GSP asked for Diaz to distract us from avoiding Silva

[m0353]

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.

That pretty much sums it up
Diaz is low risk compared to Silva, big pay day, and it was another fight many fans wanted to see

 

[method115]

I think he just wants some more fights to warm up before Anderson. Which I agree with personally. Just like I think Weidman should have a few more fights before fighting Anderson. Just for the experience.

 

[Saskatoonmike**]

what about the times before jones was even in the ufc?

it's not like the ufc hasn't been trying to set up anderson silva versus st. pierre for a while now...

Fact is the UFC has not. Outside the pre Maia fight we have never seen the UFC or more importantly Anderson showing any real interest in a fight with GSP. In almost every interview you can find when asked Anderson says 'it is not really a fight that interests him'.

that only changed once Shogun and then Jones took the belt and GSP got injured. Suddenly then Anderson started to want the GSP fight. So if the TS wants to look at it that way, maybe anderson only began hyping for the GSP fight so people would not push for him V Jones (or Shogun prior).

 

[Saskatoonmike**]

I don't remember this ever being a thing. GSP/Silva fight was never talked about that seriously.

I think it's only Silva fans who want that matchup. Silva has wasted enough time and needs to stop hand picking people and take a dangerous fight.

It wasn't a thing. People are spinning BS pretending this fight has been a serious proposal for years and years.

GSP only completed his first title defense in Aug 2008 and then went on his first run. He was not established at WW GOAT and there were a ton of fights at WW almost everyone wanted to see. Fitch, Penn, Alves and later Kos and Shields were all 'must have fights'.

OK Anderson has existed in a weak and stale division and that is why he went shopping at LHW for fights but GSP needed to establish himself amongst this WW peers and as a better WW then Hughes, before it would have even made any sense for him to be in a super fight with Anderson.

The only strong rumour about this fight ever being proposed seriously was jsut before Anderson/Maia. Other then that, it is has had some fan rumblings but nothing serious from the UFC or either of the fighters. Anderson had been downright negative to the idea for years only changing his tune recently.

 

[FallIntoTheRope**]

Wait, so GSP goes ringside for the Maia fight and it's okay but when Silva goes ringside for Condit it was bad? Hilarious

Anyone saying that this fight was never talked about much are obvious Silva haters. This fight has been talked about and GSP wants none of it. Silva is actually down for BOTH superfights but the other champs aren't.

 

[FallIntoTheRope**]

To those saying that GSP has more to do? Well, he should have fought Hendricks instead of Diaz if that was GSP's actual mentality. Diaz lost to Condit and hasn't done anything besides beat an over-the-hill WW BJ Penn and an irrelevant Paul Daley. Instead, he fought Diaz. Why? Because he wants to prolong the fight as long as possible until Silva loses or shows a decline.

 

[Blackbelch**]

He is lying when he says he is the No.1 Contender. He obviously isn't. He just wants to kick his ass. That's all.

 

[krelianx]

I'll say this again, since a lot of people seem to think I was accusing GSP of something, or that I thought GSP should have fought Silva. It's fine, it's a forum, but that's not what I was saying.


Clearly, warranted or not, the main accusation with not fighting Silva was that he was ducking the latter. A lot of people's expectations were deflated, and a lot of people made this claim. Even in this thread. I'm not saying I agree with this. By not fighting Hendricks, however, he is being criticized for not fighting the rightful contender by many, 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, then GSP might have fought Hendricks, the rightful contender.

That is, if the public had not been all hyped up about the prospect of a 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. In fact, it would have made more sense to just fight Hendricks since then no one could really give him any heat for it, in spite of Johnny's relative unpopularity claiming he should be fighting Diaz instead.

But the fact of the matter is that in the circumstances building up to a fight with Silva, picking the unpopular Hendricks would have just created a bulk of disillusionment, and attracted the wrong kind of attention: it's a fight that relatively fewer want to see, by quite the margin, so that the fact of not fighting Silva and letting the expectations down would have been more explicit 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, rather than in not fighting Silva. It's a different scenario, and pragmatically the best one for GSP, I think. In the end, a fight with Diaz makes people happy and sells, and the hype just makes people forget for the moment the Silva fight, since it's a fight with a lot of expectations behind it as well.

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

If Hendricks wins against Jake, and GSP against Silva, Georges will say he HAS to fight Hendricks since it would be disrespectful not to at that point. Which of course is true. But it's of course also the smart thing to do, so as to avoid being pigeonholed into the Silva fight, which everyone wants, attempts to make and expects except him.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

He is lying when he says he is the No.1 Contender. He obviously isn't. He just wants to kick his ass. That's all.

Apart from abusing he vs he, I think you need to look up 'lying'. An opinion isn't a lie.

 

[georgejjr]

If Hendricks wins against Jake, and GSP against Silva, Georges will say he HAS to fight Hendricks since it would be disrespectful not to at that point. Which of course is true. But it's of course also the smart thing to do, so as to avoid being pigeonholed into the Silva fight, which everyone wants, attempts to make and expects except him.

I don't know, I don't think anyone's going to force GSP to fight Anderson under any circumstances other than Anderson dropping to 170. GSP is one of the biggest draws in the UFC, so Dana White isn't going to cut him if he doesn't go up in weight to fight Anderson. And he's got plenty of fans who will watch him, whether he goes up in weight or not, so he's not likely to lose his PPV drawing power by staying as a WW. And ultimately, its very common for dominant fighters not to go up in weight (Liddell for instance never tried HW, Hughes didn't try MW), even as catch.

Now if Anderson drops to 170, GSP might well be pigeonholed into fighting him (though I suspect GSP wouldn't be against that fight). But I doubt he can be forced into going up a weight division. Basically, people are saying he chose Diaz because he needed a reason to stay at 170, but I don't see why he needed a reason - I just can't see Dana White telling him that he's out of the UFC if he doesn't go up in weight.

From GSP's view point, he's probably thinking he has several years left before going for superfights. Traditionally, fighters look for superfights at the end of their careers, to make big money before retiring. Anderson wasn't looking for superfights with Liddell in his early 30's either. The only place where you get a lot of young guys going up weight divisions for superfights is the low end of boxing, where the weight divisions are only five pounds or so apart.

 

[Tamburlaine]

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.

Wow, that's a whole lot of typing & reading that could be summed up succinctly had you just said, "I'm a GSP hater."

 

[Mr. Hammer]

While I disagree with GSP vs Diaz I'd disagree even more with the size mismatch that would be Silva vs GSP.

 

[krelianx]

Wow, that's a whole lot of typing & reading that could be summed up succinctly had you just said, "I'm a GSP hater."

He's my favorite fighter. You're just not that intelligent.

 

[fitedoc]

Silva needs to fight JJ, and perhaps DC after he drops down....

AS will run like a baby from both of those and fight GSP. Why? Cause GSP is smaller! Damn why do people keep talking about GSP/Silva? Silva is looking for a fight cause he has run from Weidman to fight Bonnar....but doesnt want to meet either GSP or JJ at their natural weights!

 

[FallIntoTheRope**]

Silva needs to fight JJ, and perhaps DC after he drops down....

AS will run like a baby from both of those and fight GSP. Why? Cause GSP is smaller! Damn why do people keep talking about GSP/Silva? Silva is looking for a fight cause he has run from Weidman to fight Bonnar....but doesnt want to meet either GSP or JJ at their natural weights!

You don't actually believe that, right?

 

[Tactitus]

It's possible. It would be an effective way to try to get people to forget about the Anderson fight considering those two have a feud or whatever you want to call it.

Off topic, though, I love how some GSP fans are trying legitimize a fight with Diaz over Hendricks, while at the same discrediting Silva for pursuing a fight with Bisping instead of Weidman. At least Bisping isn't coming off of a fresh drug suspension and actually won his previous fight.

 

[Bigmanbud]

I agree with YS for the most part but believe that not only GSP but his management and the UFC also had this mentality in setting up this fight. Also, GSP will have a far more marketable future for them if he ever fights AS with recent wins over Condit and Diaz under his belt.

 

[SPL1FF]

i dont see why he has to fight anderson.

perhaps anderson is backing away from Jones.

perhaps jones is backing away from Cain

perhaps cain is backin away from Mighty mouse.

its all stupid talk. They are all great fighters in the divsion they own. They should keep it that way.

 

[Tamburlaine]

He's my favorite fighter. You're just not that intelligent.

Well, you've got a rather idiosyncratic way of supporting your favourite fighter, but to each his own.

 

[prelude2pain]

GSP has said several times that he doesn't have any interest in moving up yet. So to me the decision to fight Diaz had nothing to with avoiding Silva. People forget that they were already scheduled to fight and Nick publicly called St.Pierre out. Accusing him of faking an injury because he was scared? He always takes shit personal and I think it's no surpise he wants this fight. Hendricks may be the legit #1 contender but Diaz is the bigger fight and GSP knows it. I'm sure he'll have no problem fighting Hendricks when hes finished his business with his #1 hater.

To be honest I would rather see St.Pierre fight twice more before facing Anderson. The welterweight title was on hold long enough. Let some of the contenders in that stacked division get a shot. Besides the man shouldn't have any obligation to move up in weight anyways.