Just rewatched. This isn't that long. Read it, you might agree. Btw, I don't have a dog in the fight.
Let's just acknowledge that Jake Shields has an incredibly ugly stand up game. Stiff, a lot of flailing, and over committing to kicks. However, he actually had an effective fight. Came up way short but did better than most.
Few things I noticed:
- GSP missed a lot of overhand rights, a ton. Winging, sloppy, telegraphed overhand rights.
- Shields had octagon control in RD.1 He might have even won Rd.1. Landed a lot of jabs and made GSP miss.
- GSP landed some overhand rights but the few merely knocked Shields off balance because he's too upright or off balance. They had little to no effect on him because Jake's reflexes are pretty good and he rolled with the punches.
- Jake's jab was WAY more effective then GSP's. Not Kidding. GSP should have avoided more.
- Jake landed a whole lot of body kicks. They weren't pretty but he was landing.
- GSP landed better kicks and rocked Shields once. This is the only time I think Shields was rocked. The other times he was hit or kicked he looked off balance and awkward. He never needed time to recover.
- GSP took a lot more damage. But Jake may just have tougher skin. Hard to tell because like I mentioned he actually avoided absorbing full power punches by either blocking with his flailing arms or rolling with punches.
- GSP's eye was hurt due to at least 2 or possibly 3 punches to his right eye. That eye poke was blown out proportion. In fact any poke that did happen may never did much damage at all. It was never even mentioned during the fight and there were several replays where Jake jabbed him straight in the eye.
- Rogan was crazy biased towards GSP. Never said much about Shield's jabs until the last two rounds when GSP's face was already busted up. He also never mentioned the few body kicks Shield surprising landed.
- GSP was much stronger than Shield's and could have negated much of Shield's attacks on the ground. GSP is just too strong and Shield's isn't as fast/explosive.
- Cardio wise, both fighters were barely tired. Jake may have even had the better cardio. I think Jake poured on the jabs at the end more because GSP was slowing down, not because of GSP eye. Sure it affected him but GSP was getting tired.
- GSP was not completely blind in his left eye. He never needed follow up surgery and time off. He was fine after the fight.
- Jake takedown attempts were horrible. Didn't get one takedown. Not even close.
- GSP tossed Jake down to the ground like it was nothing.
Very interesting fight but although Jake looked like an amateur, stylistically, he actually fought very effectively against someone like GSP, who was said to have the best striking at the time. Something I never agreed with but whatever. He did better than everyone else that fought GSP during that time in his career.
I urge you to rewatch it. It's interesting to watch years later after the sport has evolved and we have fresh eyes. I'm not knocking GSP or Shield's. I just remember a whole lot of excuses and a lot of biased opinions. It was much closer than most GSP fights leading up to Condit and Hendriks, with the exception of that one Serra fight.
Let's just acknowledge that Jake Shields has an incredibly ugly stand up game. Stiff, a lot of flailing, and over committing to kicks. However, he actually had an effective fight. Came up way short but did better than most.
Few things I noticed:
- GSP missed a lot of overhand rights, a ton. Winging, sloppy, telegraphed overhand rights.
- Shields had octagon control in RD.1 He might have even won Rd.1. Landed a lot of jabs and made GSP miss.
- GSP landed some overhand rights but the few merely knocked Shields off balance because he's too upright or off balance. They had little to no effect on him because Jake's reflexes are pretty good and he rolled with the punches.
- Jake's jab was WAY more effective then GSP's. Not Kidding. GSP should have avoided more.
- Jake landed a whole lot of body kicks. They weren't pretty but he was landing.
- GSP landed better kicks and rocked Shields once. This is the only time I think Shields was rocked. The other times he was hit or kicked he looked off balance and awkward. He never needed time to recover.
- GSP took a lot more damage. But Jake may just have tougher skin. Hard to tell because like I mentioned he actually avoided absorbing full power punches by either blocking with his flailing arms or rolling with punches.
- GSP's eye was hurt due to at least 2 or possibly 3 punches to his right eye. That eye poke was blown out proportion. In fact any poke that did happen may never did much damage at all. It was never even mentioned during the fight and there were several replays where Jake jabbed him straight in the eye.
- Rogan was crazy biased towards GSP. Never said much about Shield's jabs until the last two rounds when GSP's face was already busted up. He also never mentioned the few body kicks Shield surprising landed.
- GSP was much stronger than Shield's and could have negated much of Shield's attacks on the ground. GSP is just too strong and Shield's isn't as fast/explosive.
- Cardio wise, both fighters were barely tired. Jake may have even had the better cardio. I think Jake poured on the jabs at the end more because GSP was slowing down, not because of GSP eye. Sure it affected him but GSP was getting tired.
- GSP was not completely blind in his left eye. He never needed follow up surgery and time off. He was fine after the fight.
- Jake takedown attempts were horrible. Didn't get one takedown. Not even close.
- GSP tossed Jake down to the ground like it was nothing.
Very interesting fight but although Jake looked like an amateur, stylistically, he actually fought very effectively against someone like GSP, who was said to have the best striking at the time. Something I never agreed with but whatever. He did better than everyone else that fought GSP during that time in his career.
I urge you to rewatch it. It's interesting to watch years later after the sport has evolved and we have fresh eyes. I'm not knocking GSP or Shield's. I just remember a whole lot of excuses and a lot of biased opinions. It was much closer than most GSP fights leading up to Condit and Hendriks, with the exception of that one Serra fight.
