Would GSP have fought Whittaker if he never got colitis?

[Franklin U.]

I agree with everything you said but I don't get what your point is. I don't think anyone thinks Bisping beats prime Anderson lmfao. I was saying Gastelum's win wasn't better than GSP's because Kelvin benefited from 'Ping fighting too soon after getting beat.

I was basically putting a stamp and how lucky bisping was during that whole facade. I have no choice but to give him and coach P credit for acknowledging rockholds poor defense - especially with bisping throwing leather from that left side. However - in hindsight- we saw just how much his ( luke) defense/chin declined which went hand in hand with what we saw the calibur fighter bisping was after upset .

Your point taken on the timeline of KG fight but Bisping shouldnt of lost like that and was dispatched quickly from another welter. Gastelum was -265 favorite ( me thinks )in thst fight. You have to really sit down and absorb that. It kind of speaks volumes of what bisping did to division.

I respected Bisping as a UFC calibur solid fighter but not as a " champion " . I'm sorry to bisping fans and fans who have the nerve to call him one of the best middleweights of all time. Remember- he was 0 for in career contender fights. The Anderson fight wasnt a contender fight .Xhris got hurt and bisping pulled the enormous upset

 

[Rikkson]

No, he wouldn't, but that's absolutely fine. Fans should stop to pressure fighters into fights that don't favor them. GSP has always been a WW after all. He didn't simply walk through Bisping, the fight showed that it was pretty much a big challenge to fight a bigger man. No reason to go after the #1 MW at that time.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

GSP wanted to fight Whittaker as much as Silva wanted to fight Jon Jones

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Sorry, I like your overall post, but I always had an issue with this line of defense.
- you can't duck someone not in your weight division.
Yes, you can. Silva & GSP fight has been mentioned for multiple years as the fight to make.
Please note that this was VERY unique. 2 dominant fighters who ruled over all competition for years and were in neighboring divisions. So this is not a Joe Shmoe fighting another nobody from a different division.

- In that case GSP probably ducked 30 or 40 guys
No other fight was being pushed for GSP outside his weight class like that. So to claim it can't be ducking or that he would be ducking 40 other guys that, while they would accept a fight against GSP, no one pushed to see those fights!
Again, there was ONE fight that EVERYONE wanted to see. From fans to the Media, to everyone else.
Heck, I recall when Pacquiao lost, I recall one of the Fertitas twitted that they had to take cue from Boxing and do this fight before GSP or Silva lost! So again, this generalization is just a dumb way out.

I also have a pretty hard time accepting this:
- Anderson had fought at 170 in the past
Let me start by prefacing this: I have no issues with them fighting at catchweight.
HOWEVER: it is invariably the smaller fighter who moves up. So much so, that everyone wanted GSP to move up and face Silva.
Unfair? maybe. But it has ALWAYS been like this for a very good reason. GSP is not a natural 170 LBs fighter (in the sense like Frankie didn't cut any weight to make LW while he was the champion).
And looking for the effects of such cuts: GSP would be much fresher if he did not cut much weight to make 185Lbs. SIlva would make his normal cut.
As opposed to: GSP cutting his normal amount, and Silva completely depleting himself to make 170Lbs.

So for all of the above, I think that: GSP & Silva was the ONLY fight to make. GSP should have moved up to face him.
But it is what it is, and this fight did not happen. But let us try to be honest and impartial here.
Claiming generalizations like GSP would be ducking 40 other nobodies or that at some point Silva fought at 170Lbs are just dishonest type of defense that leads to nowhere.

I mean, Hell, Lesnar weighted 150 lbs at some point in his life!
Should we book a LW bout for him???

That's an interesting argument with some good points, but I don't think it holds up, at least with what duck used to mean (and what I think meant more sense). This is a long post, because you raise points that I think have to be answered. Even if you don't bother reading this (its long), thanks for a good discussion.

Duck had a very specific meaning in old time boxing: it was when a champion refused to give a worthy challenger a shot at the title he held. This was very significant, because it meant that challenger couldn't get a shot at the single most prized (and money earning) accomplishment in his division - the title.

That didn't apply to any other ranks. If the number 2 fighter refused to fight the number 3 fighter, then the fighter could ask for (and the promotion grant) his skipping over the number 2 guy to fight for the title (which is what he ultimately wanted -- no one particularly wants the number 2 rank). So they didn't consider it ducking if the number 2 guy refused to fight the number 3 guy.

So now take GSP holding the WW title and refusing to go up to MW to fight. Who does he block from the WW title by refusing to do this? Whose progress is he impeding? Clearly no-one's so long as he's defending the WW title against all the worthy challengers. Now if Anderson wanted to go down to WW and GSP had refused the fight, he would have been blocking Anderson's chances of gaining that ultimate goal (winning the WW title), and so that would have been a duck and a bad thing.

What's happened in this case is fans and Dana are thinking the ultimate goal is not winning a title, but fighting a particular fighter -- ie Anderson's goal wasn't to win the WW title which GSP had, but was to beat GSP in particular. The reason for this for Anderson (and Dana) is clear -- they wanted the money that the fight would bring. So by not going up to fight Anderson, GSP was blocking Anderson and Dana from making the money that particular fight brought. Its a very different definition of ducking than blocking a title, especially since Anderson and the UFC could make money from other fights as well.

Basically, its as if say the New England Pat's said that beating say the Dallas Cowboys was more important than winning the Superbowl -- ie the title has become less important than the particular rivalry. Of course, its the UFC itself that's responsible for that -- their titles have become more or less meaningless. But that makes not fighting a title holder from another division even less significant, simply because the title is insignificant.

The thing is, duck now doesn't mean blocking someone's title shot. So what does it mean? Not taking a fight that the fans want? Does that mean say MLB should automatically make the World Series a matchup between Los Angeles and New York, since those are the biggest markets and would have the biggest demand? I'm old fashioned enough to think that's the end of sport. Putting together the biggest market fight (ie what fans want to see) should be irrelevant in sport, and players shouldn't go out of their way to try to arrange that (and in fact, in most sports it'd be called cheating if they did so).

And at that point, I see no sporting difference between Anderson wanting to fight GSP and say Joe Blow HW wanting to fight GSP, because fan interest should play no part in what matches take place in sport. Even the American basketball Dream Team in 1992, who everyone wanted to see, had to play the regularly scheduled Olympic games instead of getting a fan based bye into the finals.

The whole point of who should change weight doesn't hold up either. This is pretty basic commerce practice: if you're trying to set up a contract between A and B, and A has to give B an advantage to do so, then the contract is always set up to give A a financial bonus for taking the disadvantage. So that means the UFC should have guaranteed GSP a significant bonus if he agreed to go up in weight (as in comparable to the winning purse, since his chances of winning were less because of the disadvantage in weight). And given how happy GSP is to fight for extra money, it's likely that say a guaranteed extra $5 million would have done it. In normal business that's what would have been done. But given that Dana has never mentioned offering that, I'm sure he never did.

The UFC though is used to fighters being either too stupid (or likely too desperate) to follow this normal practice, and wanted him to go up for free (like every other fighter). I'm sure GSP's financial advisers laughed at that idea -- its simply business malpractice to accept a disadvantage without financial compensation. Meaning the ultimate reason the fight didn't occur (as I've said) is because the UFC wanted someone to fight at a disadvantage without paying a bonus for doing so.

You use the example of Mayweather-Pacquiao. Did you notice that the fight happened as soon as the money was right? That's because it was a spectacle rather than a sporting event (ie like an exhibition game), and actors get to demand what they think is a fair price for taking part in a show. That's different than a sporting event -- the Superbowl contestants don't get to ask more for playing a particular team, or demand that the NFL put them in against a different team.

If you're read many of my posts, you'll note I'm pretty hard on GSP most of the time. I've repeatedly said he ducked Whitaker (promising to defend then bailing is not only a duck, but fundamentally dishonorable). I said he absolutely didn't earn his title fight with Bisping (sitting on your butt for four years enjoying the good life should never earn you a title fight in any division, especially one you never fought in). I've said its insane anyone wants him to fight for another title now (say against Khabib). I've said he was never the same after his knee injury, and was lucky Condit didn't KO him. I've said that Hughes and Serra completely and 100% beat him, that Penn and Hendricks should have won decisions against him. But not going up in weight for free? I don't see the problem, he'd be a lousy businessman if he did.

One more thing about Anderson -- he's asked to fight Connor, and it sounds like he wants that fight at a lower weight division as well (ie he's not asking Connor to go to 185), so he at least belives going to 170 isn't as difficult as many seem to think.

 

[Shaddows]

That's an interesting argument with some good points, but I don't think it holds up, at least with what duck used to mean (and what I think meant more sense). This is a long post, because you raise points that I think have to be answered. Even if you don't bother reading this (its long), thanks for a good discussion.

Duck had a very specific meaning in old time boxing: it was when a champion refused to give a worthy challenger a shot at the title he held. This was very significant, because it meant that challenger couldn't get a shot at the single most prized (and money earning) accomplishment in his division - the title.

That didn't apply to any other ranks. If the number 2 fighter refused to fight the number 3 fighter, then the fighter could ask for (and the promotion grant) his skipping over the number 2 guy to fight for the title (which is what he ultimately wanted -- no one particularly wants the number 2 rank). So they didn't consider it ducking if the number 2 guy refused to fight the number 3 guy.

So now take GSP holding the WW title and refusing to go up to MW to fight. Who does he block from the WW title by refusing to do this? Whose progress is he impeding? Clearly no-one's so long as he's defending the WW title against all the worthy challengers. Now if Anderson wanted to go down to WW and GSP had refused the fight, he would have been blocking Anderson's chances of gaining that ultimate goal (winning the WW title), and so that would have been a duck and a bad thing.

What's happened in this case is fans and Dana are thinking the ultimate goal is not winning a title, but fighting a particular fighter -- ie Anderson's goal wasn't to win the WW title which GSP had, but was to beat GSP in particular. The reason for this for Anderson (and Dana) is clear -- they wanted the money that the fight would bring. So by not going up to fight Anderson, GSP was blocking Anderson and Dana from making the money that particular fight brought. Its a very different definition of ducking than blocking a title, especially since Anderson and the UFC could make money from other fights as well.

Basically, its as if say the New England Pat's said that beating say the Dallas Cowboys was more important than winning the Superbowl -- ie the title has become less important than the particular rivalry. Of course, its the UFC itself that's responsible for that -- their titles have become more or less meaningless. But that makes not fighting a title holder from another division even less significant, simply because the title is insignificant.

The thing is, duck now doesn't mean blocking someone's title shot. So what does it mean? Not taking a fight that the fans want? Does that mean say MLB should automatically make the World Series a matchup between Los Angeles and New York, since those are the biggest markets and would have the biggest demand? I'm old fashioned enough to think that's the end of sport. Putting together the biggest market fight (ie what fans want to see) should be irrelevant in sport, and players shouldn't go out of their way to try to arrange that (and in fact, in most sports it'd be called cheating if they did so).

And at that point, I see no sporting difference between Anderson wanting to fight GSP and say Joe Blow HW wanting to fight GSP, because fan interest should play no part in what matches take place in sport. Even the American basketball Dream Team in 1992, who everyone wanted to see, had to play the regularly scheduled Olympic games instead of getting a fan based bye into the finals.

The whole point of who should change weight doesn't hold up either. This is pretty basic commerce practice: if you're trying to set up a contract between A and B, and A has to give B an advantage to do so, then the contract is always set up to give A a financial bonus for taking the disadvantage. So that means the UFC should have guaranteed GSP a significant bonus if he agreed to go up in weight (as in comparable to the winning purse, since his chances of winning were less because of the disadvantage in weight). And given how happy GSP is to fight for extra money, it's likely that say a guaranteed extra $5 million would have done it. In normal business that's what would have been done. But given that Dana has never mentioned offering that, I'm sure he never did.

The UFC though is used to fighters being either too stupid (or likely too desperate) to follow this normal practice, and wanted him to go up for free (like every other fighter). I'm sure GSP's financial advisers laughed at that idea -- its simply business malpractice to accept a disadvantage without financial compensation. Meaning the ultimate reason the fight didn't occur (as I've said) is because the UFC wanted someone to fight at a disadvantage without paying a bonus for doing so.

You use the example of Mayweather-Pacquiao. Did you notice that the fight happened as soon as the money was right? That's because it was a spectacle rather than a sporting event (ie like an exhibition game), and actors get to demand what they think is a fair price for taking part in a show. That's different than a sporting event -- the Superbowl contestants don't get to ask more for playing a particular team, or demand that the NFL put them in against a different team.

If you're read many of my posts, you'll note I'm pretty hard on GSP most of the time. I've repeatedly said he ducked Whitaker (promising to defend then bailing is not only a duck, but fundamentally dishonorable). I said he absolutely didn't earn his title fight with Bisping (sitting on your butt for four years enjoying the good life should never earn you a title fight in any division, especially one you never fought in). I've said its insane anyone wants him to fight for another title now (say against Khabib). I've said he was never the same after his knee injury, and was lucky Condit didn't KO him. I've said that Hughes and Serra completely and 100% beat him, that Penn and Hendricks should have won decisions against him. But not going up in weight for free? I don't see the problem, he'd be a lousy businessman if he did.

One more thing about Anderson -- he's asked to fight Connor, and it sounds like he wants that fight at a lower weight division as well (ie he's not asking Connor to go to 185), so he at least belives going to 170 isn't as difficult as many seem to think.

oK.
I liked your response and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Thank you very much for that.
I like these discussions because you put good points in a rational manner and they are well thought out points... even if I must disagree. But bear with me

Let me start with your description of boxing title explanations.
They are fine within themselves, but you see.... you missed a very big point here.
It's true they were not fighting for a belt. They were actually fighting for the biggest prize in MMA: To become the absolute GOAT. (well, at least UFC GOAT - just so I don't offend Fedor fans and alienate the discussion)
And say what you want about the importance of a division belt, they can be compared to being eastern/western conference champions. GSP & SIlva would be the super bowl.

So to that, all your explanaiton falls flat, and all other fighters in GSP/Silva divisions (and those above and below) are not competing for that spot, so they are irrelevant in this discussion.
And in that sense, GSP did duck Silva (I hate this term, as it seems he was afraid of Silva which I find a ridiculous notion for a fighter who faced top contenders all the time...but I'll be back at the reasonings later).

But I disagree with this being about money.
IMHO Dana/Fertitas/The UFC were very willing to pay very good money for that fight. Out of complete and utter ignorance, I venture to say money was never the issue.
And I also venture to say that GSP does NOT care about money. Well, not that he does not care, but he already had plenty of it, and is not desperate for it (at any cost).
IMHO what is far more important (to GSP) is his legacy. That is why he did not risk it against Silva, and why he ended up coming back and fighting Bisping for a second belt.

IMHO he saw other fighters (Conor, DC, Cejudo) getting belts in multiple divisions and probably thought this would cloud his accomplishments and status as one of the best in the sport.
So he saw an opportunity in Bisping to get another belt (and then again in Khabib, to one-up everyone and cement his legacy).

And that is also why he run from Whittaker IMO. Because he already had the MW belt (Whittaker's were the Interim). So defending/unifying it was meaningless in the great scheme of things (no one will remember the circumstances).
That is also what I think always defined his career. His unwillingness to take risks, finish fights, opting always for easy (dominating) decisions. That's because he does not want to take ANY risks. Ever.

Last but not least, I am still not locked that Silva was ever speaking seriously about Conor fight.
Silva is a joker. he LOVES to prank journalists. Heck, he did it multiple times.
Before Weidman first fight, a journalist asked what was his best scenario, and he said: "with Weidman's hands raised as the new champion"... do you think he was hinting he would lose on purpose (even though it happened) ??? Or was he simply clowning the reporter? I vote the latter.

 

[Calipwnia]

 

[Calipwnia]

No.

So GSP has some rare unheard of form of ulcerative colitis where he can walk around at 190-195 but can’t fight at 185?

he is healthy enough to fight at lower weight but he can’t fight at natural weight? Colitis gymnastics. Please inform yourself about the disease. Half of America would have colitis if weight was a factor. And it’s not even an extreme amount LOL. Your confirmation bias is so damn strong.

 

[Calipwnia]

I call bullshit.

where have you been bro? Thought you were a GSP fan? Literally 1 week after he’s too sick to defend at 185.

 

[Calipwnia]

Firas has been living off GSP for 15 years.. I find him annoying AF..

I don't buy that GSP made up a sickness to avoid a fight. He has been dieting down to deal with this sickness for like 3 years.. GSP is all class. He is NOT Jones or Sonnen or one of the other shady dudes in the game.. I believe what he says..

You will buy what you want to hear. As a person in athletics and dealing with Crohn’s disease for 15 years I’m very familiar with the condition GSP has. Perhaps he didn’t invent the disease BUT IT WAS NOT THE REASON HE VACATED. If you follow GSP’s career and personality, the simplest explanation is he didn’t believe he could win and just wanted to fight Bisping only. And that is EXACTLY what happened.

 

[90 50]

Maybe. He definitely only came back because he thought Bisping was beatable, but Whittaker was a former WW and not a huge MW. GSP would have given up an inch in height and had a 3 inch reach advantage so he might have still gone for it if he could strategically see a path to victory.

If it was a guy like Like Rockhold at a bulky 6'3" with 77" reach, or just a nightmare style match up like Romero he would definitely have walked away.

Read the rest of the quotes below. He was planning to come back when Rocksalt was still champ..

Bisping just made it easier.

Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't GSP already plan to move up to 185 BEFORE Bisping was champion?

Luke Rockhold was the champ though when GSP entered the test pool so he could come back

Yes. It’s an inconvenient fact his haters choose to ignore

Yep you guys get it.

That doesn't mean he'd have fought Luke.

That’s exactly what it means?? If Rocksalt had beaten bisping you think Dana would have magically made bisping champ so gsp could fight him??

well the article says a is coming back, and it was when rockhold was champion, GSP himself said he prepared for more than a year to be a MW, it was at that time when he decided to move to MW.

plus GSP would ve beat rockhold even more easily ...

little not thought of fact is the time line.

gsp years back , during the Anderson talks said if he ever moved to MW he would take the time off to bulk up correctly and never go back down, would be too hard on his body and he had shit he wanted to do still at WW.

fast forward some years, gsp goes off the books.

gets BIG

That is WAY bigger than he was vs bisping. Like he wanted to see how big he COULD get, and it still work. Like maybe after MW go for LHW vs Cormier(at the time he was champ iirc) I think he thinks that’s a winnable fight. There it is , three weightclass belts.

Ok enters testing pool, bisping beats rocksalt.
Bisping fight in talks.
Bisping scared of GSP having nightmares from being thrown around at his WW size in training, and now he’s Bigger?? Bisping crawfishes and claims injured.
Whitaker becomes interim champ, Dana gets GSP to agree to fight Woodley after maia fight.
Ok, gsp starts dropping weight in preparation for WW return.
Woodley stares at Maia, Dana says fuck me and this “fight someone after Maia bullshit, fights off the table”
Calls bisping, says put the fucking beer down and fight George he’s a WW for fucks sake

Ok fight back on

George “Rushes” to put the weight BACK on quickly, which is what he never wanted to do in the first place.

weight won’t stick. Comes into the fight really not much heavier than at WW(so they say, looked thicker than a snickers compared to his WW fights)

throws up for three days before the fight, fights anyways and gets colits.

He and his team knew his health could suffer years before( they probably tried it at one time back then and didn’t tell anyone and knew they needed to take more time to put the weight on better, like out of testing pool...)

Any fucking way, that’s why he didn’t fight Whitaker. 3 weeks after the fight he was like 160lbs..

 

[dildos]

with out a doubt. mostlikely would have beaten bobby knucklez too.

 

[fortheo]

Fuck no lol.

He waited 4 years for a weak one eyed MW champ and then immediately bounced once he had to fight Romero or Whittaker.

Whittaker wasn't even champ when GSP decided to come back, and remember he was going to fight Woodley, but then woodley put on the worst title performance ever against Maia and Dana said "he doesn't deserve to fight GSP"

 

[ThunderStruck]

where have you been bro? Thought you were a GSP fan? Literally 1 week after he’s too sick to defend at 185.

Show me the source where GSP said that.

He clearly said in an interview that he wasn't interested in a McG fight and thta he would never call out a smaller fighter.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Read the rest of the quotes below. He was planning to come back when Rocksalt was still champ..

Bisping just made it easier.





Yep you guys get it.

That’s exactly what it means?? If Rocksalt had beaten bisping you think Dana would have magically made bisping champ so gsp could fight him??



little not thought of fact is the time line.

gsp years back , during the Anderson talks said if he ever moved to MW he would take the time off to bulk up correctly and never go back down, would be too hard on his body and he had shit he wanted to do still at WW.

fast forward some years, gsp goes off the books.

gets BIG

That is WAY bigger than he was vs bisping. Like he wanted to see how big he COULD get, and it still work. Like maybe after MW go for LHW vs Cormier(at the time he was champ iirc) I think he thinks that’s a winnable fight. There it is , three weightclass belts.

Ok enters testing pool, bisping beats rocksalt.
Bisping fight in talks.
Bisping scared of GSP having nightmares from being thrown around at his WW size in training, and now he’s Bigger?? Bisping crawfishes and claims injured.
Whitaker becomes interim champ, Dana gets GSP to agree to fight Woodley after maia fight.
Ok, gsp starts dropping weight in preparation for WW return.
Woodley stares at Maia, Dana says fuck me and this “fight someone after Maia bullshit, fights off the table”
Calls bisping, says put the fucking beer down and fight George he’s a WW for fucks sake

Ok fight back on

George “Rushes” to put the weight BACK on quickly, which is what he never wanted to do in the first place.

weight won’t stick. Comes into the fight really not much heavier than at WW(so they say, looked thicker than a snickers compared to his WW fights)

throws up for three days before the fight, fights anyways and gets colits.

He and his team knew his health could suffer years before( they probably tried it at one time back then and didn’t tell anyone and knew they needed to take more time to put the weight on better, like out of testing pool...)

Any fucking way, that’s why he didn’t fight Whitaker. 3 weeks after the fight he was like 160lbs..

That pic was taken during his rehabs months from his double knee surgeries. He could only train his upperbody and couldn't do anything cardio related. Look at the size of his legs.

 

[DFresh1]

We aren’t talking about real warriors, we’re talking about prize fighters. When a man has tens of thousands on the line and dances away from damage, he is a coward.

Are you stupid? Prize fighters fight for money, not your moronic sense of pride on their behalf. If a prize fighter fights to appease people like you he's going to fail at life.

And again, feel free to post your fighting accolades - I'm sure they'll make cowards of us all, let alone UFC fighters.

 

[DFresh1]

Oh please. I have colitis- this is not something an athlete like gsp is to keep him from fighting. This colitis ( bowel infection) thing needs to go. If he had like diverticulitis or something like that - a different planet.
You and I both know THERE WAS ONLY ONE MIDDLEWEIGHT he was willing to fight and WHY.

Anderson > gsp

Not according to Sherdog, most media outlets and countless people in this very forum... .

GSP > Anderson (by the way, your "Anderson vs GSP " came out of nowhere - but I think considering who liked your reply, you're helping TS with his true motive. Its weird though, how much time he spends bashing GSP instead of praising Anderson. I guess hate is more powerful than love. ; )

 

[Franklin U.]

Not according to Sherdog, most media outlets and countless people in this very forum... .

GSP > Anderson (by the way, your "Anderson vs GSP " came out of nowhere - but I think considering who liked your reply, you're helping TS with his true motive. Its weird though, how much time he spends bashing GSP instead of praising Anderson. I guess hate is more powerful than love. ; )

Impossible for u to know or follow but its an inside joke that I and gsp fans- have ( i mean - i dont ride either side , I've just given my honest opinion and it's funny how gsp fans respond.....so that's why it came out of left field - 2 u. Btw, i can give a f---- about sherdoggers and their polls . I can turn my cup upside down and not a drop of liquid ( it holds no water) )

I'm a pretty loving guy, btw. I can be dick here and there but that's the way it is.

 

[sjon22]

How embarrassing that MW Silva couldn't beat a guy who was an "easy once in a lifetime matchup" for WW GSP.

People discredit how good Bisping was. Look it his record, subtract the losses vs fighters who were juiced to the gills and he has one of the best of all time. Also a big striker with gread TDD who had fought at 205 is as bad of a matchup as anyone for GSP.

 

[Calipwnia]

Show me the source where GSP said that.

He clearly said in an interview that he wasn't interested in a McG fight and thta he would never call out a smaller fighter.

I clearly just showed you a source of Firas Zahabi whom you should know being such a GSP apologist

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

oK.
I liked your response and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Thank you very much for that.
I like these discussions because you put good points in a rational manner and they are well thought out points... even if I must disagree. But bear with me

Let me start with your description of boxing title explanations.
They are fine within themselves, but you see.... you missed a very big point here.
It's true they were not fighting for a belt. They were actually fighting for the biggest prize in MMA: To become the absolute GOAT. (well, at least UFC GOAT - just so I don't offend Fedor fans and alienate the discussion)
And say what you want about the importance of a division belt, they can be compared to being eastern/western conference champions. GSP & SIlva would be the super bowl.

So to that, all your explanaiton falls flat, and all other fighters in GSP/Silva divisions (and those above and below) are not competing for that spot, so they are irrelevant in this discussion.
And in that sense, GSP did duck Silva (I hate this term, as it seems he was afraid of Silva which I find a ridiculous notion for a fighter who faced top contenders all the time...but I'll be back at the reasonings later).

But I disagree with this being about money.
IMHO Dana/Fertitas/The UFC were very willing to pay very good money for that fight. Out of complete and utter ignorance, I venture to say money was never the issue.
And I also venture to say that GSP does NOT care about money. Well, not that he does not care, but he already had plenty of it, and is not desperate for it (at any cost).
IMHO what is far more important (to GSP) is his legacy. That is why he did not risk it against Silva, and why he ended up coming back and fighting Bisping for a second belt.

IMHO he saw other fighters (Conor, DC, Cejudo) getting belts in multiple divisions and probably thought this would cloud his accomplishments and status as one of the best in the sport.
So he saw an opportunity in Bisping to get another belt (and then again in Khabib, to one-up everyone and cement his legacy).

And that is also why he run from Whittaker IMO. Because he already had the MW belt (Whittaker's were the Interim). So defending/unifying it was meaningless in the great scheme of things (no one will remember the circumstances).
That is also what I think always defined his career. His unwillingness to take risks, finish fights, opting always for easy (dominating) decisions. That's because he does not want to take ANY risks. Ever.

Last but not least, I am still not locked that Silva was ever speaking seriously about Conor fight.
Silva is a joker. he LOVES to prank journalists. Heck, he did it multiple times.
Before Weidman first fight, a journalist asked what was his best scenario, and he said: "with Weidman's hands raised as the new champion"... do you think he was hinting he would lose on purpose (even though it happened) ??? Or was he simply clowning the reporter? I vote the latter.

You raise good points, including one I'd never really considered before. I still disagree, but there's a lot more to your side of the argument than I'd originally have thought -- and its always great when a discussion goes that way. You're forcing me to think through my opinions, and refine them. This is a long post again (joys of Covid-19 limitations I guess), so I hope you have time (or interest) in reading it.

Your point about fighting for the GOAT status (and I'm glad you limited it to the UFC, given that I'm one of those that include Fedor in that category, along with Anderson, Jones and GSP) is an excellent one. If that fight would really establish that, then it'd be far more important than a title fight -- at least legacy wise, given that it's an unofficial and very subjective title so unlike other titles it'd always be very disputed, as you point out yourself). Your analogy to conference titles vs the Superbowl is right on the money.

The problem is, while GSP beating Anderson at 185 would definitely have given GSP a huge claim to GOAT status, I don't think Anderson beating GSP at 185 would have done anything for Anderson's claim to GOAT status. As the bigger guy, he'd have been expected to win. Anderson could have lost GOAT status by losing, but gained nothing by winning. An example of this is GSP beating Penn, who at the time was the LW GOAT. Only GSP's most rabid fans would say him beating Penn does anything for his GOAT status -- GSP was bigger than Penn, so he was expected to win. For Anderson to go up in GOAT status he'd have had to beat an established LHW champ (beating Jones would have locked that in, but even beating Liddell, Machida or Shogun would have sufficed).

And of course, the situation would be reversed if they fought at 170. GSP would be expected to win, because Anderson would have had to fight partially drained. Beating Anderson at 170 would do nothing for GSP's GOAT legacy, but Anderson beating GSP at 170 would have been a huge boost to his GOAT status.

Basically, I don't think its possible to have a single fight between two guys from different weight divisions that would be for the GOAT title, because the bigger guy is always expected to win because of size alone. There's no way to have a Superbowl like competition between two equal conferences.

Of course a catchweight would have given both of them some increase in GOAT status, more for GSP than Anderson, but that was only mentioned a couple of times by Anderson -- fewer times than he'd talked about fighting Connor. I actually agree that Anderson likes to troll, and I suspect you're right that he was trolling about fighting Connor. But for the same reason I suspect he was trolling when he offered (once) to fight GSP at 170, and when he offered (twice) to fight GSP at catchweight. The problem with catchweight for Anderson, GSP, and the UFC is that they all make big money of PPV shares, and non-title fights lose casuals. MMA is a very niche sport (PPV's of around a million from a continent of 100+ million households is tiny), and most potential fans are casuals. Winning a catch-weight would have been good for either of their legacies, but very bad for their pocket books compared to winning a title fight.

So if it was about GOAT status, at 185 (the weight you think was the correct one for the fight), then the only one gaining would be GSP. And his status would go up for a win against any UFC MW, LHW or HW (just as Anderson's rightly went up for beating three non-champion LHW's). I should add at this point that I see GSP beating Bisping for the belt as only equivalent to Anderson beating Forest -- it raised his GOAT status a bit, but not significantly.

I also think you're wrong in saying it wasn't primarily about money. Dana is typically quick to say (or even exaggerate) how much he was offering to make a fight that fell through. If he'd done the normal business practice of offering GSP say a guaranteed $5 million above his normal contracted PPV shares etc for going up to 185, then he certainly would have being publicly saying that in order to shame GSP into taking the fight at 185. But Dana didn't even hint at paying extra for going up in weight. And I think the reason is simply that Dana wouldn't want to set that precedent (ie admit that Commerce 101 applies to the UFC), that guys fighting at a weight disadvantage should get the normal business incentive to do so.

In terms of whether GSP is primarily concerned with legacy or money, I also disagree. For a start, GSP would be aware of how many athletes who made far more than he has (Google for a depressingly long list of athletes who made over $100 million who are now broke) were unable to make money after retiring, and who ended up broke. Beyond that, if building up legacy were GSP's prime motivation, he would have done like Anderson did and fight some non-champion MW's (almost everyone but rabid Fedor, Jones and GSP fans rightly give Anderson a lot of credit for those non-title LHW fights). It'd even be the natural build up for a GSP-Anderson fight at 185 ... it'd get GSP used to fighting at MW, and be a natural way to further promote the fight to casuals). The only reason for wanting GSP to fight Anderson at 185 without warm-up fights would be fear of GSP losing one of those warm-up fights -- and that would be about losing money on GSP-Anderson PPV's rather than about status, since if GSP lost a MW warm-up fight then status would already be settled.

GSP's coming back against Bisping but then not defending is I think another example of his worrying about money more than legacy. Not defending was the first case where GSP clearly ducked (at least in what a lot of people say is the meaningful sense of not giving a challenger a title fight). That did more to hurt his legacy than beating Bisping gained for him. And not only his legacy as a fighter, it did a lot of damage to his legacy as a person of honor -- basically it looks like he sold his honor and legacy for a few (well more than a few) dollars. The reason he didn't want to fight Whittaker was that beating him would have done a lot for GSP's legacy, but relatively little for his pocket book -- Whittaker simply isn't a huge draw.

I'm kind of surprised that you say GSP never took risks -- and given the intelligence of your posts, I wonder if you're using risk is a very limited sense? Anybody who gets into the cage (or in fact actually competes in any sport) is taking risks (which is why so many people never compete in anything in their lives). When first starting training MMA GSP would have been, like every other beginner, beaten by all the regulars. Every practice would involve risk (well, probably guarantee) of being beaten, and of being injured. Someone who always played it safe would never have trained MMA, would absolutely never have stepped into the cage for that first fight, would never have gone against Penn or Hughes the first time. Its inherently a very risky business, and it'd have been much safer for him to simply not take part in it.

So I'd say he definitely regularly took risks, like every guy in the UFC (or any high level athlete in every contact sport took risks). However, for him the risk/reward was about money (understandably given that he came from lower middle class, and had no marketable skills) rather than legacy (poor people tend to know you can't eat legacy -- as a lot of ex-stars who end up selling their Superbowl rings because they're broke will attest). His fighting career -- going for decisions (enough to earn victory money), only doing title fights instead of legacy building but less lucrative fights against non-tile MW's (similar to Anderson's) shows concern about money over legacy. Even the fights he's been fishing for since the Bisping fight are about the biggest money fights out there. He wants to fight Khabib at 170. That would add nothing to his legacy (Khabib is a LW, it'd be like beating Penn again) but a lot to his pocket book.

Anyway, thanks for a great discussion. You raise excellent points I hadn't though of, and there's a lot to what you say, even if I ultimately disagree -- its a question of where the balance between legacy and money is for GSP, and though I think its more to money, you make a good case for legacy also being important.