UFC 158 General Discussion

This is going to be a decision filled card I believe.  I'm positive GSP will win via Decision, but I hope Nick get KOTN in the first.  Every other fight on the main card could go either way depending on which version of the fighters appear that night.

* Edited at 03.08.2013, 2:59 PM ET *

Gotta admit. That was a good performance by GSP. Wish he would have tried harder for a finish. Diaz is hard to put away, but I still think he could have at least made a better effort.

Few notes seeing as I was not on the Ology of tap tonight....


- Yes, Jordan Mein sounds incredibly 'Canadian" That stereotype comes from the "bros" who have a mixture of European English and southern American English. Also, to my BJJ friends, that is what you call ARMBAR defence. That was damn textbook.

- People need to relax on Yves Levigne. he is typically a good ref. It was pretty bizarre how Rocked Carvahlo was and then popped back up somehow - Levigne clearly already made the decision when Carvalho fell like a ton a bring.

-Greg - Boston Piza in Canada is a chain restaurant that is not particularly centralized around pizza. The name is deceiving. 

-GSP" I have been a fan, AND, Defending GSP since he started decisioning everyone in 2008. However, I'm getting tired of his same old schtick. He throws a jab, maybe a double jab, keeps his distance, wait for the opponents commitment, and goes for the takedown. Once on the ground, even though he is a blackbelt in BJJ, will almost never go for the submission (except Hardy, but Hardy is a fool on the ground). How many times did he have Diaz's back, or in side control and go for absolutely nothing.  If GSP wants to be considered the best fighter ever, if he wants to be loved, if he wants ot leave a legacy, fighting safe will get him nowhere. He repeats the same formula every fight - how else can you defend him? While I understand Diaz has a major obligation to defend the takedowns, GSP does nothing on the gorund. I really dont understand how he has the most significant strikes in the UFC. I dont know what is considered a significant strike. But for a guy who has the most 'significant strikes', he sure doesn't hurt people very often. He told people he can talk all he wants but "tomorrow I will walk th walk" thats all BS, he did nothing different.


- While COndit came to 'fight', its MMA and you need to be able to defend the Takedown. That doesn't even account for the fact he got TAGGED on the feet and if it weren't for his inherent chin, he might not have been able to fight the latter rounds. Unlike GSP, at least COndit went for it on the feet.

- As well. The fact Legz went 12/12 is...impressive. Take note to the people who try and debate that the best pickers are the ones who have 64% and have a ridiculous amount of picks. thats how you pick a ******* card. beating over a thousand people where the matches are actually known and close.

* Edited at 03.17.2013, 3:54 AM ET *

GSP will never be considered to be the greatest fighter ever because fighters like Fedor, Silva, and Jones all dominated while finishing their opponents.

This is fighting. The whole point of fighting is to finish your opponent. Fighters with a high finish percentage will always be given a higher ranking than those who simply control their opponents, no matter how one sided the fight is.

Another thing, right now, MMA is still in its infancy. In 60 years, when the conversation for GOAT comes up, GSP will most definitely drop in the rankings because fans in 60 years will really only look at a fighter's highlight reel.

I'm a huge basketball fan. When the conversation for best big man comes up, I go with Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, or Chamberlain. They played way before my time. It would be unrealistic to watch every single one of their games, so I watch the highlight reels and maybe archived games.

UFC fans in the future will not watch every single one of GSP's fights. When they see reels of Silva, Jones and Fedor submitting and KOing fighters in spectacular fashion, they will get a leg up in talks for GOAT.

@amp112 I would rank GSP above Fedor and up there with Anderson as the best fighter of all time. There's no other fighters as dominant as them 2.

Saying fans won't remember him as one of the best fighters of all time due to lack of finishes is foolish.

You just sound like a sour Diaz fan because GSP just dominated him.

When you look at a lot of HL videos for example on YouTube, they're not all constructed of KO's and subs. so that pretty much negates your point.

Then again, this is a diff. debate for another time.

Hope they don't cut Duran but won't be surprised. 

Just read thread and couldn't believe that, in referring to the bs decision in the Voelker/Cote fight, there was no use of the phrase "Montreal Screw Job"

Terrible stoppage by Yves in the Carvalho fight but great sportsmanship shown by Pato.

Ellenberger, Condit, & Hendricks almost made this card worth a PPV but everyone who was complaining about the 1st 2 fights being on the PPV was dead on.

Biggest stock up: Jordan Mein

Biggest loser: Yves Lavigne

Next Biggest losers: Mulhern, Tamura, Duran, Miller, Fletcher, Ricci, Camozzi, Ring, Marquardt

Hendricks didn't l'n'p, he got up and let Carlos up more times than he got up and his tds also interrupted Carlos' striking rhythm. That was probably their most important function in this fight. The reason Condit won the standup portion of the fight was because of his aggression & combinations. w/o said aggression, the fight would've been much closer on the feet and Hendricks wouldn't have needed to take him down as often but since he was being so aggressive in order to "outscore" Johny, he left himself much more vulnerable to tds. 

Agree with the idea of Condit/Diaz II

That's the honest truth of it. The intricacies of an athletes game are lost over time. People remember stats and highlight reels.

The only way I would ever rank GSP over Silva is if they fought and GSP won. Fedor had a storied career, Jon Jones is an animal, and I think by the time GSP and Aldo retire, Aldo will be consensusly ranked higher.

Not saying GSP is not one of the all time greatest. Just saying he'll never be considered THE greatest.

just finished watching the fights, as usual the prelims were more fun to watch than the main card fights.
I was sad that Nate got KO'd but it was a good fight, Condit and Hendricks stole the night, I didn't like the way Hendricks won, but it is what it is, my respect goes to Carlos. Diaz did ok, I think he showed he is one of the best strikers out there, Only Shields have landed as much or more than him and only a few fighters have put as much damage as he did to GSP and he spent half of the fight on his back!, what I was surprised about Diaz is his lack of agressiveness during the figth, maybe had to do with GSP TD's I dunno, I was surprised with GSP cardio he looked tired by the 3rd round, Nick showed his great cardio and prove the ones who thought his cardio wasn't that good wrong, and he did it inspite of his 1 year layoff.

Final fightcard score 7.5/10

* Edited at 03.17.2013, 6:51 PM ET *

Whew!  OK.  Now its over.  Our amazing WW tournament is now behind us.

I'm so glad the GSP / Diaz fight is behind us.  Another routine win for GSP.  Nick now takes his place in the GSP-defeated club.  I hope to see Nick fights the other contenders now.

Ellenberger and Story and Hendricks were the big winners.  Condit lost but lost in a great way.  He went done to a narrow loss with both fists blazing.  The way you want if you must go down.

After his win, I see no hope for a GSP vs. Anderson Silva fight now.  Now with how he looked against Diaz.  

For me the fun will be in how the WWs play out in the coming months.  And so much more!

So now I expect the UFC to schedule the GSP vs. Hendricks fight for this summer.  I had originally expected GSP to move up and take the Silva fight this fall.  But now I don't think that fight will happen.

After Hendricks, I think 2 potential candidates are Ellenberger and Maia.  Presuming they don't lose.  

Not only in the fight itself but the press conference before and comments after. No humility no poise no respect thats what i take away about Diaz as a person now. Huge let down. Sorry i was ever a fan of yours Diaz. :(

@new nola, I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but that's common Nick Diaz practice, so I don't get why you're letdown by his trash talk.

Strange that you would re-open this thread weeks later and not add anything.