GSP... The most talented MMA practitioner to grace the sport?

Billy Age 12 said:
Eh, nothing special.

1. Jose Aldo

2. Jon Jones

3. Anderson Silva

4. Fedor

5. BJ Penn (Arguably the most talented in his prime. Champion in the LHW and WW divsions)

6. GSP - Hadn't finished a fight in 4 years. Most people saw him losing the Hendricks fight. He could only beat you in the area that you were the weakest, where as the greatest fighters beat you at your best skill. Plus the brutal Serra beating he took and the Matt Hughes armbar. Only champion in the WW division, made it public that he was ducking Anderson for quite some time as well.
-Unfortunately, this is what his legacy will be known for by true MMA fans.
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True MMA fans know that the guy being called out in the smaller weight class isn't ducking anyone. If that was the case why didn't AS get as much flack for not wanting to fight Jones.

Also BJ was beaten twice by GSP.

Anderson has a glaring weakness in wrestling.
 
bebop22k said:
finishing fights >>> decision victories.
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Disagree, especially in this context.

Silva finished sonnen after losing 4 rounds.

Lawler finished manoef after getting his ass kick.

Dominating your opponent for 25 minutes is more impressive than landing a lucky punch or sub
 
Billy Age 12 said:
Eh, nothing special.

1. Jose Aldo

2. Jon Jones

3. Anderson Silva

4. Fedor

5. BJ Penn (Arguably the most talented in his prime. Champion in the LHW and WW divsions)

6. GSP - Hadn't finished a fight in 4 years. Most people saw him losing the Hendricks fight. He could only beat you in the area that you were the weakest, where as the greatest fighters beat you at your best skill. Plus the brutal Serra beating he took and the Matt Hughes armbar. Only champion in the WW division, made it public that he was ducking Anderson for quite some time as well.
-Unfortunately, this is what his legacy will be known for by true MMA fans.
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So Serra counts against GSP, yet Chonan and Takase don't against Anderson?
Hughes was GSP's sixth pro fight.
Aldo's 8th pro fight was a loss to much worse competition, why doesn't that count against him?
Anderson's 3rd pro fight was a loss to a guy who would be a journeyman fighter. Doesn't that count against him?
BJ lost his 4th fight to Pulver, why not count that against him?
I assume you feel Anderson ducked both Shogun (it was a highly talked about superfight) and Jones too?
Is Aldo ducking Pettis?
Is Jones ducking Cain?
 
Guitarmbar said:
Fedor and Anderson were more talented. I would even add Aldo to that list. Not to knock GSP, he's a legend, but he became very one dimensional these last few years. At least compared to those three.
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I'm a huge Fedor fan but he went into headhunter mode in Strikeforce.
 
IngaVovchanchyn said:
Good list. Deep in the back of my head somewhere I suspect GSP would have beaten Silva had they ever fought so I have them tied for second.
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As a huge silva fan, I always felt GSP would have taken it as well. But that's what made it so exciting, such a shame it didn't happen when it mattered. I wouldn't be surprised if they put it together still tbh.
 
Not even close.

He was very good and probably one of the smartest fighters ever.
 
2DUM2TAP said:
True MMA fans know that the guy being called out in the smaller weight class isn't ducking anyone. If that was the case why didn't AS get as much flack for not wanting to fight Jones.

Also BJ was beaten twice by GSP.

Anderson has a glaring weakness in wrestling.
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Good point, although a little different because Jones hadn't cleaned out his division yet when Silva was still champ. Anderson and GSP had completely torched their divisions.
 
GSP was the best. He dominated the most stacked division and often made it look easy.
 
ShagginTurtles said:
As a huge GSP fan I want to say yes, but I think he's simply the hardest worker combined with a lot of talent

Guys like Silva and Jones show a lot of talent and are my #2 and #3 guys for this but honestly #1 for me is Penn

People forget what he accomplished despite fighting guys way bigger than him and he was notorious for not putting in a lot of work into training

Penn is pure talent and is probably the LW GOAT, former WW champ, Youngest BJJ Champ (I think)
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This. His work ethic is what made him great IMO.
 
Good fighters win decisions and need to rely on judges to decide the victory.

Great fighters finish fighters who are tough to finish.

GSP is good at everything, but never great at anything.
 
grimballer said:
Disagree, especially in this context.

Silva finished sonnen after losing 4 rounds.

Lawler finished manoef after getting his ass kick.

Dominating your opponent for 25 minutes is more impressive than landing a lucky punch or sub
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I thought there was no such thing as a lucky punch/sub.
 
He is obviously talented but I don't think he's remotely close to the most talented. A lot of his success had to do with his skill, work ethic and smart game planning.
 
He's an ok fighter, be he was always far behind Silva, Jones, Aldo and Barao.

I never paid much attention to Barao, but come on... If wasn't for his first fight he would be 31:0!
 
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