asking for Silva vs Jones.

I don't think GSP has avoided any criticism when he picked Diaz. I've seen more recent criticism for not fighting Hendricks than for not fighting Silva, which makes sense since he has no obligations to fight Silva at any catchweight.

Neither of the three (GSP, Silva, Jones) have any other obligations than to defend their titles. If any of them wants to fight one of the others it's therefor pretty simple to force that fight to happen. You just challenge for that guy's title and he can't refuse. It's hard to tell if Anderson was speaking the truth (he isn't exactly inspiring confidence in his words when he constantly goes back on himself) but he has said that he can make 170 and that he's comfortable at 205, so if we believe him the options are there for him if he really wants those fights.

 

Yeah a shame Hendricks is retiring tomorrow, we will never see that fight...

Keep your shirts on people, Hendricks is not going anywhere. GSP is not going anywhere either. The only fighter who could legitimately retire is Diaz so better do the fight now before somebody else retires him. He nearly retired last time, imagine his reaction when GSP destroys him.

I'd rather have GSP retire Diaz and THEN fight Hendricks. By that time, Hendricks should not be out of his prime yet. He should be 30 by then, 2 years younger than GSP.

You people...

 

It probably has more to do with money. A Hendricks fight right now would pull in a PPV audience of around 23 people. A fight with Diaz should pull in more than 600,000 people. When you see what Eddie E. was offered from the UFC for PPV it is easy to understand why GSP wants to fight Diaz. Plus, if he wins and Hendricks wins, then an upcoming title fight between the two would bring in a respectable PPV number due to the buzz that would come about from them both winning on the same card. It is a good business strategy and Hendricks should make a good bit more coin this way too.

 

Maybe he is ducking Silva.. But Silva was there as he was ducking Jones. As he ducked Jones we are now watching 2 fights which the outcomes are certain.. GSP and Jones clear winners


QUOTE=krelianx;78331955]I don't buy into GSP's rhetoric about him believing that Diaz is the #1 contender. He has always been a fairly level headed guy, an able commentator and analyst of the sport, a fair judge of his division and others. He must know very well, as we all do, that Hendricks is the guy who should be getting the shot. A guy coming from a loss, and not having fought in quite some time, being lower ranked than Hendricks cannot be reasonably said to be the #1 contender. I also don't think he still holds on to the grudge with Nick and that he desires to fight him above all things. And I don't think it's money that's speaking either.

So why ask for this fight? The Silva vs. GSP fight was, more than ever, on everyone's radar. Anderson had explicitly said he wanted it next, White said he wanted it and was going to try to make it. Silva shows up at the Condit fight, and says he wants to set it up. Clearly, in spite of the fanbase being divided as to whether Jones vs. Silva was a better fan, this was a fight that was drawing all the hype it was expected from it.

GSP was getting a lot of heat, given his fairly obvious reluctance to take the fight. Hendricks, for all his virtues, is not a particularly popular guy, nor do many believe he has much of a shot against Pierre. But Nick is obviously a star, and a fight with GSP would have the fans hyping it up. This is true even if the odds are still heavily on Pierre's favor, and if Hendricks is generally considered to be more deserving. Diaz is more popular, and more people would be excited for that fight, nevermind fairness.

Had GSP taken on Hendricks instead of Silva, the disappointment of not seeing the Silva fight materialize would have been quite steep. GSP would have drawn a lot of criticism for ducking, warranted or not. But a fight with Nick creates the sort of hype and pleases the many fans that wanted it to begin with. It's a great way to say no to the Silva fight, and not have to assimilate the bulk of criticism.

So I do think that GSP took the Diaz fight primarily as a way to dodge accusations, and to divert the public's attention from the fact that, well, he was explicitly backing down from the Silva fight. Just my two cents.[/QUOTE]

 

If GSP fought Silva you'd call him a coward for ducking Hendricks and Diaz. If GSP fought Hendricks you'd call him a coward for ducking Silva and Diaz. Haters gonna hate.

 

I agree, but the kind of criticism he has attracted from picking Diaz is of a different sort. Clearly, warranted or not, the main accusation with not fighting Silva was that he was ducking the latter. I'm not saying I agree with this. By not fighting Hendricks, however, he is being criticized for not fighting the rightful contender, but no one thinks he is 'ducking' Hendricks, nor avoiding that fight.

I don't think he's fighting Nick because it's the bigger money fight, or because he thinks its a lesser risk fight than one with Hendricks. The latter is at least arguable. My point is that had the Silva fight not been on everyone's radars GSP might have fought Hendricks, the rightful contender.

That is, if folk had not been all hyped about the Silva fight, and so much doubt directed at GSP's direction for not wanting it, it would be relatively unproblematic to fight the guy who deserves it, and not get any bad press for it. But the fact of the matter is that picking Hendricks would have attracted the wrong kind of impression: it's a fight that relatively fewer want to see, so that the fact of not fighting Silva and letting the expectations down would have been more forth in everyone's radar. The focus would have been on GSP not fighting Silva, rather than on GSP fighting Hendricks. Now, the focus is on GSP fighting Diaz, even if there is criticism for not fighting Hendricks. In the end, a fight with Diaz makes people happy and sells, so he doesn't have to be seen as avoiding that fight.

With Diaz, he can at least amass gargantuan hype, since it's a fight oodles want to see.

 

They're making the fight now because if Diaz fights someone else and loses, they lose the opportunity to make that matchup as well.
They'll likely do the same with Melendez, since he loses to any top 5 LW.
They should make those fights now before their stocks drop and never recover.

 

Diaz would have defeated Hendricks anyway, why not save a challenger? I doubt he's even gonna get the SD win this time.

 

Thisthreadagain.jpg

 

and Anderson is trying to call out GSP to distract us from avoiding JONES BONES JON