Why is Dana so opposed to GSP vs. Khabib

[Sisyphos]

Because he's afraid of GSP beating Khabib, which has an effect on Khabib's "stock price".
GSP's analogy on fighters and stock values was actually spot on, its exactly how it is.
And all of it amounts to the UFC's brand value.

It's also why Conor was only fed cans until he fought Khabib.

 

[Reffson]

Fight would have to be at 170. Khabib has trouble making 155 and GSP would nearly kill himself like Royce did for Hughes.

 

[mjfan23]

Cause GSP would walk away and use all the added media attention to talk about drug testing in ufc being crappy and fighters needing more rights.

Also him winning would make UFCs modern state look pathetic as a guy who was in his prime a decade ago came back and beat the modern p4p king

 

[mjfan23]

What do you mean supposedly? That's exactly what happened, there is no debate about it.

I never blamed GSP for coming back, winning the MW title, and then leaving again. He put years and years into MMA, being apart of the golden era building the UFC to what it is today, more power to him if he wants to pick his fights and come out for only interesting stuff.

But, the UFC was stupid for giving him that MW title fight. A guy 4 years retired that waited for the easiest MW opponent to rise to the top, there was no doubt in my mind it would be one and done for him. The UFC have had a big problem for a while now of completely throwing away any illusion of structure to title fights and how a fighter gets one, it's all just pure money matches these days. Old names worth more than current wins. Champ vs Champ fights before one or both have even defended a title. That shit bites them in the ass now and they've de-legitimized a bunch of their divisions with it. They have no concept of who the actual talents are that will rise to the top, it's all just who is trending and lets give them a shot and see if they can hail-mary their way to looking like they belong.

So with all that said, if they don't want to make Khabib vs GSP then I say great, it shouldn't be happening. If GSP wants to get back into the pool and earn at least 1 win against a LW top 10, and looks impressive doing it, then by all means make a title fight. But I've no interest in seeing GSP come back and potentially destabilize another division he has no intention of competing in beyond one fight. And I don't blame the UFC one bit for not giving it to him.

With that logic how much do you and let’s assume ufc hate Triple C? Or even Jones (who has left or been banned from a division and disrupted its competitive balance multiple times)?

 

[Deleted member 581023]

GSP wins he'll leave with the title.
Khabib wins he'll leave with the title.

So who cares.

Because if GSP wins, the lightweight division will look like a joke since Khabib has been so dominant. This is the division people claim to be the toughest.

 

[cws80us]

I've often wondered the same thing. Dana seems to let his ego get the best of him and would rather hold a grudge against GSP then swallow his pride and allow this fight to happen. Everyone seems to want to see it except Dana. That said he has seemed to soften his stance somewhat and even said that if Khabib really wanted that fight then he would try to make it happen. My fear is that they have now waited too long, and the window has now closed. Even if it did finally happen, GSP would be 40 years old and has only fought once in 7 years.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Generally I do agree. However youre missing my point; GSP’s grappling has improved since the Hendricks fight to a degree you are not willing to accept. With no way of proving it you will just have to trust me on this.
Something tells me that Khabib is not doing what GSP did to Bisping on the ground, obviously the fight being at middleweight means a lot, but still, I rate GSP’s ground game as exceptional even at world title level. I rate Khabib’s wrestling and control as exceptional but not his overall submission grappling game. However I’ll concede there cannot possibly be much in it, but GSP has a vital edge on the ground from the leaps he has made since retiring, add this to the weight disparency and GSP comes out clearly ahead.

If GSP were younger and active I'd happily bet on him against Khabib. In my opinion, in his prime (especially before his knee injury) he was faster, stronger, and in terms of takedowns and control, better than Khabib -- and bigger. I think we primarily disagree on how much difference age and inactivity make. I've no idea what GSP looks like now in practice, but there's a world of difference between practice and actual competition, and I guess I'd only believe GSP was still what he once was if he showed it in competition. He looked (relative to his younger self) slow and out of shape against Bisping, and that was two years ago, my guess is he will have declined further since then (simply because that's what happen as you near 40).

 

[Bouboumaster]

Dana White is batshit crazy.

I'd do that:

Co-Main Event: Gaethje vs Winner of Poirier/McGregor for Interim LW title
Main Event: Khabib vs GSP for the title.

Who ever win, both retire after the fight. It's a one-time deal. You can do a big ass celebration after if you want. Easiest marketing ever.
The Interim champion become Champion. Lighweight Division unclogged.
Win-Win-Win for everyone.

 

[aali14]

Because if GSP became a 3 weight division champion, Dana would look even stupider not acknowledging him as the GOAT, after. And he hated GSP for outsmarting him.

 

[Aurelian]

I'm only interested in this fight at 170. If Khabib wants to beat GSP then he needs to do it at the weight class GSP became GOAT in. No LW Title necessary.

 

[johncola]

Because GSP probably beats Khabib, and that's bad for business.

 

[The Fat Mexican]

Because uncle Fester White knows GSP has good chances of winning, and that would be his last fight. From a business perspective, it doesn't make sense.

Add to this that GSP is one of the very few fighters who were smart enough to screw White by leaving on his own terms, no matter what the bald clown wanted. Dana likes to screw his fighters and get every single penny out of them, he's not a fan of getting screwed and outsmarted by them. He's salty as fuck

 

[MMArtsfan]

With that logic how much do you and let’s assume ufc hate Triple C? Or even Jones (who has left or been banned from a division and disrupted its competitive balance multiple times)?

Why would I hate Triple C? I literally said I didn't blame GSP for coming back, nor would I blame him for coming back to fight Khabib, but the UFC would be dumb to do it. I don't hold the previous situation against GSP. He made the smart move for himself, as did Triple C. What, are they supposed to walk away from those opportunities out of some bullshit sense of honor? It's the UFC that needs to protect the integrity of the divisions, and they are fucking garbage at it. Don't see why that would fall to the fighters instead.

Jones is a whole other bag, the shit he's been pulling for years is absolutely on him, but also on the UFC for giving him chance after chance until they were suckling his teet with their "let's define a picogram" bullshit.