The MMA Thread: DON'T ASK 4 STREAMS & NO GIFS- Cannonier, Imavov, Reyes, Rosas on NOW

[Vincent Van Goat]

I think the weight class thing is real... I don't think bisping is easy for gsp.. I don't think there's easy fights for him when he returns

Bisping gsp does sound boring as hell though

 

[illphillip]

 

[spiderjericho]

Nothing left to prove at WW? How is that possible when he's never fought Lawler   come on now

That would be a way bigger and better fight than a fight against Bisping

Hell, if Wonderboy ends up with the title, it would be interesting as hell to see if GSP fought his one time part time training partner... to avenge Rory

It sounds like he has something to prove to you.

He's had two stints as WW Champ. He retired on top...despite the dubious reasons.

He's older now. Hasn't been battle tested. At 35, he could come back to try to "prove" to his peers, the fans that he can still compete against the new crop of WW competitiors like Lawler, Thompson, Woodley, etc.

Dude has had multiple knee surgeries, possibly CTE like symptoms (dude saw Aliens) and coming back to an atmosphere where names like McGregor, Rousey, Kimo, Shamrock, Ortiz not rankings or fan boy dream fights are what draw. We don't know what his shelf life is and prior to his retirement he was talking about super fights. He probably took the fight with Nick Diaz because of the money. He discussed fighting Silva if they met at a sufficient catch weight.

I personally think that after a few fights (and shaking off ring rust), Lawler would have nothing for GSP. As someone said, it's a terrible matchup. Personally, I felt like Robbie is due to lose his belt. He lost to Condit. He managed to completely annihilated Rory's nose to steal the victory. And some have disputed that Hendricks won the second fight.

Bisping is the money fight. Lawler is not. Bisping is coming off two big wins. The Zuffa storytellers could easily spin a great yarn. And Bisping as a champ would be a great foil who could sell the fight.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

He sure as hell has something left to prove at welterweight, in lawler. If he loses does it effect his legacy? Hell no

Making it out to seem like there are no good fights for him at ww is just silly

Like I said, I don't blame gsp for whatever he chooses. He's earned that right but don't sit there and tell us he doesn't have anyone to fight at ww

 

[illphillip]

I think the case has been made that the idea that he has "nothing left to prove at WW" is ridiculous.

Nothing about his last fight at that weight says that and there is also a new crop of challengers.

Dude left as a WW champ. I think he should come back as such.

But he is obviously within his right to move forward with his career as he chooses.

So I guess since he only wants "money fights", he's going to fight Bisping at 185 then retire again?

Or maybe fight Nate at 170? But not the champ?

 

[filthyjiujitsu]

He sure as hell has something left to prove at welterweight, in lawler. If he loses does it effect his legacy? Hell no

Making it out to seem like there are no good fights for him at ww is just silly

Agreed.

 

[spiderjericho]

He sure as hell has something left to prove at welterweight, in lawler. If he loses does it effect his legacy? Hell no

Making it out to seem like there are no good fights for him at ww is just silly

Like I said, I don't blame gsp for whatever he chooses. He's earned that right but don't sit there and tell us he doesn't have anyone to fight at ww

I never said there weren't fresh matchups for him at WW. Or that he couldn't jump into the WW mix. What I said is he's already had two stints as champ, he's older, he could try to play the young man's game or try to maximize the returns he gets on his remaining fights. There's no money in Woodley, Thompson, Hendricks or Lawler.

He saw the financial fall out from Diaz/McGregor and the clamor for the rematch. Brock getting a huge pay day for a one-off fight (and possible sacrifice to the MMA gods). MSG is a big card. He could do big numbers in Canada which has been a tepid market lately.

I feel like we're arguing semantics.

And as far as Miesha goes, she has interesting fights against Holmes and Zigano if she beats Nunes. Cyborg is another one of those money fights.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I never said there weren't fresh matchups for him at WW. Or that he couldn't jump into the WW mix. What I said is he's already had two stints as champ, he's older, he could try to play the young man's game or try to maximize the returns he gets on his remaining fights. There's no money in Woodley, Thompson, Hendricks or Lawler.

He saw the financial fall out from Diaz/McGregor and the clamor for the rematch. Brock getting a huge pay day for a one-off fight (and possible sacrifice to the MMA gods). MSG is a big card. He could do big numbers in Canada which has been a tepid market lately.

I feel like we're arguing semantics.

And as far as Miesha goes, she has interesting fights against Holmes and Zigano if she beats Nunes. Cyborg is another one of those money fights.

Yeah I don't disagree this angle. If gsp wants to go for cash grabs, go for it

 

[spiderjericho]

Yeah I don't disagree this angle. If gsp wants to go for cash grabs, go for it

It's where Brock's mentality is. He chose to renew his contract with the WWE rather than go back to the Octagon. Not to say professional wrestling isn't dangerous and doesn't have its inherent risks. But as you cross your mid 30s, there's gotta be a time to hang it up. So I can't fault anyone who adopts the mentality of maximizing the remaining fights they have for big pay days.

Bisping, GSP, McGregor, Rousey, Lesnar, JBJ, Faber, etc are in a position to parlay those big fights.

We just lost Ali. MMA is still relatively new and we don't have any real studies of CTE, etc. Hendo still fighting baffles my mind. And they have him going against game competition like Lombard.

And Lawler is like a Crash Dummy Test. I'm sorry. That's a brutal fight. I'd be interested to see him 20 years from now and the toll all of these wars have had on him. Not discounting his warrior mentality.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Robbie already sounds like he's lost something upstairs. It's honestly sad.. The way he speaks doesn't sound right

 

[green rhino123]

 

[boxer15]

Robbie already sounds like he's lost something upstairs. It's honestly sad.. The way he speaks doesn't sound right

He's always sounded a little slow to be fair. Even back in his days with Pat Mileruch he didn't sound that articulate.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Damb I guess you're right haha

 

[blackcease]

Good point regarding GSP and the CTE stuff. He seems to be one of the fighters that's very well aware of what the sport can do to your head, I'm pretty sure I remember him talking about it at length in an interview before. Plus the memory loss and the alien stuff. I really don't see him coming back to try and run the gauntlet with this new crop of welterweights.

 

[spiderjericho]

Robbie already sounds like he's lost something upstairs. It's honestly sad.. The way he speaks doesn't sound right

He doesn't act right lol. I never paid much attention prior to his UFC return but he's been in wars since coming back.

When he spit out th blood prior to round five of Rory 2, I was like wth! He always has a disturbed look on his face. And the interview when he said he'd take Connor's soul while sitting next to Woodley.

Woodley better come with that A1 wrestling.

Good point regarding GSP and the CTE stuff. He seems to be one of the fighters that's very well aware of what the sport can do to your head, I'm pretty sure I remember him talking about it at length in an interview before. Plus the memory loss and the alien stuff. I really don't see him coming back to try and run the gauntlet with this new crop of welterweights.

Robbie is an invitation to further CTE. He was definitely acting weird around his last fight. And it seemed like he wanted a break and Zuffa wasn't playing that. Guess they wanted him to be a "team" player like Hendo, Struve, etc.

After Kimbo, these dudes need to reevaluate this "game" and make sure they have a fall back plan like Faber (who pimps his guys and has other ventures), GSP, Brock, Rousey, Carano, Couture, etc.

 

[illphillip]

Good point regarding GSP and the CTE stuff. He seems to be one of the fighters that's very well aware of what the sport can do to your head, I'm pretty sure I remember him talking about it at length in an interview before. Plus the memory loss and the alien stuff. I really don't see him coming back to try and run the gauntlet with this new crop of welterweights.

So he's fighting at a weight class higher than he last competed? Against a guy that's fought at 205?

It's not like Bisping is going to blow kisses at him for 5 rounds.

If the reasoning for him not fighting Lawler is "CTE" and his knees, then the argument seems like it should be that he shouldn't come back at all.

Not that fighting someone 15 lbs heavier makes more sense

 

[freshbottoms]

I'd have no problem if I never see gsp or silva fight again. Or if they fought each other that's cool. Nothing to prove. I'm sure it's hard to walk away from something you've done your whole life

 

[g money 87]

So he's fighting at a weight class higher than he last competed? Against a guy that's fought at 205?

It's not like Bisping is going to blow kisses at him for 5 rounds.

If the reasoning for him not fighting Lawler is "CTE" and his knees, then the argument seems like it should be that he shouldn't come back at all.

Not that fighting someone 15 lbs heavier makes more sense

Yea i dont get the whole "hes scared to fight Lawler" thing, fighting Bisping might be worse as far as taking shots. I dont care what ppl think about Bisping's hands, hes alot bigger and Gsp would prob have to stand more against Bisping than Lawler imo

 

[spiderjericho]

You have to know when to walk away. There's life after MMA and they have to think about quality of life.

Ali taught us that there's a certain point when a fighter should hang it up. Not everyone can fight like Floyd.

The promotions aren't going to always look out for the fighter (see Bellator).

Do you guys remember Chuck Lidell prior to retiring?

 

[blackcease]

Good point regarding GSP and the CTE stuff. He seems to be one of the fighters that's very well aware of what the sport can do to your head, I'm pretty sure I remember him talking about it at length in an interview before. Plus the memory loss and the alien stuff. I really don't see him coming back to try and run the gauntlet with this new crop of welterweights.

So he's fighting at a weight class higher than he last competed? Against a guy that's fought at 205?

It's not like Bisping is going to blow kisses at him for 5 rounds.

If the reasoning for him not fighting Lawler is "CTE" and his knees, then the argument seems like it should be that he shouldn't come back at all.

Not that fighting someone 15 lbs heavier makes more sense

If he comes back at Welterweight to fight Lawler and wins, which may be a pretty tough win by the way, nothing he's said in interviews recently makes me think he has any interest in running the gauntlet of welterweight challengers.

Whereas Bisping was always a big name in the UFC, he's an even bigger name now because he beat spider and rockhold, and it's more of a super fight than coming back to fight lawler which means more bread, AND he has a chance to add to his legacy by becoming a champ in two weight classes.

Also, the fact that he's only ever talked about coming back to fight Nate Diaz, Conor McGregor, and now Michael Bisping while never mentioning Robbie's name says enough about whether he really wants to fight Robbie or not.

I think he (incorrectly) thinks that Bisping might be a favorable style matchup, and that there's a way bigger upside to taking and winning that fight than there is with fighting Lawler, or whoever the current champ is. So the risk (CTE or whatever), is worth the reward vs. Bisping, much moreso than any other matchup right now. He seems to be looking for money fights/super fights, not to run the gauntlet and reestablish himself as the best welterweight in the world.

 

[shogun]

People have laughed in the past about Chuck's weird ticks or him not speaking too articulate but I didn't think about cte or brain damage until now. Sucks. Having a great chin is great but you're enduring all those heavy shots to your skull.

 

[blackcease]

Yeah I always think about those dudes with really good chins, it's a great asset to have when you're in the ring fighting, but they take a hell of alot more accumulated damage than a dude with a glass jaw. Wonder how that affects them long term compared to the other guys

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I fully believe bisping would be a handful for gsp which is weird for me to say, if i said this a year ago im sure people would have laughed at me

With that being said, make no mistake, the bigger cte risk is lawler. Don't care that bisping is bigger, lawler will inflict more damage and I believe his punch packs more

 

[shogun]

Wouldn't be surpised if Gus has brain damage already from all those bombs anthony johnson hit him with.

 

[af1 1982]

Wouldn't be surpised if Gus has brain damage already from all those bombs anthony johnson hit him with.

Man what about Ryan Bader. those at cage side were saying rumble KOd him, kept hitting him and woke him up, only to KO him again