UFC 167: St Pierre vs Hendricks

[jimufctna24]

I am with you Lamby.

 

For me it was one of the easiest to score title bouts in history, a lot easier than Jones vs Gusty which I had a real hard time scoring. Other than here, I am keeping away from MMA media as I know the reaction is going to be mental, and in turn bring out the mentals!

[David]

Firstly, Dana already came out saying its a personal problem and not health related in relation to GSP. Brain damage definitely falls into the later. I wouldn't be surprised if it were something like he's found out he's got an illegitimate love child or something like that.

and despite being similar height, Rashad is far too powerful for Sonnen. The result is the most ideal result anyway. Keeps Evans relevant at 205, and at least gets Sonnen back down to his true weight class of 185.

I was watching the post-fight presser on Youtube earlier today through my TV, and my girlfriend was in the room when GSP was talking about his issues and she immediately said "I think he's going to announce that he's gay".

 

Something I had never really considered, but which is pretty feasible.

[lambyUK]

Firstly, Dana already came out saying its a personal problem and not health related in relation to GSP. Brain damage definitely falls into the later. I wouldn't be surprised if it were something like he's found out he's got an illegitimate love child or something like that.

and despite being similar height, Rashad is far too powerful for Sonnen. The result is the most ideal result anyway. Keeps Evans relevant at 205, and at least gets Sonnen back down to his true weight class of 185.

I was watching the post-fight presser on Youtube earlier today through my TV, and my girlfriend was in the room when GSP was talking about his issues and she immediately said "I think he's going to announce that he's gay".

 

Something I had never really considered, but which is pretty feasible.

 

You know what David, I know its going to sound like I'm jumping on your gfs idea, but I thought that myself today. However I just thought there was too much evidence to suggest he's not gay. All those pics of him with women and then that Mandy Moore story. However, when it comes down to it, I've never seen him with a woman who he's in a relationship with.

 

The thing is, if I never knew anything about GSP, and someone told me he was gay, by his look and the way he sounds, I wouldn't be surprised. Little harsh I know.

[jimufctna24]

He did have a girlfriend around 2007, as he was having problems with her going into the first Serra fight. Dana mentioned that he entered GSP's locker room before the fight and he was moping about.

 

It would not be the biggest shock though.

 

I say no, because he has been banging on about starting a family lately, now in these modern times, that rightfully does not mean that he wants a family with a women, but it probably will mean that. The guy I think is a playboy. People said the same thing about F1 great Ayrton Senna as he had no long term partner, but instead he was having it away with a supermodel a week most of his years in the limelight. Given that he is always seen out in nightclubs, I bet GSP is the same.

 

The personal problems could be family related, he never mentions his parents or anything and may want to keep it quiet.

[deathrey]

Funnily enough, when discussing GSP's weird turn with my sister this afternoon, I did suggest that maybe someone was trying to force him out of the closet and that was the cause of what looks like an on-coming mental breakdown

[wandshogun09]

You know, the gay thing might be it. Maybe.

 

Jim's post might be right and maybe it's something else, but it wouldn't shock me if he came out as gay. If he wasn't wanting it to come out, then even the recent talk of starting a family could have been to throw people off the scent. I think a lot of people at one point or another have thought GSP might be gay, but it didn't cross my mind that this might be the personal issue he's having until I read David's post. Now I've read that, it would kind of make sense.

 

It can't be a problem with GSP's health because he's just fought. Obviously he wouldn't have passed the medicals if there was something physically wrong with him. So what else?

 

I really don't think it's something like one of his parents his ill or anything either because I watched Dana's scrum earlier and he said something like - 'I feel a lot better after talking to Georges. It's not as big a deal as Georges thinks it is. He thinks it's a big deal but it's really not.' He also said it's the furthest thing from anything related to fighting or retirement.

 

If someone in his family was sick or something, Dana wouldn't be saying 'no big deal, so when are we booking the rematch Georges?' If it's that GSP is gay, that is no big deal for Dana. In fact, in a way it would reflect well on him from a PR perspective to be supporting one of his biggest stars who has just come out as gay. Especially after the backlash Dana got a few years ago for saying the word faggot on that video.

 

Maybe we're way off track here. But this personal issue he's going on about that is somehow earth shattering for him but no big deal for Dana or anyone else, what else could it be? It all adds up.

[Egg Shen]

judges gave GSP round 1 on two of the cards, that's what led to Georges winning. I'll post some more thoughts tomorrow, but when you look at the round judging i think it was pretty obvious across the board. Hendricks won 2 + 4 big, GSP won 3 clearly and 5 it's safe to say. 1 was the round which is causing the debate, i gave it to Hendricks based on damage, i believe there was 1 takedown a piece. I'm gonna rewatch the round tomorrow.

 

[wandshogun09]

GSP admits he's gay;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&a...p;v=1gv7SU_MgJU

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

About three years ago

 

[Fox Piss]

New to UFC but watched last nights card and really fucking enjoyed it.

 

The thing is when GSP is getting into it all on the mic his corner is in the background looking uninterested which makes me think more along the suffering from a injury line than sleeping with Nick Diaz on "Hiz Vacation"

[jimufctna24]

Thanks for the info Wand. It does make sense.

 

I kind of hope he is now, it would be progressive in a roundabout way. But why would he need to go away due to it after all this time, unless someone had pictures and was blackmailing him, or he only recently came to terms with it himself, it would not warrant retiring or taking a break.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, if this even is the issue and we're all just guessing, then I suppose it could be that he wants time out to get his mind around it all and tell his family and stuff.

 

I don't know. Like I say, could be something completely different. Fuck knows.

 

If it does turn out that he's gay, that sig of yours will take a pretty ironic twist, Jim. I bet he was not impressed with their genitals.

[KingOfMetal]

Just watched the title fight, going to watch the rest later today.

There is no way that Hendricks lost that fight. Hendricks was very humble in his post-fight interview but he was spot on telling the crowd "did you just see the fight I just fought?". He seemed to slow a bit in the 3rd, but other than that Hendricks was the clear winner in my eyes. The second that Buffer (who I hate even more after watching him in the pre-fight intros acting like a total bellend) announced Hendricks name and you could see a split decision coming, my jaw dropped when he announced GSP the winner. This was a clearer result than the first Machida/Shogun fight.

 

I'm not saying there is some kind of conspiracy or acting like a mental MMA message boarder, but to me, Hendricks clearly won that fight

[Egg Shen]

right, i've changed my stance.

 

On initial watching i gave GSP 3 & 5, Hendricks 1, 2 & 4...and that seems to to be the scoring people have across the board (Dana gave Henricks every round other than 3). I've rewatched round 1 on mute and can genuinely see why GSP got it, he was busier on the outside, he initiated the clinches and seemed to be the aggressor. There was 1 takedown each and the clincher might be that GSP caught Hendricks in a half decent guillotine attempt. I can also see why some people would lean towards Hendricks for the round due to the damage he does in the clinch but outside of that it's was more likely a GSP round. I haven't rewatched it all but 48-47 GSP!

 

oh, and i also place some blame on Hendricks himself, he went into round 5 acting like he'd already won it. If Hendricks had gone out and really pushed in round 5 he could have sealed the deal, i think he took his foot off the gas.

 

Now the problem overall is the pointing system, if you play by that it's possible that GSP one but if you look at the whole thing Hendricks did more damage in the 2 rounds he clearly won than GSP did in the whole fight, so im blaming the points system, not the judges.

 

Other quick thoughts:

 

Thought the show was so-so, we've been proper spoilt recently and i thought 167 fightwise was a bit of a letdown but there were highlights:

 

* Tyron Woodley, holy fucking shit. If it wasn't for the Shields debacle, the UFC would be proclaming Woodley as the second coming about now. That was a frightening performance.

 

 

* What's happened to Rory Macdonald? Going into round 3 of the fight Saturday he just does't seem the same. The Ellenberger performance carried over, it almost feels like Rory felt his BJ Penn gameplan was fool proof. Rory's patient and appears to be happy to pick people apart and win decisions. What happened to the aggressive finisher of old? It wasn't until Lawler finally buzzed Rory in round 3 that it seemed to wake him up. Whilst im glad Lawler won i expect Rory to come back much better next time, lesson learnt.

 

* Tim Elliott fought like an idiot at Bagautinov, it's all well and good marching forward, smiling with your guard down but it's as if he forgot his actual offence..yet he seemed to think he'd won it clearly, just a weird performance.

 

* I said i didn't feel Evans/Sonnen going in and it just felt completely anti-climatic Evans re-established himself and Sonnen moves onto the Wanderlei thing with little harm done. As much as i love Chael Sonnen i don't think ive seen a top-flight fighter fold under scrutiny like him, once the going gets tough Chael is quick to find a way out, sucks to say but it's true.

 

* Finally Cowboy Cerrone appears to be back! He walked through Dunham with ruthless efficiency. Glad to see him return to form, it's been a weird year for the Cowboy.

 

* Enjoyed Story/Ebersole too. I can imagine some people hating it but i love watching Ebersole's antics, he does some weird shit, very little of it worked but he's always interesting to watch. He's got a fucking chin too.

[Dai]

Rogan's hard on for Rory was very noticeable, especially in R1. Despite landing only a handful of strikes, and clearly losing the round, Rogan was creaming himself over Rory's ability to avoid damage. They showed the strikes landed graphic at the halfway point, which had Lawler landing twice as much as Rory, but they glossed over it completley.

 

 

I think everyone agrees with Rounds 2-5 scoring for the GSP match (which instantly doesnt make the decision THAT awful). The Strikes Landed graphic at the end of Round 2 was very interesting. Despite GSPs face looking a mess, and Hendricks looking fresh, the strikes landed were equal. Havent seen the end stats, but I assume GSP landed more for the complete fight, too, despite what their respective faces looked like.

 

Just rewatched Round 1:

 

Minute 1: GSP Takedown. GSP Sub attempt. Equal clinch with equal knee's to thigh landed.

Minute 2: GSP attempted takedown. Hendricks landing big elbows whilst defending takedown against cage.

Minute 3: Hendricks attempted takedown. Gets GSP sitting against cage (not sure if this counts as a completed takedown?). GSP straight up.

Minute 4: Hendricks landed knee. GSP landed head kick. Equal clinch, Hendricks landing a few more knees to thigh.

Minute 5: Equal standup, with GSP landing with quite a bit more volume.

 

 

On the rewatch, it was far more equal than what I remembered on first viewing. On the first watch, it was "Hendricks overpowering GSP, Hendricks with those huge elbows, Hendricks with those huge knees to the thighs, GSPs bloodied face". On second viewing, it is a lot closer. Looking at that breakdown, Id say the takedown and sub attempt at the very beginning cost Hendricks the round/title.

[wandshogun09]

I definitely agree that Hendricks should have won. I was shocked when I heard the words "And still..." come out of Buffer's mouth. It wasn't like a Jones vs Gustafsson type of fight where you know who you think won but can really see it going either way. With this fight, I was sure Hendricks had won. But as soon as I knew it was a split decision I got that sinking feeling of 'here comes another controversial decision'.

 

Feel bad for Hendricks. I was one of his sort of detractors going in but he earned that title Saturday night.

 

But

 

This was a clearer result than the first Machida/Shogun fight.

 

I know with this being Shogun, people will roll their eyes and think it's blind bias and fanboyism. It's really not. While there was never a near finish in the fight like there was with Hendricks vs GSP in round 2, the Shogun vs Machida 1 decision was fucking shocking. I couldn't believe the next day when I went online and people were trying to say Machida won. Shogun systematically took Machida apart at the knees and landed more strikes on him than all Machida's previous opponents combined, in one fight. I had Shogun winning 4 rounds to 1, 49-46. No question. At a stretch I could see it 48-47. But no way Machida won 3 rounds.

 

Few stats

 

Fight Metric breakdown

 

From CompuStrike;

 

Rua outlanded Machida 89-50 in Total Strikes landed including 73 Leg Strikes landed. Rua dominated the fight and did just about everything he needed to do to beat the undefeated Machida, including outlanding Machida in every round, but apparently it wasn