How do you feel about GSP tapping to strikes?

[Safton]

I have absolutely no issue with it. He was in a better position than most to recognize that he was compromised beyond the point of no return and took the route that saved him from further damage. Smart move. He's got his health and livelihood to worry about. Refs don't always stop the fight when they should. We've seen it plenty of times.

The basement-dwellers on here who use terms like "disgrace to the sport" with a straight face have the self-awareness of a fucking rodent, however. Actually, that's probably insulting to rodents to make that comparison. They can never explain how taking a dive and turning into a choke like Conor did or turtling up and waiting for a ref to save them is any different. Or taking a knee and accepting an eight-count in boxing/kickboxing. They just mumble the same tired phrases: "muh unwritten rules" or "you either get it or you don't" or "heart of a lion". We've already seen it in this thread. Which tells me that their position isn't actually rooted in logic or anything resembling it.

Let's see what Michael Bisping has to say about tapping to strikes. Below is an excerpt from his Believe You Me podcast (#030 - Dollars and Sense), roughly transcribed.

Michael: Listen, if you want to tap to strikes, good for you. Okay? I totally get it. I wouldn't do it. I'd rather the referee stop the fight or I'll keep fighting. And I understand why David Branch did it. He was smart enough to realize he wasn't going to get out of that position and was just taking unnecessary damage and the fight was over.

*Co-host talks about how as a fan it leaves a bad taste in his mouth and made him look at GSP differently when Georges tapped to strikes and that it hurts Branch's reputation that he did it too, asks Michael if it's really smarter or reducing damage to tap to strikes rather than let the ref step in*

Michael: Let me say this. I understand what you're saying because when people are MMA fans and they want to see MMA fights and they want to be entertained and they pay their money and buy their tickets and a fighter taps out to strikes, they say "Fuck this, this isn't what I signed up for. This is bullshit. This is ridiculous. That guy's a pussy."

But listen. Until you've been in the position -- and I'm not defending David Branch and I'm not beating up Luke Rockhold either -- but until you've been in the position where you're face-down on the canvas with a world-class martial artist who has you in a position where they're pushing your pelvis into your back, they've got their legs crossed around your legs so you can't fucking move. But you're face-down in the canvas so you can't even see them, let alone move. You can't move, you can't see them. There's nothing you can do. And you've got strikes smacking you in the face as hard as this guy that's probably 210 pounds that can knock you out with one punch and he's hitting you repeatedly in the face? Until you've been into that position, unfortunately you haven't really got a right to say that. I guarantee you'd tap out pretty quick.

*later on in the podcast*

Michael: We went off on a tangent. David Branch tapping to strikes, I don't hold that against him. He knew he'd lost.

*Co-host complains that Michael tore him a new asshole earlier for complaining about fighters tapping to strikes and insists it doesn't matter as a fan and makes a football analogy to a player running out of bounds rather than get tackled*

Michael: You're right and in that regard you do have a point. "I'm paying to see you fight, I'm not paying to see you quit." But the fight was in the 2nd round and he tried his best. He did take a lot of shots. It's not like the first punch he took he took he was like, "Nope, screw this. I'm done. I'm outta here." He took a lot of punishment. That's all I'm saying. Until you're in that position, don't be too quick to judge the guy. He was a two-weight champion at WSOF. And I think Rockhold, you know, just put a beating on him. Simple as that. You've got to think about your long-term health as well.

That's Michael Bisping, the guy who literally lost an eye (and knee) to the sport and kept competing at a fairly high level. The guy who went to sleep rather than tap out. The guy who was scheduled to fight Georges at the time of this podcast and was doing a lot of trash-talk about his "boring" style in an effort to drum up interest. It would have been an easy route for him to take to attack GSP's history of tapping to strikes and by extension all other fighters who have done it by labeling them as cowards or what have you... yet Mike went this route. If he of all people believes that you fucking armchair warriors should shut the fuck up and stop criticizing these guys who go out there and give it their all, get compromised, and then tap to strikes? Maybe give it a think before doing so.

In no particular order, other fighters who have tapped to strikes besides GSP:

• Forest Griffin - Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame, Five Fight of the Night Bonuses
  
• Randy Couture - 3-Time UFC Heavyweight Champion, 2-Time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, 1-Time UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion, First Two-Division UFC Champion, UFC Hall of Fame, Most Championship Fights in UFC History, Most Championship Reigns in UFC History, Tied for Most Main Event Bouts in UFC History, Oldest Fighter to Become a Champion in UFC History, Oldest Fighter to Defend a Championship in UFC History
• Shogun Rua - 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion, Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame, Tied for most Fight-Night Bonuses in UFC Light Heavyweight History
• Tito Ortiz - Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame, Four Fight of the Night Bonuses, Second Most Championship Fights & Championship Wins in UFC LHW History, Second Most UFC LHW Title Defenses
  
• Frank Mir - Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion, Most Finishes in UFC Heavyweight Division, Most Submissions in UFC Heavyweight Division, Fastest Submission in UFC Heavyweight Division History, Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame
• Charles Oliveira - Former UFC Lightweight Champion, Three Fight of the Night Bonuses, 12 Performance of the Night Bonuses, Most Performance of the Night Bonuses in UFC History, Most Finishes in UFC History, Most Submissions in UFC History, Most Post-Fight Bonuses in UFC History, Second-Longest Win Streak in UFC Lightweight History
  
• Josh Barnett - Former Pancrase Openweight Champion, 2006 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner-up, 2013 Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Runner-up, Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Youngest Heavyweight Champion in UFC History, Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame
• Joanna Jędrzejczyk - Former UFC Strawweight Champion (5x Title Defenses), Tied for Most Title Fights in UFC Women's Divisions, Tied for Most Wins in UFC Strawweight History, Most Consecutive Wins in UFC Strawweight History, Three Fight of the Night Bonuses
  
• David Branch - Former World Series of Fighting Middleweight Champion, Former World Series of Fighting Light Heavyweight Champion, Former UFC #8 Middleweight, Undefeated in WSOF, Tied w/ Justin Gaethje for 2nd Most Wins in WSOF History, Most Submission Victories in WSOF History
  
• Gilbert Yvel - Former RINGS Openweight Champion, 1997 M-1 Global Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament Champion, Former World Vale Tudo Superfight Champion

Truly men who are disgraces to the sport who should be ashamed to even show their faces in civilized society.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Lol at fans thinking tapping to strikes is weakness.

 

[knock_you_out]

I'll let you know as soon as I start up my time machine.

 

[Russie]

It means nothing. He bailed out knowing he was in trouble saving himself from any unneeded further damage. He came back and avenged his loss regaining his title and went on an amazing run. Other fighters damn sure dreamed of and wanted to do the same thing to GSP but had no success.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Using vaseline is ring awareness and makes you the best welterweight of all time?

The best MW of all time did the same thing -- there's a widely posted GIF of Anderson spreading vaseline all over his body before the start of one of his fights. GSP takes a lot more heat for it than Anderson does though. Makes you wonder though if that's the reason they were both so great.

Beyond that, double standards are part of Sherdog. Lindland used the ropes to force Fedor into the corner, so Fedor used the ropes to stop Lindland from taking him down. But most posters complained about Fedor but not Lindland.

 

[Local Plata]

I think people forget how many power shots he ate before that gif even starts.

 

[Perrichet]

2007

13 years ago

No losses since that fight

Retired winning the MW title

 

[The-AxeMurderer]

its pretty disgraceful to be honest. It wouldnt be if he were injured during the fight and needed to get out of there to save himself from further injury, but he tapped to a journeyman lw in his first title defense. Its such a bad look and yes it definitely taints his legacy.

Oh the irony. Your name, your avatar......really dude?

BJ Penn didnt even come out of his corner, he tapped before coming out for the next round. You are a shite poster.

Just forever a salty BJ fan.

 

[boingyman]

He may have prevented much more damaged then he actually received. At that point he loss both physically and mentally so it is what it is.

 

[gotBooched]

He should have just let his head get smashed in so a few bottom feeders wouldn’t shit talk on the internet.

fuckin idiots man

 

[pick999]

Dumb ref didnt stop the fight thats why gsp tapped

 

[DFresh1]

- Tapping cause someone is putting you to sleep = is normal.
- Tapping cause someone is plastering your brain across the canvas = pussy move.

I'll never understand that

I gotta be honest, if someone was "plastering my brain across the canvas" - I would be that pussy. Maybe tone down the analogy? Clearly GSP wasn't at that point...

 

[gevoudane]

A lose to me is a lose. Only idiots believe in tapping castrates them.

 

[Bob Sapp]

He looked like he was pretty much out then woke up and realized hes still getting punched then tapped.

 

[Joonyer]

These kind of threads give Sherdog it's shitty reputation in the fight game.

 

[robbie]

When you look at all the data including the TKO loss to Serra, GSP is generally in the Top 3 GOAT List for most intelligent MMA fans...perhaps not with dumb MMA fans or salty MMA fans...but there is a reason why Baskin Robbins promoted 31 flavors of ice cream...some people are happy with chocolate and vanilla, but others not so much...Root for your fighters, but no need to denigrate other fighters especially those who were honorable champions and truly good people using the broadest definition.

 

[ModernMatt]

if you tab to strikes...then that just means it's very difficult to actually turn off your lights when being hit. Shogun tapped to strikes...but never got the lights turned off from a hit.
BJ Penn was the same way too once...but i believe he got KO'd in a street fight like a year ago.

But why take more hits when you won't get KO'd, you'll just get more unnecessary damage to the head.

Besides, its not like he Bob Sapp'd and curled up from one hit.

 

[Maripucci]

First of all the fight was stopped before he tapped.

Second of all he knew he made a mistake and wanted to live to try again.

I’m sure the same people that would have an issue with GSP tapping to strikes Are the same people would also call someone a pussy for being jumped by 4 guys and deciding to run away instead of fighting all 4 of them at once.

 

[johnnybeebob]

I think he's a pussy for doing that and a disgrace to the sport. He will probably be the next Canadian leader tho, as they like social justice virtue signalling soy boys in Canada.

You enjoy carrot headed freaks of nature

 

[DennisHallmansSpeedo]

Shit happends it doesn't take away from his goatness

How does it not lol