Noah Southworth Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 If GSP beats Bisping, I can see them doing Bisping vs. Romero with the winner getting the winner of GSP vs. Whittaker. If that's the route they go, I figure Weidman gets the winner of Rockhold vs. Branch for the shot at whoever comes out of the aforementioned mini-tournament as the middleweight champion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 4 minutes ago, Noah Southworth said: If GSP beats Bisping, I can see them doing Bisping vs. Romero with the winner getting the winner of GSP vs. Whittaker. If that's the route they go, I figure Weidman gets the winner of Rockhold vs. Branch for the shot at whoever comes out of the aforementioned mini-tournament as the middleweight champion. Are we assuming that GSP is a middleweight now? If so, he's gonna have to change up his gameplan, because he ain't holding any of the top contenders down for five rounds. He's far too small to be implementing that kind of gameplan against guys like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted August 1, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2017 (edited) @Noah Southworth I can't see GSP ever fighting a Whittaker or Romero. I think he's literally only fighting Bisping because he thinks he's a beatable middleweight, with 'high stock' of course, and it's a chance for GSP to bag a second division's title. If Romero or Whittaker were the champ right now I think GSP would be gearing up to face Tyron Woodley instead. That's not a knock on GSP, by the way. He's smart enough to pick his battles and it seems right now he's after the most winnable fights for the most money. Makes sense. I don't think Bisping is particularly 'winnable' for GSP but I get the impression that GSP feels he is. If GSP beats Bisping I think he'll vacate and drop back to 170 to go after that belt. With the intention of luring Conor McGregor back to 170 for another massive payday. GSP is a shrewd fuck. Edited August 1, 2017 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted August 1, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2017 1 minute ago, wandshogun09 said: I can't see GSP ever fighting a Whittaker or Romero. I think he's literally only fighting Bisping because he thinks he's a beatable middleweight, GSP is a shrewd fuck.  When Dana changed his mind post-event this weekend the cynic in me wondered how much of it was Dana & how much was GSP (and his people)? If Maia wins then we'll take that fight, if not then we'll go with Bisping. The path with the least risk of being sparked out cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Just now, Dead Mike said: When Dana changed his mind post-event this weekend the cynic in me wondered how much of it was Dana & how much was GSP (and his people)? If Maia wins then we'll take that fight, if not then we'll go with Bisping. The path with the least risk of being sparked out cold. Like I said in the event thread, I don't think Woodley was ever getting the GSP fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Southworth Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: @Noah Southworth I can't see GSP ever fighting a Whittaker or Romero. I think he's literally only fighting Bisping because he thinks he's a beatable middleweight, with 'high stock' of course, and it's a chance for GSP to bag a second division's title. If Romero or Whittaker were the champ right now I think GSP would be gearing up to face Tyron Woodley instead. That's not a knock on GSP, by the way. He's smart enough to pick his battles and it seems right now he's after the most winnable fights for the most money. Makes sense. I don't think Bisping is particularly 'winnable' for GSP but I get the impression that GSP feels he is. If GSP beats Bisping I think he'll vacate and drop back to 170 to go after that belt. With the intention of luring Conor McGregor back to 170 for another massive payday. GSP is a shrewd fuck. You're probably right, and whilst it's understandable on GSP's part, I have to say I would sour on him a little if he's challenging for a title that he has no intention of defending. If GSP wins the middleweight title and vacates it, I would guess that Whittaker gets promoted to full champion status. Then maybe Weidman takes on the winner of Rockhold vs. Branch to decide who gets the first crack at Whittaker. In any event, I would like to see the loser of Rockhold vs. Branch take on Romero  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 2 minutes ago, Noah Southworth said: You're probably right, and whilst it's understandable on GSP's part, I have to say I would sour on him a little if he's challenging for a title that he has no intention of defending. If GSP wins the middleweight title and vacates it, I would guess that Whittaker gets promoted to full champion status. Then maybe Weidman takes on the winner of Rockhold vs. Branch to decide who gets the first crack at Whittaker. In any event, I would like to see the loser of Rockhold vs. Branch take on Romero  He's challenging for the title because Michael Bisping has it, and he figures that he could maybe beat him. I don't think GSP is under any illusion of how a fight would go if he were facing a Rockhold, Weidman, Romero or Whittaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted November 8, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 So with fat, out of shape GSP back and looking dangerous, what do we reckon is next? A lot of people are going on about this Whittaker match clause, but almost everyone connected with GSP has sort of shat on future MW GSP. Even Freddie Roach was on the MMA Hour and admitted GSP struggled with the extra chunk. GSP was even non-committal post-fight. Schaub said on Rogan's podcast the other day that he's heard from GSP's camp that his/their plan is Woodley fight next, followed by McGregor (if all goes well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 8, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 That would make the most sense and it's the route I'd like to see him take. But I guess it depends on the UFC as well. You'd think they'd want to take the fastest way to the GSP vs McGregor fight, wouldn't you? But then if that's the case, why were they so insistant on putting in GSP's contract that he'd have to defend against Whittaker at 185? Also, even if he does go back to 170 next, Woodley could well fuck this whole plan up. I think I'd favour GSP over Woodley, which is nuts really given the time away, but Woodley's no stepping stone to McGregor. He'd be an even trickier opponent than Bisping because of his combination of wrestling and KO power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 8, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 I'd hazard a guess that the reason they worked in the Whittaker defence clause is that they've had a couple of years now of their title scenes being held up by McGregor, and, to a much lesser extent, Bisping, so they wanted to make sure that if GSP did get the MW belt the situation would be resolved immediately, i.e. that the belt gets defended and either kept or lost, and that GSP doesn't just move back to WW after dropping the MW belt and thus de-valuing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 8, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 Makes sense. But what happens if he just breaches it and says he didn't feel right at 185 or something? Bit hard to say that when you've just choked the 185 champ unconscious and looked great doing it, I know, but the most they can do is strip him of the middleweight title, surely? The more I read about it the more I'm thinking he'll be back at 170 next. The Lawler vs RDA winner is probably going to be waiting a bit longer for the title shot than they think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted November 8, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 (edited) The clause means nowt, I think. GSP has once again proven himself a massive draw for the UFC. Similar to Conor or Rousey, if GSP wants to fight Woodley next he'll probably get it. Dana and co aren't in the business of pissing off one of two legit draws they've currently got for next year. Plus, he's not asking for anything too unreasonable, like a chunk of the company. He just wants to have a big fight at his natural weight. Edited November 8, 2017 by ColinBollocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chunk Posted November 8, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 8, 2017 6 hours ago, Carbomb said: I'd hazard a guess that the reason they worked in the Whittaker defence clause is that they've had a couple of years now of their title scenes being held up by McGregor, and, to a much lesser extent, Bisping, so they wanted to make sure that if GSP did get the MW belt the situation would be resolved immediately, i.e. that the belt gets defended and either kept or lost, and that GSP doesn't just move back to WW after dropping the MW belt and thus de-valuing it. Yeah, exactly. It gives the UFC all the control. If they want to enforce the Whittaker defence then they can. GSP doesn't become another Mcgregor just running roughshod all over them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted November 9, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted November 9, 2017 Dana talking to TMZ about a potential GSP vs McGregor fight. "Never say never" but you can say 'not yet' from the sounds of this. Still looking like GSP vs Whittaker and McGregor vs Ferguson are the planned fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted November 9, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 9, 2017 GSP very non-committal about the Whittaker fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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