What made GSP such a huge draw?

for me it was always hoping he’d get his ass kicked…and I’m Canadian
 
GSP is white.

Jones, Aldo, MM, Anderson, etc…. are not.

How is this even a question?
 
He's even more popular on Opus Prime where the race of Aliens that keep abducting him are from.
 
Fioretti said:
Everything I said was 100% fact, not just the part about Fitch. Those guys being finished in 50-100% of their losses doesn't make them very hard to finish, it's actually quite the opposite.

  • You listed 7 fighters who were "hard to finish"
  • 2 were finished in exactly 50% of their losses
  • 3 were finished 60, 80, and 100% of the times they had lost at that point in their careers (when they fought GSP)
  • 2 were finished in less than 50% of their losses - those guys would qualify as "hard to finish"
  • 2 out of 7 is only 28.57% - less than 1/3rd - which means 71.43% of the guys you listed weren't "hard to finish"
  • These guys were finished a combined 14 times in 22 losses - 63.63%
That means they were finished more often than not. That means they weren't "unfinishable" juggernauts who even the most dangerous fighters (as you put it) couldn't put away, or "very hard to finish". Fuck, man.
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They're clearly hard to finish. Knocking GSP for not knocking out Fitch, for example, is pretty dumb, considering he dominated him and came close.
 
Big muscles and a cute face beats an exciting style.
 
He consistently fought the next best available opponent in his weightclass, save for dan hardy, and more times than not absolutely dominated them. Dominant champs are always a draw, and rightfully so, unfortunately that seems to be going away since it is much easier to overmarket the shit out of a babied fighter and hand them titles, then not even worry about if they defend it or not.
 
New fans are the problem. Folks that witnessed GSP’s climb to the top know he was exciting. He smashed everyone he faced. “He just lays on people.. He’s boring.. Robbery!!!!..” All of it is hilarious. The dude was a master. He deserves all the credit and popularity he received.

WAR GSP
 
Entertaining rivalries, finished the fighters he had rivalries with, not too small, good looking, had an entire country behind him
 
13Seconds said:
He did. Dude went through and passed 3 generations of fighters in his division.

But why was he so marketable? Why was he THE ticket selling, PPV buying machine?



I know i love humbleness. But historically the casual fan hasn't. The flat out truth seems to be that the "hardcores" find humbleness boring as well. Just look at the attention the Jamahal Hill/Paul Craig fight got in here.

What is GSP's secret?
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So you're asking peoples opinions than disagree with them? Makes sense...
 
Great skills, defended the belt like a true champ so many times, was a gentleman
 
Local Plata said:
He consistently fought the next best available opponent in his weightclass, save for dan hardy
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GSP was highly active, AND Dan Hardy was the best available opponent, that's why he got the fight.

Swick won 4 fights in a row, Dan Hardy was undefeated in the UFC and had 3 wins. Their fight was billed as a WW title eliminator.

You can argue nobody deserved that title shot, and it only happened because GSP was over-active, but Hardy was clearly the most deserving guy at the moment.
 
Besides the obvious factors:

1. Popularity snowball effect.There was a lot of talk about how GSP had an unusually hyped fanbase when he entered the UFC - which grabs attention. Similar to when Conor joined, people started talking about how popular he seemed

2. GSP joined the UFC earlier than most other greats. Early 2004. Silva didn't join until late 2006. Aldo didn't join until 2011. Jones joined in 2008.

3. Maybe the narrative with Hughes. Facing one of the most dominant champs in UFC history. The first loss made everyone to follow his journey as he continued to improve, hyping people up for the inevitable rematch.
(Not saying this is unique though, I think people were similarly hyped for Chuck Lidell's rematches)
 
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He had Canada behind him, and the UFC was eager to benefit of that, and therefore they gave him a lot of promotion and whatnot.
He was a dominant champ going on a legendary run. He was obviously one of the greats. People tune in to see that
He was good looking.
He was in an era where there werent a lot of guys that were obviously levels above their competition. Now we have a lot of killer champs.

But maybe one of the most important factors, which is something that fans and fighters constantly fail to notice when talking about who gets paid, is that he was charismatic. He was charismatic and sympathetic and likeable. Thats why you can have guys like Aldo, MM, Jones, etc and people dont care about them, its because they lack that charisma, that presence, gravitas, or at least some kind of showmanship. They cant really make you care about them winning or losing if you're not a hardcore fans whos really invested in the sport. With charisma you just need one well-viewed interview and you got people hooked and wanting to see you fight.
 
Timing had a lot to do with it. The sport was pretty much peaking in popularity at the time he was dominant.
 
It's because he always had a small/medium cup so most fans could relate. The majority of BIG stars have big bulges that we just can't rally behind and Georges showed us that endowment isn't everything

That and he was always better then his opponent everywhere the fight took place but mostly his average sized bulge
 
TheSpider said:
His deluded Canadian fanbase who have no other Canadian to cheer for
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Not a fan of GSP but I respect what he’s done. Why would Canadians need anyone else? He has done it all and in spectacular fashion. This coming from a Penn fan.
 
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