Was GSP in his prime VS Matt Serra the 1st fight?

[pankrat]

Okami (inb4 'but but but it was a DQ) .

Good luck finding anyone who takes you seriously, pricks.

Okami got KOed that night btw. Not even himself acknowledges as a win, actually took it as a loss. Shertard Xoleth must know better though

 

[TheMessiah]

He was and tapped to strikes against a 5'2 Journeyman

 

[ThunderStruck]

He was only 25 years old. How many fighters are in his prime at that age?

 

[Kos Fan]

He was a better fighter mentally after the fight you saw how he destroyed Serra in the rematch. He was clearly a smarter fighter.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

God I love this topic!

 

[Xoleth]

Good luck finding anyone who takes you seriously, pricks.

Okami got KOed that night btw. Not even himself acknowledges as a win, actually took it as a loss. Shertard Xoleth must know better though

Your life must be very sad if you feel the need to insult strangers on internet just because you love too much a certain fighter who doesn't even know who you are.

 

[Fioretti]

Yes but the way you guys try to use one loss to discredit gsps entire career is pretty silly.

People don't use his losses as a way to discredit "his entire career", just a way to realistically show the delusional fans why other guys did it "greater". Losing your first title shot and first title defense is not "greater" than winning in your first attempt then holding the belt for 7+ years without ever losing it. Plain and simple.

He was absolutely in his prime at the time, and was on the best streak of his career. He got caught behind the ear and was discombobulated, then panicked, got caught clean a few times, then tapped to strikes. He wasn't green at this time, he was vs Hughes the first time, and he was obliterating dudes left and right while juicing pretty hard. As I said before, he was on the best streak of his career with his best performances when he lost to Serra.

 

[Fioretti]

Peak vs Prime is a matter of definition and time.

An athlete's Prime is over a period of time when they are consistently very good or close to their best, over that course of time. Usually measured in years.

The peak is the single day that they are at their absolute best.

With sports that are quantifiable or measurable, like timed sports (sprinting) or strength-based sports (weight lifting) the peak is when the athlete produces a PB they never achieve again.

Prime though is the plateau of measurement on either side of that PB where they are very close to this peak.

Usain Bolt's PB is 9.58 in 2009 that is his PEAK.

However, he was in his Prime where he was on top of the world from 2008-2016. So his Prime lasted 7-9 years.
2008 9.69 sec
2009 9.58 sec
2012 9.63 sec
2013 9.77 sec
2016 9.81 sec

In fighting sports it's harder to get a definitive measure b/c there is no yard stick-like in other sports to quantify performance so it's more of an objective determination based on performance.

GSP was in his early Prime in the Serra fight but he had not yet peaked.

Great post, my dude. Perfect examples.

 

[HaulParris]

I voted no. He was young, in great shape, well-rounded, but his physical peak didn’t coincide with his peak as a mixed martial artist - that is, he became more seasoned/strategic/dominant a few years later.

 

[Fioretti]

I voted no. He was young, in great shape, well-rounded, but his physical peak didn’t coincide with his peak as a mixed martial artist - that is, he became more seasoned/strategic/dominant a few years later.

Eh.... he had 4 finishes in his 6 fights between losing to Hughes and Serra. Those were some of the best performances of his career, barring the first Penn fight. He was definitely in his prime, and the way he straight up dominated those fights (actually finishing your opponent is more dominant than not) is what earned him another title shot.

 

[suffersystem]

IMO he was in his prime, or just starting it, but that loss led to his peak fighting abilities as it humbled him and made him the fighter he became. I don't down on this loss as a big deal. He got overconfident, and paid the price. This one fight doesn't ruin his entire career.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I think he def was but seems some might not

He was 13-1. Over 5 years in MMA and beat Sherk, BJ and Matt Ews in a row. Was top P4P fighter too. Serra 1 was one of the biggest favorites odds wise in a UFC fight. Only bigger odds GSP had was against Hardy

If he was between 25 and 30 years old, then he was in his prime.

 

[SuperNerd]

Well he was def. better in the second fight...

 

[Lee_]

GSP improved after that fight, he was surely not at his best in terms of skills. It doesn't take a genius to parse out the difference.

 

[kflo]

I think he def was but seems some might not

He was 13-1. Over 5 years in MMA and beat Sherk, BJ and Matt Ews in a row. Was top P4P fighter too. Serra 1 was one of the biggest favorites odds wise in a UFC fight. Only bigger odds GSP had was against Hardy

does it make a big difference?

 

[kflo]

He was and tapped to strikes against a 5'2 Journeyman

that journeyman was competitive with some of the best fighters of his generation. penn, hughes, gsp, lytle, din, edwards (i'll leave out trigg). only gsp outclassed serra in their rematch. people want to just brand fighters with labels without any contextualization.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

You can call it a difference between skills and styles. Athletically? I don't remember when the knee thing was, but he was around about his best, yeah. Whether you want to call his fault in that fight a mental one or a style one, but he was not yet at the point of applying his athleticism and technical skills in the most efficient way. He did improve after that, im obviously not going to say this fight was peak performance GSP, but i don't see any reason to think his loss was due to being "out of his prime"

 

[po_thead]

Physical prime yes, but he wasn't there mentally. Everybody knows this

 

[pankrat]

Your life must be very sad if you feel the need to insult strangers on internet just because you love too much a certain fighter who doesn't even know who you are.

Your life must be very sad prick if you enjoy hating on fighters on the internet without even having a clue about the sport.
<{Red Card}>

 

[Jolly Rancha]

He was. Just got over confident, which happens in a lot of people's primes and paid for it.

No biggie.

The rematch was a lot more telling.

Exactly. Just like the Lennox Lewis x Rahman fight. Got a super fluke loss but then destroyed him in the rematch