When was GSP in his prime?

[GoofMaster93]

People say that 2012 - 2013 GSP was the best version of himself while others say that it was 2007 GSP when he was 26 years old. I feel GSP in 2012 - 2013 was him at his best because even though he went through the acl injury I remember thinking to myself at the time that he came back stronger physically and somewhat mentally recharged. At that point he had been champion for 7 years so he had more experience and skills than when he first won the title plus he looked way stronger

I think 2013 GSP beats both 2007 GSP and 2017 GSP. I have yet to see anyone say that 2017 GSP was his best but you really can't know for sure because he was at 185 and hadn't fought in 4 years

 

[r-harper-1]

Around the Fitch , Penn 2 and Alves fight imo

 

[EVIL WAR GOD]

Second Hughes fight.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Post Serra 1 till he injured his ACL.

 

[Garnet_StrongerThanYou]

The run after the first Serra fight.

BJ Penn, Serra 2, Hughes 3.

he was on a mission.

 

[Sweater of AV]

2004-2011. Peak was hit August 9, 2008.

 

[gaffbyknees2]

Gsp - directly after Serra loss.

GSP's Hair - now

 

[blackjackz]

Probably after the Serra Loss all the way to Nick DIaz... If I had to refine it, the period from BJ Penn II to Shields..

 

[Street Bishop]

2008 until the blown acl

 

[knock_you_out]

2009-2010.

 

[G10]

Hard to say. With most fighters, you can clearly see when their best years were after their career is over because their W/L ratio looks like a Bell Curve. With GSP, he never lost after a certain point, and he looked very dominant in most of his fights. Personally, I think GSP's best single performance was against Jon Fitch in 2008, but who knows if that was his prime or not? Most fighters are at their physical best around age 28-32, which would put GSP's prime about when he fought Koscheck or Hardy. I guess it comes down to what you're looking for in terms of "prime" years.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

2006-2011.. After the ACL injury he was fighting more with his brain than ever before..

 

[COBRA03]

2005-2012 A nice, long prime.

 

[charalsias]

The moment he decided to shave his head, even though he didn't need to. Men like that are dangerous!

 

[Natural Order]

Hit his prime in 2005, last 4-5 years until 2009/10.

Peak GSP was Hughes 2.

 

[blewgums]

Probably when he was fighting.

 

[Pascal Bergeron]

from the serra 2 fight to the jake shield fight after that he had the acl surgeries and became way more hittable

 

[HallmansHammock]

Its hard to say because there was the GSP who was at the deadliest (just pre serra) and then there was the GSP that you were definitely getting dominated by (everything after that, except the pig rig fight)

 

[TrainAllDay]

Serra II up until Hendricks

 

[4n4L53x]

GSP putting beatdowns on scrubs before he had the title was when he looked most dangerous and hungry, threw caution to the wind.

His beating of Sean Sherk sticks out in my memory because that is one of the first times I audibly heard someone break mentally, he punished Sean Sherk with elbows and punches on the ground till the guy whimpered like a baby.
And Sean Sherk wasn't a scrub.

He actually spoke about how Khabib does that in his recent JRE interview, but GSP did the same thing to people early in his career, broke them with pressure and violence.


However I think GSP's prime was after his loss to Matt Serra, he upped his fight IQ to new levels over those years of dominance, he fought the cream of the crop and kept winning despite every coach and fighter in MMA studying him intensely he still found ways to win.

People say he was boring during that period, but you need to take into account that he was probably the most studied fighter and nobody could come up with a game plan to beat him.

For me that was his prime, and one of the best primes of any MMA fighter, if GSP had that high level fight IQ earlier in his career he would have been undefeated imho.