Who won, GSP or Hendricks?

UP vote me if you scored it for St Pierre.

DOWN vote me if you scored it for Hendricks.


Let's see the tally, folks.

I thought Hendricks lost to Condit while the Pierce, Koscheck and Grant fights could of really went either way. Regardless though, Karma has nothing to do with this isolated situation and Hendricks clearly should of won that fight and is being denied the rematch he deserves.

@Nomad: He's not being denied anything. I'm sure they'll get GSP back in there. Dana and Lorenzo have a way with words. 

I thought Hendricks lost to Condit too @nomad. 

I actually think in some ways (not all) that Condit/Hendricks was similar to GSP/Hendricks in that I scored both fights for one fighter while thinking the other really won the fight ala Pride judging. I scored Condit/Hendricks for Hendricks, but Condit clearly won the fight as a whole. I scored last night's 48-47 for GSP, but overall Hendricks won the fight.

12 takedowns with which Condit was down for maybe 2 minutes in total.  getting a takedown does not guarantee you anything unless you can do something with it.

Guida took Pettis down at will, but it wasn't necessarily the brightest game plan because he was constantly defending submission attempts from Pettis and not really imposing any offensive attack at all.

Condit inflicted more damage in that fight than Hendricks did.

Dana White is known for saying, "THe fights just got over I don't want to discuss what can happen just yet" until last night when he had a coronary over everything.  He should have taken a Xanax before the presser because the way he referenced his champion was DISGUSTING.

Completely agree with that, Lopati. 

Dana reached an all-time low in terms of disparaging a guy he was praising as the all-time class act in UFC history because he won a close and controversial decision then hinted at retirement. 

I don't see GSP fighting another fight, he's been making upwards of 15million if not more a year for he last three or four...I don't even take GSP as a greedy, attention ***** who can't refuse such things like a lot of famous athletes are either. GSP has looked steadily worse and it's finally caught up with him, he knows it, his hearts not in it and his body is coming out of it's prime. 


I hope I'm wrong sort of, I don't want GSP to come back and get smashed then re-retire either. It's a nasty situation in my eyes.

Round 1 was extremely close. If you go by Fight Metric's numbers. Hendricks should have won 48-47... but he would have only taken Round 1 by 1 punch.

After seeing the Fight Metric numbers.. it's easier to see this fight as a toss up. Hendricks just did a lot more damage with his strikes as seen on each fighter's face at the end of the fight.

http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/index/4441

* Edited at 11.17.2013, 9:55 PM ET *

As many people know, I'm not the biggest GSP fan. With that said, and I've said this over and over again. When you fight for the Championship of the World of any combative sport, you have to DECISIVELY BEAT the reigning, defending, undisputed champion. Hendricks DID NOT decisively beat GSP. The fightmetric numbers were close, the rounds were close, and basically the entire fight was very close.

In a close fight the nod usually goes the way of the champion. Round 1 was extremely close. St. Pierre was getting the better in the first part of the round with the early takedown and inside clinch work, but Hendricks was starting to get the better towards the end in the stand-up and in the clinch. Depending on how these judges actually score a round, (some actually score the entire round, while others only pay attention to the last 30 seconds), this is a round that could've really gone either way. Hendricks landed the more damaging blows, (obviously), but St. Pierre was controlling where the fight took place for the majority of the round. Because St. Pierre is the champion, some would have to give it to St. Pierre.

Round 2 was definitely Hendricks' round. There is no question on that one there. Round 3 was clearly GSP. Round 4 could've also been a toss up, (depending on the judge and scoring), but I felt that Hendricks actually did more scoring and damage. Round 5 was the deciding round. Whoever won this round, would win the fight, and St. Pierre won the round. By my scorecard, I could've seen the fight either way 48-47 for either fighter. Rounds 1 & 4 were close enough to make it that score. In some cases, a judge would've scored this fight 48-48, and that would've been the proper decision right there IMO, but that's not the world we live in. No matter which way you score it, Hendricks did not decisively beat GSP, so GSP retains his title. Whether it's seen as a draw, razor thin decision for GSP, GSP still retains his title.

Obviously, Hendricks did the more visible damage, but if that were the case in winning decisions for fighters, then BJ Penn beat GSP the first time they fought, Karo Parysian beat Diego Sanchez when they fought, Nick Diaz beat Carlos Condit, Condit beat Hendricks, Gray Maynard beat Frankie Edgar in the 2nd fight, and Forrest Griffin beat Tito in the first and second fight (I know Forrest did win the 2nd fight, but stay with me here), but Tito beat Forrest Griffin in the 3rd fight. The point of all this is, that's what happens with close decisions. That's why it's called a SPLIT decision. Not everyone agrees on the winner.

Any way you slice it, whether Hendricks would've become the new UFC WW Champion or not, there still would've been controversy surrounding the decision because it was such a close fight, and I'm sure we'll get to see an immediate rematch. I know that GSP said he's taking some time off, but all that means is that he's taking time off.............................NOT RETIRING. So either Dana can make and interim match for Hendricks against either Robbie Lawler or Carlos Condit, or he could wait to see how long GSP plans to stay out, and have GSP and Hendricks be coaches on TUF, and we get the rematch that we all want to see to end all the arguments.

"That's why it's called a SPLIT decision. Not everyone agrees on the winner."


Precisely.


48-47 GSP. Recognize.

I recall similar outrage after the 2006 battle between GSP and Penn. 

This will die down by the time they fight again. And if GSP wins the rematch clearly, nobody will even bring it up. 

The way I see it, these two basically aren't done fighting. They're just taking a 4-6 month break between the fifth and sixth round.

The first time GSP abandons safety and fights all out and no one freakin' brings that up.  I could have told you that he wouldn't get any credit.  Proving safety wasn't an issue.  Only a made-up excuse for those who didn't like him to have something to ***** about.  When a fighter has no *****s in their armor, you make them up!

This was GSP's greatest victory, most impressive win, considering the quality of the opponent.

Hendricks proved to be the worst crybaby on record.  Declaring himself the new WW champion made him the year's worse, ignorant *******.  Dana White was a close second in terms of despicable whining crybaby ********.  After all GSP has done for the company, making him (White) rich.

All the other headlines concerning this event and this fight were infinitely more moderate, more restrained and less ignorant.  Simply called the fight controversial.  

https://www.google.ca/search?as_q=&as_epq=Georges+St.+Pierre+wins&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=

* Edited at 11.17.2013, 11:10 PM ET *

@Bill you're so far off the mark it's a wonder anyone has even responded to you on this topic. I agree with you that it was an impressive win considering the circumstances, but it wasn't without controversy. It was a close Split, just like the first fight with Penn, but even closer. Don't insult ppl for thinking GSP lost. I agree with the sentiments about White, but to suggest GSP made him rich is ridiculous.

@skelliher  What are you talking about?  It was controversial and I didn't suggest it wasn't.

And GSP has made the UFC rich.  More so than any other fighter.  

You cannot isolate a sentence where I criticized anyone for thinking Hendricks won.  I did take Hendricks to task for declaring himself the new WW Champion.

Would you have condoned Gustafsson for declaring himself the new LHW champion?

So where am I wrong according to you?

This thread is like one of those AT&T commercials with the kids.

I don't necessarily think Hendricks is an "ignorant *******" for feeling like he's the true champion. Even though I agree with the GSP decision win. 

Anyways, I have this weird feeling that the rematch is going to go down in April with a quick, five-month turnaround. But I could be way off the mark and it could be as late as July or August, if it happens at all.

Time will tell.