Silva's desire to fight GSP

[Loiosh]

That's what great fighters do. They don't sit around deciding what fights are safe, or what's the safest way to make most money. They look to test themselves and push their limits, especially when they've pretty much cleaned out their respective divisions.

The thing is, they aren't in this business to prove anything, it's a job. They need to take the path that generates the most revenue in the long run.

It may seem like some fighters have made so much money they can take fights just for the sake of legacy, but really, how much money is enough?

The decisions the fighters at the top make represent millions of dollars, and at the end of the day, those decisions are almost always going to be motivated by revenue, which makes a lot of sense to me.

MMA is a business. Gaining the respect of fans by taking tougher fights only makes sense if it generates more revenue.

I doubt many fighters, especially the ones at the top, choose fights to "test themselves". It would be a terrible way to run a business, and if your decisions represent millions of dollars, you are absolutely a business.

 

[OldBoy91]

Anyone else find it odd that only GSP fans don't want to see this fight? Anderson fans want to see it of course, as do the neutrals, but only one group is decidedly against it happening, I wonder why...

 

[Loiosh]

The was a strange cycle.

Before the 2nd fight Penn fans said size wan't going to be an issue because of how well Penn did in their first fight.

Then after the 2nd fight Penn fans said size was definitely an issue because how well GSP dominated him.

Then GSP fans claimed that was just an excuse Penn fans were using and that size wasn't an issue.

Now GSP fans are saying even a catchweight of 178 wouldn't be fair for GSP because Anderson is so much bigger.

At the time, some GSP fans (myself included) didn't want the fight because it did nothing for GSP. If he won, it would be discounted because he was bigger.

I remember Dana saying after that fight that GSP may have killed his own fight with Anderson because as the bigger fighter he did such an excellent job of destroying BJ, and size makes a huge difference.

 

[Rackus]

I think since GSP has fought at the same weight class his entire career its pretty unreasonable to ask him to fight the champ in another weight class. If he had fought and won at MW then we would have more of an argument, just like BJ since he was former champ at WW, but he's only fought at WW (for you fuckin tards who are bringing up BJ).

We just have no idea how GSP would do against anyone at MW, never mind Silva. Until he proves he can even compete at MW its just stupid and unfair to ask him to fight Silva.

 

[georgejjr]

Actually unless its some huge weight difference, like say GSP and Cain, it doesnt really matter. How many guys actually weigh what they fight at. How many guys actually weigh that at fight time? none. Look at Akiyamas fights at MW, he walked into the cage pretty much at his every day weight and was fucking dwarfed by guys exploiting weight cutting. Its bullshit. But hey I dont fight for a paycheck to feed my family so who am I to judge? Still dont like that much cutting.

Disagree that ten pounds doesn't mean much - competing nationally in judo and wrestling in college taught me that ten pounds, if you're under 200 pounds, makes a lot of difference. It tends to mean less in the heavyweights, because the ten pounds is often fat, since there's no weight cut for most of them.

But I agree about not liking weight cutting. In judo you weigh in the day (typically just an hour before) you compete. Despite all the talk about dehydration deaths, its almost never a problem, because you take that into account. I think the real reason they have day before weigh ins in MMA (and boxing) is to hype the fight and sell more PPV's and tickets, not for safety reasons - and I'd prefer fighters having to weigh in an hour before fighting in MMA too. But I suspect if they did that, Anderson would still weigh ten pounds more than GSP ... if they were the same weight, Anderson would drop to 170, like GSP does.

 

[Saskatoonmike**]

I think they should put a limit on how much someone can cut for a fight by weighing them in day before as usual and then again right before the fight. It would take a little while for the fighters to adjust to how to regulate themselves but I think it would help. Like put a 5-10 pound limit so fighters would have to watch how much they weigh before they started the initial cut.

I would support that.

When Rumble missed weight at MW V Vitor, Vitor accepted the fight at CW with the provision that Rumble weigh in on fight day and not come into the cage at more then 210lbs

I would support a +10lbs tolerance on fight day which would imo do a lot to take 'size' out at a significant factor within divisional fights. and the whole reason for weight classes originally was to reduce the advantage of 'size'.

 

[georgejjr]

what? lol

Anderson fights at around 195-200 pounds as a MW. That's small for a MW, most of which rehydrate to 205 or 210. Height is irrelevant, size in combat sport means weight, and will do so until they implement height divisions (and I wouldn't hold my breath for that one).

 

[OldBoy91]

False.

Anderson only started to promote for the GSP fight right after Shogun took the LHW title and started to promote for a fight with Anderson. this was just months prior to GSP fighting Shields and it was the FIRST TIME Anderson ever stated publically he wanted to fight GSP. And when Jones beat Shogun down then Anderson got almost obsessed with a GSP fight saying he wanted it because it was easier then a Jones fight.

For the years prior, during all the #1/#2 p4p talks whenever Anderson was asked by reporters if he wanted to fight GSP his answer was always something along the lines of 'it is not a fight that interests me'.

But by all means please provide some quotes, since there must be many over the years if Anderson has been talking about a fight with GSP for years.

This just isn't true, first of all, at no point has Shogun ever "started to promote for a fight with Anderson" When asked if he would fight Anderson by journalists, he said he would, that's it. Next, your timelines seem to be a bit off, Shogun took the belt in May 2010, whilst Georges didn't fight Shields till April 2011, almost a whole year later.

And to mh knowledge Anderson has never, NEVER, said that a GSP fight didn't interest him.

 

[gillygilly**]

How about making the fight to challenge himself and test his limits?

That's what great fighters do. They don't sit around deciding what fights are safe, or what's the safest way to make most money. They look to test themselves and push their limits, especially when they've pretty much cleaned out their respective divisions.

you should go tell anderson silva what great fighters are supposed to do...

 

[Dookieshoes**]

Anyone else find it odd that only GSP fans don't want to see this fight? Anderson fans want to see it of course, as do the neutrals, but only one group is decidedly against it happening, I wonder why...

Why do you assume that GSP fans don't want to see them fight? I'd like to see them fight.

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

10-15ish pounds seems around the right amount of weight that one should naturally take off through training and nutrition when leading up to a fight. I dont like the "lose 20 more pounds of water right before weigh in and get it back by the fight" type of cutting. I mean, there are weight classes for a reason.

On the other hand, I can argue that cutting weight like that isnt an advantage at all due to the huge amount of stress being placed on your central nervous system. Id want my CNS prime and tiptop, but thats just me. I compete in Olifting comps and if I cut weight like that theres no way id be in any kind of condition to perform at my best. You pretty much want whatever event your doing (fight or whatever) to be the peak of your training. Theres just no way someone is going to be as fast and explosive as they ultimately could when cutting like that. Theres no way the CNS recovers fully by fight time.

 

[boomertx]

This is another problem with you people, you act like Silva is calling out GSP when he's only agreed to Dana's idea to fight him. Yet refuse to see that Silva has "called out" Jones about as much as GSP so you can keep crying & complaining about Silva. He's open to both fights with both p4p fighters right above & below his weight class. You guys want to act like he's calling Aldo out.

"The fight doesn't really make all that much sense to me," White said. "Because Georges St. Pierre is a true 170 pounder. Anderson Silva at 185 has moved up to 205 and done very well at that weight. I see him moving up, not moving down. ... I do like Anderson Silva at 205 pounds. That's a natural weight for him."

So it's Dana's idea to fight? Hmmm, sure sounds like he wants Silva to move up. Maybe my reading comprehension is a little off today.

As for Silva being open to fight Jones that's only at a catchweight. So in spite of the fact he's been fighting at 205 against lower tier fighters for years suddenly he now wants a conditional fight against the champion. Your boy is running scared.

 

[Ronnie911]

wonder why silva doesn't seem to have much desire to fight jones?

oh that's right, they became friends right after jones schooled shogun

Yeah that's why he said he would fight him

 

[OldBoy91]

Why do you assume that GSP fans don't want to see them fight? I'd like to see them fight.

Of course some do. Not all GSP fans are against the fight, but all of the people I've heard saying they don't want the fight to happen also happen to be GSP fans.

 

[jerzey devil]

I would support that.

When Rumble missed weight at MW V Vitor, Vitor accepted the fight at CW with the provision that Rumble weigh in on fight day and not come into the cage at more then 210lbs

I would support a +10lbs tolerance on fight day which would imo do a lot to take 'size' out at a significant factor within divisional fights. and the whole reason for weight classes originally was to reduce the advantage of 'size'.

I made a new topic out of it so we'll see how well it's received.

 

[Saskatoonmike**]

Anderson fights at around 195-200 pounds as a MW. That's small for a MW, most of which rehydrate to 205 or 210. Height is irrelevant, size in combat sport means weight, and will do so until they implement height divisions (and I wouldn't hold my breath for that one).

the only firm reported in cage weight for Anderson was V Belfort when they reported he weighed 205lbs in cage. Other then that Soares has tweeted he 'usually' weighs 203lbs in cage for MW fights.

that is not one of the biggest MW's but it is not close to small either.

 

[TH1RTE3N]

"The fight doesn't really make all that much sense to me," White said. "Because Georges St. Pierre is a true 170 pounder. Anderson Silva at 185 has moved up to 205 and done very well at that weight. I see him moving up, not moving down. ... I do like Anderson Silva at 205 pounds. That's a natural weight for him."

So it's Dana's idea to fight? Hmmm, sure sounds like he wants Silva to move up. Maybe my reading comprehension is a little off today.

As for Silva being open to fight Jones that's only at a catchweight. So in spite of the fact he's been fighting at 205 against lower tier fighters for years suddenly he now wants a conditional fight against the champion. Your boy is running scared.

LOL Wait, so now your completely oblivious to the fact that Dana's been promoting this fight for years because "the fans" wanted it...? The reasoning behind this match up is no different than Pacman v Mayweather, except in this case we have one guy agreeing to fight.

Why don't you post the source? Oh, is it because it a quote from the summer of 2010, after he was pissed about the Maia fight and the only time you see him saying this since he called off the fight anyway. Do you actually think people don't actually know about the history of this Superfight or do you actually not know it...?

 

[OldBoy91]

LOL Wait, so now your completely oblivious to the fact that Dana's been promoting this fight for years because "the fans" wanted it...? The reasoning behind this match up is no different than Pacman v Mayweather, except in this case we have one guy agreeing to fight.

Why don't you post the source? Oh, is it because it a quote from the summer of 2010, after he was pissed about the Maia fight and the only time you see him saying this since he called off the fight anyway. Do you actually think people don't actually know about the history of this Superfight or do you actually not know it...?

That is indeed the case, here is the source

www.fightline.com/fl/news/2010/0622/529432/gsp-anderson-silva/

 

[boomertx]

LOL Wait, so now your completely oblivious to the fact that Dana's been promoting this fight for years because "the fans" wanted it...? The reasoning behind this match up is no different than Pacman v Mayweather, except in this case we have one guy agreeing to fight.

Why don't you post the source? Oh, is it because it a quote from the summer of 2010, after he was pissed about the Maia fight and the only time you see him saying this since he called off the fight anyway. Do you actually think people don't actually know about the history of this Superfight or do you actually not know it...?

YOU are the one that said he has been promoting this fight for years...obviously he hasn't. As Dana clearly stated he thinks another fight with Silva makes more sense. That's a response to your post...not a history of all the permutations and combinations of he said, she said.

I stand by my primary point...Silva picks and chooses his fights. He won't fight GSP at 170 and he won't fight Jones at 205. He's running scared.

 

[Saskatoonmike**]

This just isn't true, first of all, at no point has Shogun ever "started to promote for a fight with Anderson" When asked if he would fight Anderson by journalists, he said he would, that's it. Next, your timelines seem to be a bit off, Shogun took the belt in May 2010, whilst Georges didn't fight Shields till April 2011, almost a whole year later.

And to mh knowledge Anderson has never, NEVER, said that a GSP fight didn't interest him.

If it is not true then over the years you should plenty of quote with Anderson suggesting he wants a fight with GSP prior to the months leading up to the Shields fight. Provide just one please. ONE.

If you want to know what that should look like here are some quick google examples of Shogun promoting for a fight with Anderson and making it known every time a mic was put in his face that it was a fight he wanted and would take.

Shogun wants Anderson Silva Fight!

"I believe a fight against Anderson (Silva) would be the biggest of my career and my life, but these challenges motivate me a lot. I respect him because today he and Fedor (Emelianenko) are the best pound-for-pound in the world. It will be a very hard fight, but as I said before, the only guy I have affection for in UFC is Wanderlei (Silva). I am professional and I work for the UFC, so for me it is a duty to repay what they ask me. I would fight with anyone, including Anderson, that is at the top of pound-for-pound in the world." -Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

"Now I'm focused on Jon Jones. It's a sin to speak about my next fight when I'm thinking about a man like Jon Jones. So I'm focused on him, but I already answered. It's obvious I'd fight Anderson. I respect him as a friend and professional, but I also am a professional. Yes, I'd fight him."

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