GSP is my favorite fighter by far but as some others in this thread have already mentioned Silva is way too big and skilled for GSP. GSP's only chance against Silva would be to take the fight to the ground but I don't think GSP will be able to duplicate the type of wrestling/ground and pound Chael demonstrated as Chael is much stronger and bigger than GSP. And if the fight stays standing GSP would be in even more trouble and the match would end even quicker. Silva's striking is second to none and if there's anything that could be improved in GSP's game it's striking/KO power. The only advantage I see for GSP is speed and cardio and it's not that much greater in comparison to Silva. Certainly not enough to make a huge difference and cover the other lacking areas.
Yeah but I don't think MMA fighters earn nearly as much as all the other sports I mean Chael Sonnen, a top contender was paid 35,000 in the fight against Anderson, off course that does not include sponsors and other bonuses, but his training camp, coaching, traveling expenses are not paid by the UFC. I'm not saying 35k is not a lot, but we are talking about a top 3 fighter in the division. In fact most undercard fighters in the UFC gets paid 8k to 15k for each fight, and that's not a lot considering they have to pay for their own training camp and does not get many fights a year.
Well put, I agree with this 100%. I understand why everyone is clamoring for a GPS/Silva fight but I fear it will be one-sided and anti-climactic.
Could be. Who knows. But Sonnen made it seem like he speaks perfect English or something. I could've sworn he said that, too. I have no idea. Could just be the crowd simply didn't like Silva as much as Vitor? Silva has his detractors and people probably wanted an underdog victory as well.
I really would want GSP to win the fight and destroy Silva, but like others have said, it may be tough. Having said that, lots of people didn't expect him to dominate Koscheck in wrestling. Koscheck was an incredible collegiate wrestler and NCAA champion. He couldn't do squat against GSP. I think Dana's already said that a fight between the two would mean Silva would have to drop weight and GSP would have to gain weight - they'd meet in the middle, didn't he? I don't know, I just want GSP to take this dude out. One thing about Sonnen is that, yeah, he took Silva down, but he didn't do a ton of damage while on the ground, especially in the later rounds. He let Silva stay in the match even when he was dominating him. Silva's face didn't look like he had just spent much of the fight on his back. I'll give Sonnen credit for one thing, though. He said Silva could be beaten, he knew how to beat him and would beat him. For 4.5 rounds, he had me believing it was going to happen. I don't know how much the steroids had to do with that, but if not much, and if Silva was bs'ing about the injuries causing his poor showing, then those 2 need to fight again. If wrestling and takedowns cause Silva that many problems, I think GSP may stand a chance. His biggest problem will be whether or not he can take him down - something Sonnen abused Silva with.
He didn't deserve to win his last fight against Kampmann. Not sure if Kampmann did either but it was a bad all around fight by both of them.
I would be pulling for GSP also but I'm picking Silva if they end up fighting. I believe Dana said that GSP would be making a permanent move to middleweight and they would be fighting for the MW title.
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Georges WILL take down Silva and keep him there. I could see it going exactly like the Chael fight. Also, GSP is aware and smart enough to stay out of Anderson's submissions and will also pass guard and just smother Anderson. On the other hand, if GSP stands with Silva for even a second too long, you could see something like what happened on Saturday night.
Dana is a ridiculously good business man. In that interview with Fanhouse hearing him say how Ticketmaster blew up after the Bones Jones announcement is just another reason why. I'm wondering what will have a bigger buy rate Jones vs Shogun or Silva vs GSP.
I'm not so sure Chael is stronger than GSP. Guys like Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine have both stated that GSP is stronger than most 205'ers. That's saying a lot, I know guys like to hype their own guys, but I don't think there was any hype in these statements. I think this would be an extremely difficult fight for GSP. The only way I see him being able to pull off a win is with his wrestling and punishing Silva on the ground. If Silva is able to use his length and pinpoint accuracy in the stand-up, it could be over quickly. Silva is sure to be highly motivated for this fight. I'd love to see GSP win the Silva fight, first things first, gotta get past Shields.
