Ellenberger's next two opponents? ;)

Saw this on Twitter, Jake faces Rory July 27th and if he wins that may put him into a title shot.  GSP's truck was stolen a day or two ago for those who didn't know.  Hilarious, haha



Jake Ellenberger ‏@EllenbergerMMA18h

St. Pierre: I stole your truck. I have the pics of you & Rory. Let's talk

* Edited at 06.09.2013, 12:17 PM ET *

He isn't getting past Rory

If Jake beats Rory no way he's not next in line after Hendricks 

or judging by the UFC's love for Hendricks, i can see Ellemberger getting the shot before Johnny  

@prarie Just who has Rory beat to make you so confident? Washed up wrong weight class BJ? Che Mills who got cut and lost his first bout in Cage Warriors? MIke Pyle is his best win IMO. The hype behind this guy is not justified yet, if he beats Ellenberger I will hop on the bandwagon though.

He's beat everyone so dominantly though. Even in his only loss against Condit he fought very well until the 3rd round.

Jake Ellenberger's gonna beat Rory MacDonald, I have faith.

For the umpteenth ******* time, I'll say it; Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks have the best shot at taking the welterweight crown from GSP, more Ellenberger than Hendricks though. Been saying this for a ******* year and a half and I will continue to do so.

Ellenberger is a monster, I have never seen a fighter whose every strike contains that much power. Like amp said, his losses are ******* impressive too. He's like the guy I've ever seen buckle Carlos Condit and he wrecked Martin Kampmann before Kampmann came back.

* Edited at 06.09.2013, 5:29 PM ET *

Its not who he has fought, but what he has done to who he has fought. Like look what he did to Mike Pyle. He made him look like an amateur, and that guy is on a roll right now.

Ellenberger is a funny guy now? If Rory doesn't make him cry Georges will. 

Rory is still so young he hasn't even come close to what he will be. His fight with Condit he was only 20 years old. That's ******* crazy. He's the future of whatever weight class he ends up in. IF Hendricks and or Ellenberger ever become champ it will be a quick reign. 

I don't think you can discredit Rory's win over BJ. Many believe BJ is the best boxer in MMA and Rory totally picked him apart and could have finished him if he wanted to. It's not like he took BJ down and smothered him.

Very intriguing fight that could go either way. Rory, while not having a win over a top 10 opponent, has looked the part imo. Very impressive showings vs. the only 2 top ranked guys he's faced in Condit & Pyle. I've even heard some complain that the Condit fight was stopped too early and he should've got that decision. I don't agree but he was winning. To me the only question with Rory is how would he handle one of the many wrestlers at the top of the WW division and now we get to find out.

Ellenberger's only real weakness I've seen is his cardio so I'm with Anik in that he might be an even more dangerous opponent than Hendricks becuase he has a little bit better technical striking imo. 

Will be surprised if there's a wide gap in the pick % or the odds but I'm pretty sure I'll pick Rory. 

p4p, when it doesn't concern GSP you have quality posts but ones like the above make it very clear that you qualify as what they call "nuthugger" even if you truly believe what you're saying. 

So are they not quality because they're true and some can't handle the truth?

Didn't say they weren't quality. They qualify as nuthugger because you always refuse to give the opponents any credit for having the skills to win while saying that GSP actually tries to finish and isn't satisfied with a decision. I think Georges has the abilities to be a great fighter and he uses that disparity in skills to coast to decisions because it's the "smart" thing to do. It's not. Every moment you don't finish an opponent is a chance they have to finish you. Professional fighting should not be a self defense class. It should be an unarmed combat contest between two fighters or warriors but not considered a sporting contest between athletes. This is all my opinion of course as to what it "should" be. It should simulate as closely as possible real world situations and in a real world situation, the goal should be to end the conflict as soon as possible before the adversary makes it armed combat since our greatest weapon is our mind.

Now if Georges is as great as you think, and I think he is, then as a fan I would expect him to finish opponents that he is far superior to. So either he is coasting or he isn't that great. Which is it?

As far as Hendricks & Ellenberger, they both have the skillset to give GSP a challenge because, unlike the vastly overrated Kos, they have very good wrestling and good technical striking with power. Now whether they have the ability to transition between grappling and striking as seamlessly as GSP is the real question but expecting GSP to easily plant them on their backs because he was able to do it to Koscheck is a bad comparison. Fitch, who I think gave GSP his best fight since he's held the belt, is also a bad comparison because his striking is very poor compared to those 2.

"Its not who he has fought, but what he has done to who he has fought. Like look what he did to Mike Pyle. He made him look like an amateur, and that guy is on a roll right now."

I think part of it is GSP does coast. He gets in the comfortable groove in a fight and is content with picking apart his opponent. One thing that never gets mentioned is the guys he fights don't get finished. Look at his last 3 opponents....

Nick Diaz, last time he was finished was 2002. excluding 1 doctor stoppage. Out of 36 pro fights he's been finished once.

Carlos Condit, last time finished was 2006. He's been finished 3 times in 35 pro fights.

Jake shields (at the time he fought GSP) last time finished was 2000. Was on a 15 fight win streak. At that time he was finished 1 time in 31 pro fights. 

It's not like the guys GSP fights are getting finished and then all of a sudden Georges fights them and can't finish. He does have more finishes then decisions 13/11 and finishing or not he is totally dominant. People get way too obsessed with the finish. If you can't appreciate the most well rounded fighter of all time dominating arguably the deepest most talented weight class in the best MMA organization on the planet that's your problem not mine. 

All of GSP's opponents have a chance of beating him. I recognize that and I don't mean to discredit some guys but in my opinion GSP is so far ahead of everyone else outside of a flash KO I don't see them having much of a chance.

(applause) Ok that was much more measured and like I said I agree about his skill level.

Shields though, was then finished quickly by Ellenberger and arguably could've lost to Akiyama and maybe even Herman if he didn't have the fight IQ of ....well I don't want to list anyone here but why would you initiate a clinch with a fantastic grappler and very good wrestler with quite possibly the worst striking in the UFC. 

And those weren't the fights I was thinking of. I was thinking of: Hardy - definitely had no business getting a title shot, Alves - finished several times including by Spencer Fisher, Koscheck - who I think is criminally overrated but I will admit he's hard to finish hell he wasn't even truly out when Paulo caught him.

The one time I was very impressed with his strategic approach was the 2nd Penn fight when he laid it out in his post fight interview. If he followed a game plan like that every time that led to a finish, I think he'd clearly be #1 p4p. 

Quality of opponent does play into GSP's finishing rate. I for one didn't expect GSP to finish Diaz or Condit, nor Hendricks when that fight happens. He definitely should have finished Hardy and there was no excuse for not finishing Koscheck. Could make the argument either way for Shields, Fitch and even Alves because he's pretty erratic when it comes to his performances. 

But this is why Silva & Jones are listed higher in the p4p rankings. They finish their opponents regardless. And you can bring up the 3 stinkers that Silva had, but then again he was also the first (and only) to knock Belfort out cold, the first to finish Sonnen, Marquardt, and Bonnar with strikes, and the first to finish Okami in the UFC.

Same with Jones. You can bring up the Evans fight, but look what he did to Shogun and Machida.

Shogun is as inconsistent as they come.  Silva/Belfort was very competitive and there NEEDS to be a rematch and MW, imo, is THE weakest division. I don't blame Anderson for not engaging Maia on the ground but Leites?? and the Cote fight doesn't even have the brazilian excuse.

Oh, and Ryo Chonan & Daiju Takase. 

None of those matter as to who's the best right now but they matter when talking all-time legacy for sure.

If the only thing you base p4p on is finishes then yes Silva and Jones are ahead of GSP. I agree 100% he should have finished Hardy and Kos. Younger GSP would see an opening and charge and really go after the finish. The older GSP is more calculated and now I believe he thinks too much when in the cage. I thought he really let it go against Condit but just couldn't get the finish. 

"I don't think you can discredit Rory's win over BJ. Many believe BJ is the best boxer in MMA and Rory totally picked him apart and could have finished him if he wanted to. It's not like he took BJ down and smothered him."

BJ hasn't been considered the best boxer for a few years now and that fight was also a LW vs a MW. Rory showed really good striking though.

im taking ellenberger by ko. idc who u are, if ellenberger lands clean, theres a good chance ur goin out. and as for the gsp arguement ether ellenber, hendricks or condit will dethrone him. in his passed 2 fights since his recovery he has looked worse IMO. he has won both fights but he got dropped by condit and rocked by diaz. his cardio also looked worse than it previously has