What made GSP such a huge draw?

The UFC probably did a better job at promoting him . Easy to push the right guy at right time in the right place .
I think he won the title right at the end of the "rock star era" of Randy , Chuck , BJ , Hughes and Tito , so he got some of that era's fame and promotional carry over .
I dont really know , I'm just guessing .
GSP was an exciting fighter up until the second Penn fight. He had the bulk of his fan base behind him by the time he had that fight, After that he went into the point fighting mode.
 
While I agree GSP was risk averse, I think people vastly overestimate how finishable GSP's title challengers were.
-Koscheck had only been finished by McFedries and Paulo Thiago.
-Fitch was undefeated
-Alves was subbed twice early on and fluke KOd by Fitch
-Hardy, tough as shit, took Condit of all people to knock him out
-Shields, Condit, Diaz, need we say more on how hard those guys are to put away?

Aside from Hardy, I can't really think of any of those fighters that GSP or even the most dangerous WWs would put away.

This is a lot of incorrect information.
 
Which part?

Literally the entire part I quoted.

  • Koscheck was finished in 2 of his 4 losses at the time - 50%
  • Fitch was 19-2 when he faced GSP, not undefeated, and was finished in both losses - 100%
  • Alves was finished in 4 out of his 5 losses at the time - 80%
  • Hardy was finished in 3 out of his 6 losses at the time - 50%
  • Condit was finished in 3 out of his 5 losses at the time - 60%
  • Shields was finished in 1 out of his 4 losses at the time - 25% - but was knocked out in under a minute less than 4 months after fighting GSP
  • Diaz was finished in 2 out of his 8 losses at the time - 25% - but one of those "finishes" was due to a cut, so he should really be at 12.5%.
  • Diaz is the only guy on that list who was actually "hard to finish"
Here's some other fun facts:
  • Hardy was knocked out in the first round about 7 months after fighting GSP - in his very next fight
  • Fitch was finished in 3 out of 4 losses after fighting GSP

The revisionist bullshit spewed by GSP fans is ridiculous. Always glorifying everything he's ever done, exaggerating, and hyping up his opponents to be a slew of unkillable juggernauts. Fuckin madness and bullshit. Your idea of how "finishable" GSP's title challengers were is skewed and wrong. Like I said, a lot of incorrect information.
 
MMA audience was small in the beginning of GSPs career. He was well rounded and athletic with a superhero bod which drew a lot of fighting fans. People thought he was god until he became boring.
 
You'd understand if you lived in Canada. He probably wasn't a big draw outside of here. Canada doesn't have many big athletes on the international stage. Most of our good athletes are in hockey that most non-Canadians don't care much about.
 
I said earlier that all he did, which was a given he was gonna win by jab, jab, a weak attempt at a superman punch, jab, jab, takedown, dry hump every fight.
Then when he said he "was in a dark place" against Diaz or Condit I think? What did he do?
Jab, jab, a weak attempt at a superman punch, jab, jab, takedown, dry hump.
That was literally all he ever did.
The most booorring fighter ever
He was boring if you were fans of his opponents. He was exciting if you were fans of the sport. Seeing a guy control a fight anyway he wanted was a real treat. No real holes and all his opponents had a weakness he could exploit. He was a pleasure to watch. Playing 3D chess while everyone else was playing checkers.
 
Do you have anything constructive to add as a rebuttal, or are you just going to mask your lack of knowledge behind a GIF thinking it will earn your likes?
GSP beats him tomorrow.
DBreiden is not wrong. Prime GSP walks through Khabib easily. Stronger, faster, more well-rounded, excellent takedown defense... hell... a washed up GSP causes all kinds of problems for Khabib.
 
GSP tapped to strikes. GSP cried for years about wanting stricter drug testing then left the very same year USADA came in. Left the sport after his first real fight in years vs Hendricks. Left the sport in his prime, looking like he was about to give birth from all the HGH he was injecting. Greased himself vs BJ Penn. Denied the fans the greatest fight of all time by refusing to move up to fight Anderson, a fight everyone wanted, yet couldn’t do it quick enough when Bisping is there for the taking.

I can tell by the attitude that you choose to adopt here - being antagonistic in the safety of anonymity, that you’re just not my kind of guy and our philosophies don’t line up, hence why you’re so upset about me calling out one of your hero’s anyway. You’re an emotional guy and that’s fine, maybe save that side of you for your girlfriend though.
Not a factual
Statement in this post. Just another salty fan because GSP ran through his idol. Most likely a BJ Penn lover or a AS lover who doesn’t like the fact GSP comes out ahead on all the GOAT lists, get over it.
 
Some guys just have the it factor

I think a lot of posters (maybe particularly Americans?) think you need controversy to sell. But pro wrestling seems to show that fans like both heroes & villains.

& lots of fight sport stars (K brothers, Oscar DLH, GGG, Camelot) achieved immense popularity while being pretty low key & respectful

Perhaps most surprising is GSP’s staying power. Sherdog has daily threads about him despite him fighting once in last 8+ years. He is getting endorsements all the time. Constantly in demand for interviews
 
Complexion for the protection. Same reason any similar looking fighters tend to be draws. Colby. Connor, rhonda ,Valatina ect. Ufc is still a fringe sport largely only supported by similar looking fans. Most poc choose boxing as there combat sport of choice. Sad to say but it is what it is.
 
Other dominant champions like Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and José Aldo were just as impressive as GSP. He never talked trash and didn't have an overly exciting fighting style in his championship reigns. The excitement came from him figuring out puzzles but that's another topic.

Yet Georges st pierre pulled bigger numbers and checks than the rest of his dominant peers, without having to sell fights with trash talk or spectacular finishes. Why is that?
No.
 
Literally the entire part I quoted.

  • Koscheck was finished in 2 of his 4 losses at the time - 50%
  • Fitch was 19-2 when he faced GSP, not undefeated, and was finished in both losses - 100%
  • Alves was finished in 4 out of his 5 losses at the time - 80%
  • Hardy was finished in 3 out of his 6 losses at the time - 50%
  • Condit was finished in 3 out of his 5 losses at the time - 60%
  • Shields was finished in 1 out of his 4 losses at the time - 25% - but was knocked out in under a minute less than 4 months after fighting GSP
  • Diaz was finished in 2 out of his 8 losses at the time - 25% - but one of those "finishes" was due to a cut, so he should really be at 12.5%.
  • Diaz is the only guy on that list who was actually "hard to finish"
Here's some other fun facts:
  • Hardy was knocked out in the first round about 7 months after fighting GSP - in his very next fight
  • Fitch was finished in 3 out of 4 losses after fighting GSP

The revisionist bullshit spewed by GSP fans is ridiculous. Always glorifying everything he's ever done, exaggerating, and hyping up his opponents to be a slew of unkillable juggernauts. Fuckin madness and bullshit. Your idea of how "finishable" GSP's title challengers were is skewed and wrong. Like I said, a lot of incorrect information.
You're right on Fitch, he was just on a long win streak in the UFC. But like I said all of those fighters are very hard to finish, even by elite standards. Most of their stoppages came as they declined.
 
Other dominant champions like Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and José Aldo were just as impressive as GSP. He never talked trash and didn't have an overly exciting fighting style in his championship reigns. The excitement came from him figuring out puzzles but that's another topic.

Yet Georges st pierre pulled bigger numbers and checks than the rest of his dominant peers, without having to sell fights with trash talk or spectacular finishes. Why is that?

His hair !
 
Other dominant champions like Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and José Aldo were just as impressive as GSP. He never talked trash and didn't have an overly exciting fighting style in his championship reigns. The excitement came from him figuring out puzzles but that's another topic.

Yet Georges st pierre pulled bigger numbers and checks than the rest of his dominant peers, without having to sell fights with trash talk or spectacular finishes. Why is that?
He had a country behind him. He is a well spoken, polite baddass that women find attractive who was dominating his sport. Canadians were extremely eager to have him represent. I can guarantee most of his ppv buys were Canadian.
 
You're right on Fitch, he was just on a long win streak in the UFC. But like I said all of those fighters are very hard to finish, even by elite standards. Most of their stoppages came as they declined.

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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