Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted February 21, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 Woodley and Maia are a nightmare for anyone at WW, tbf. Although, GSP always found a way to stop his opponents doing what they do best. I'd fancy his chances against Maia, should GSP be at his best, because Maia isn't the striker GSP is. If GSP can keep it standing, Maia is taking a trip to Jab City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 I'm with lamby. I'll be chuffed to see GSP back in the game and if a fight against say Bisping, McGregor or even Anderson is made I'll be drawn in. But I was looking forward to seeing if he could come back and wipe out yet another pool of welterweights. Â The thing as well is, with Bisping and McGregor it's not like they don't have deserving challengers lined up. It's not like when Jones fought Chael or Bisping fought Hendo. In those situations there were circumstances where the legit top contenders were either unavailable or declined the fight. Now you've got Yoel Romero and Jacare at 185, who have more than earned their shot at Bisping. And you've got Khabib and Ferguson at 155 who've more than earned a crack at McGregor. Â Don't get me wrong, if they can do GSP vs McGregor they have to do it. I understand that totally. It would be a spectacle worthy of a huge stadium. It's the biggest possible fight there is in MMA now IMO. But GSP vs Bisping doesn't do a great deal for me really. I'd get into it if it was announced but it wouldn't be my first choice of superfight and I genuinely wouldn't be bothered if that fight never happens. Â I get why the UFC would want to book those fights and I've no doubt they'll do big business. But two of the fights I was most looking forward to this year were Bisping vs Romero and McGregor vs Khabib. They are great, great fights. And it's not like they'd be hard to promote either. Romero and Khabib have both shown an ability in their own way to drum up interest in these title shots and the broken English post-fight interviews with both at UFC 205 were excellent with Khabib going on about McGregor "tapping like chicken" and doing the whole Russia vs Ireland thing. And the Romero-Bisping bit was ace as well with Yoel's march, the creepy translator, Bisping flipping the middle finger, "I LOVE YOU MIKE" etc etc. It'd be a shame if we miss out on those fights. If we get GSP vs McGregor then fine. But I don't want GSP vs Bisping at the expense of possibly losing Bisping vs Romero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Jim Bob Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 (edited) I agree with Wand and Lamby about GSP/Bisping. What do you do if he wins ? The main guys at Middle are huge. He spoke in the past about feeling undersized at 170. Whats he gonna think looking up at Rockhold. Â If he wants "superfights" give him a Diaz brother or Anderson. Thats all they want too. Then Conor if he wins. Edited February 21, 2017 by Cousin Jim Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Decent read on why Bisping vs GSP might not be the best option - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/The-Bottom-Line-Resist-the-Temptation-117687#457vPlhTDrbu5AGK.99  I was going to copy the entire article over, but it was far too much text. I would tune in with bated breath for Bisping vs GSP. However, I get the author's point. The key sticking point is if GSP wins. He would then have to face Romero - who is a dreadful match-up for him. He could vacate the title I guess, but it would leave the division looking 2nd rate.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Could they not just do Bisping/GSP as a regular Middleweight fight, rather than it being for the title? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Could they not just do Bisping/GSP as a regular Middleweight fight, rather than it being for the title? The way around it would be doing it at a catchweight, say 180llbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 (edited) Firaz was on the MMA Hour Monday and basically said Georges isn't interested in titles, just big fights. Bisping, Conor and maybe Nate at a push seem the likely choices, all at catch weight. Woodley seemed a complete afterthought. Edited February 23, 2017 by Silky Kisser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Woodley seemed a complete afterthought. Next week on the MMA Hour: 'Tyron Woodley says GSP doesn't want to fight him because he's black.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Firaz was on the MMA Hour Monday and basically said Georges isn't interested in titles, just big fights. Bisping, Conor and maybe Nate at a push seem the likely choices, all at catch weight. Woodley seemed a complete afterthought. MMA is starting to become more like boxing all the time, it's all about making the most money you can from a certain fight. You can't blame the fighters for having that mentality, it's why the Diaz brothers aren't interested in just entering their respective divisions and fighting contenders. A great example is with the David Haye/Tony Bellew fight next weekend. Bellew is the Cruiserweight Champion, Haye is a heavyweight. Bellew could have gone down the route of defending his belt against a contender and made so much money, but a one off fight against Haye earns him probably 5-10 times the money because it's a fight that a huge number of people want to see, not just the die-hards who wants to see the division contested fairly. Â In MMA it's only gonna get worse (probably the wrong word to use) going forward because we are increasingy seeing the value in doing random fights that make sense from a money making point of view rather than a divisional one. Bellator are doing this and whilst the quality of the fights may be questionable there's no denying the results from a ratings standpoint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Not just that, Ebb. The McGregor Factor continues to have influence on the situation, specifically that fighters are now seeing that, the better you do financially, the more independence and power you have in negotiating with the UFC, which has until this era had all the power, forcing fighters to make concessions as "independent contractors" that would be unacceptable in any other profession, such as having exclusive rights over their very appearance, and having to forego all other paying sponsors and accept lower pay, just because the company kit maker wants exclusivity. Â McGregor has now led the way in showing that, if you can make loads of money for yourself and the company, you can tell management to wind their necks in in proportion to just how much clout you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 yeh it is. The fighters involved need to work with the UFC though, the best can be made of a situation if they work together to make these fights happen. GSP's clearly accepted a deal with the UFC that is going to benefit both parties. McGregor's is a little different because he's trying to operate completely outside of the UFC's realm, Dana said of that situation that Conor going to have a nasty fall if he does (or words similar to that effect). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Whilst I see little elements of boxing coming into MMA, when it comes down to it, it will never be like boxing as long as the UFC brand is above the sport of MMA. The UFC maintain that structure boxing just doesn't have.  We can talk all we want about the Mcgregor effect, yet no one else is Conor Mcgregor. We've never had it before, and who knows, we may never see it again. It's just a rare thing in combat sport, someone with the gift to sell a fight, yet can also back it up in the cage/ring. Fighters looking at him thinking they can have the same treatment as him have to be able to prove it before making any sort of demand.  For me, what's driving a lot of these demands is the 4.2bn WME paid for the UFC. Fighters now know a value that the company needs to attain to, and they also know that WME paid a shit ton of money using a huge loan. WME have to produce results to satisfy their shareholders whilst paying off the huge interest on the loan that was taken out.    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 MMA is starting to become more like boxing all the time, it's all about making the most money you can from a certain fight. You can't blame the fighters for having that mentality, it's why the Diaz brothers aren't interested in just entering their respective divisions and fighting contenders.   A great example is with the David Haye/Tony Bellew fight next weekend. Bellew is the Cruiserweight Champion, Haye is a heavyweight. Bellew could have gone down the route of defending his belt against a contender and made so much money, but a one off fight against Haye earns him probably 5-10 times the money because it's a fight that a huge number of people want to see, not just the die-hards who wants to see the division contested fairly.  In MMA it's only gonna get worse (probably the wrong word to use) going forward because we are increasingy seeing the value in doing random fights that make sense from a money making point of view rather than a divisional one. Bellator are doing this and whilst the quality of the fights may be questionable there's no denying the results from a ratings standpoint. Aye.  So long as they find a happy medium - like Boxing has recently - I can live with that.  As Lamby alluded to in the opening sentences of his post, the UFC is structured differently to boxing. It has the lion's share of the best fighters under one roof. They basically control the top-end of the sport. Boxing is much more fragmented. This means that the UFC is the master of its own destiny. I want to see MMA's equivalent to Ward vs Kovalev. as well as crazy spectacle fights that occasionally throw the rankings out the window. The UFC has the ability to deliver both. But it won't be able to always please everyone.  If they make GSP vs Bisping, I think they will make it for the title. The fight will certainly be at Middleweight. The only alternative is perhaps an 180lbs catchweight affair. Bisping won't have defended the title since last October. I can't see the UFC letting him take a voluntary non-title fight, when they could easily just put the title up for grabs. However, on this occasion, I would probably prefer they went with Bisping vs Romero, and perhaps do GSP vs McGregor over the summer, with perhaps an eye on him unifying in November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted February 23, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 As with Jim above, I'd would prefer to see Bisping vs Romero and GSP vs Mcgregor. I would also prefer that GSP make 155llbs for it to be for the title.  However, the problem in all of this is GSP saying he's not interested in titles. By this he means he has no interest in defending the belt if he wins it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Who would you pick out of Bisping/GSP to win? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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