GSP past his prime?

tenniswhiz said:
Hendricks got a lot better since then. A LOT.
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He looked really great against GSP, like he could anticipate GSP, but the Condit fight right before it, Hendricks seemed gassed by the third and I thought Condit was coming on stronger and would likely have won had it been a 5-round fight. Even Hendricks' win over Lawler was hard earned and not nearly as dominant as the wins GSP had in his prime. I'm not arguing he has't got better, he has. But forgive me for saying -- Hendricks I think will be the champ most vulnerable to losing the belt in next few fights.
 
past his physical and mental prime.... No absolutely not but I think against todays top welterweights and competiton he looks very vulnerable and obviously has sustained a lot of damage and fighter miles on his body not to mention his brain. I don't think he can stay at the top anymore its better for him to retire on top.
 
Evolution. Weight classes get better every year with new talent or a emergence of an older fighter.
 
I'd say he is. Georges fought for a great number of years and has trained harder than most people throughout that span. He's accumulated so much wear and tear with two ACL surgeries and we've yet to see him after suffering the second one. We all know what he looked like after the first one.

However I don't think we've seen the last of GSP. He keeps talking about how treatments are going well and how he's going to come back better and stronger, and that he's just waiting for the fire to come back. I'm not sure how he's coping with the layoff and whether or not he's bored. If he feels ready for another shot, I can see him come back, fight a few more times, try for the title once more, and if he wins it once more he can retire. It would be one hell of a story, but also a tall order against guys like Lawler, Hendricks, Macdonald and a couple of other hungry lions like Matt Brown, Brandon Thatch etc.
 
GSP did to me look not as his best physically vs Diaz, the way he slowed down in that fight is not something we've ever seen before.

I do think that WW has lagged behind much of the rest of the sport when it comes to evolution though and has only reached the level say HW, LHW and LW were at almost a decade ago quite recently.

The problem WW had was I'd say that it was largely confined to the UFC for the Pride years so when Pride died there wasn't an influx of talent and just as importantly there wasn't as much new talent coming though from outside of a US wrestling base.
 
GSP is definitely past his prime.

Pre-surgery GSP, the one that fought Alves, is simply the best fighter that has ever walked into the octagon at 170 pounds. That version of GSP would take a shit on the current champ Hendricks and Lawler, guaranteed.
 
when he struggled against diaz I knew that it was time to think about retiring. True, he won every round, but, I don't believe prime GSP would have even struggled.
 
Tonycpa said:
When you say he didn't have an aura of invincibility and got caught on multiple occasions what do you mean?

Because he only lost a handful of rounds over the course of 27 professional prize fights (59% of those fights were for a title BTW)

Also, invincibility only exists in the imaginary world of adolescents. Time to take off the Underoos.
 GSP is undefeated when fighting in a ring and equally dominant in a cage. Fedor had more losses in a cage, and Anderson had more losses in a ring, than Georges had throughout his entire professional career.
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*cue the stat about being one of the least hit champions of all time*
 
Jocke said:
GSP never really had that aura of invincibility tho, dude got caught on multiple occasions. I think he's just a super smart guy and that's what won him a bunch of fights. I feel like the "new breed" are all pretty "dumb" when it comes to gameplans and such so I'd imagine GSP would still do well if he did come back. Maybe he wont ever be champion again, but he's getting up there in age and nothing lasts forever.
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Lol not that aura of invincibility?
He didnt lose a round for like 6 years, fightes who before their fight with GSP look unstoppable couldnt do shit when they were up against him.
 
One telling thing for me is whats happened to Jake Ellenburger, you go back a year and he looked like he could be a potential champion or at least a challenger for the belt. A year on though and he's suffered two bad loses and looks like he may never get into a title match.

The reason his prospects have paled so badly for me is that he's come up against a new evolution in the division(at least besides GSP) when it comes to striking talent. The heavy brawling style that got him success simply wasn't effective vs Rory and Lawler who had the technical chops to keep him at distance.

Hendricks for me stands out in that he's someone who started as more of a typical brawler wrestler but has advanced technically beyond that. Brawler Hendricks would likely have lost to Lawler for example but he won that fight via being able to score on Robbie with a good jab and a lowkick.
 
Mikeyz said:
You are forgetting how explosive GSP was with his TD's back when he fought Alves.
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Dat lay and pray.

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Right?
 
The thing is though I think you can make the case that Alves really wasn't the "WW Crocop" he was hyped to be at the time by many. The way he lost to Fitch and Story really calls into question just how strong his takedown defence actually was plus I don't think we ever see the kind of technical striking from him we did from Mirko at his best.
 
ACL surgery definitely slowed him down. No where near as explosive against Condit, Diaz, and Hendricks.
 
TheRassler said:
no, that's just what happens when he can't out-blanket a fighter or out-jab a fighter.

his only 2 game plans.
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And he managed to destroy everyone they put in front of him with those two game plans.
 
The ACL surgery definitely burned him out. He wanted to retire right then and was talked out of it. He goes from a bad injury and rehab to having to fight Condit, Diaz and Hendricks all while being unmotivated.

Once a guy starts talking retirement, he's done. He could still physically do it but mentally he has checked out. Once you aren't hungry for it anymore, it's over. I wouldn't want him to come back unless it's for a super fight or one off.
 
So can we all agree, Mental Prime GSP was the GOAT?
 
FlyWin said:
It's not only that he is out of his prime, but that the talent pool is at its strongest ever riht now. I think Lawler would starch Georges probably at this point.
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GSP in his prime wouldn't spend the second round falling into a rope-a-dope before being gassed out for two rounds against Lawler.
 
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