GDT: UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre

[Kitten Mittons]

If Bisping rocked him, I can't imagine what Whittaker can do. I think he's pretty overrated but he does hit hard.

I don't think GSP stays at MW unless he fights Silva, no matter what's in his contract. He's got 2 more fights at best left in his career.

 

[Avs_19]

Dana says GSP is fighting Whittaker next and GSP mentioned the contract a little while ago but I wouldn't call that a done deal just yet. If what Dana said is true about breaking the PPV record in Canada and doing over a million buys overall then GSP will call the shots and they'll be doing whatever he wants. The only other fighter who can pull those kind of numbers for them is Conor. Yeah, this card was ridiculously stacked but they don't come close to doing a million (if that number is accurate) if the main event is Bisping vs. any other MW contender.

 

[kurt]

To me, Costa looks like someone who's using PEDs

Just about everyone does and is.

 

[Neutrinos]

How about a tag team match?

McGSP vs The Diaz Bros.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

I'd rather see McDiazSr vs StDiazJr.

 

[Asiantuntija]

GSP vs Woodley. Till vs Wonderboy. Winners face each other. Till has that left hand which is too much for everyone on division.

 

[Bologna 1]

Garbrandt is a piece of trash. Still going on in his post fight presser about how much of a better fighter he is and this and that.. Hope he goes back to have that other dbag faber cuddle him in his tears.

 

[Avs_19]

GSP looked sloooow. If he's actually interested in competing, he should go down to 170. Otherwise, fight Silva, fight McGregor and retire a rich man.

I thought he looked as good as ever in the 1st round and only looked slow after he was tired. I think he can compete at 185 if he's able to improve his conditioning while carrying the extra weight around.

 

[Rocko604]

No she doesn't.

Shevchenko has beaten JJ 3 times in kickboxing, so yeah, she kind of does.

 

[member 51464]

What was up with Bisping's cup? Was it related to the early GSP takedown when Bisping's shorts came down a bit? That was just random as f***.

 

[member 51464]

PS Watching the post-fight press conference now, damn is Rose a charmer. I could see her being a big fan favorite. Just a total sweetheart.

 

[1specter]

PS Watching the post-fight press conference now, damn is Rose a charmer. I could see her being a big fan favorite. Just a total sweetheart.

She actually looks pretty cute with long hair.

 

[1specter]

I thought he looked as good as ever in the 1st round and only looked slow after he was tired. I think he can compete at 185 if he's able to improve his conditioning while carrying the extra weight around.

Yeah, rewatched it and he looked pretty quick until he was gassed. After Bisping made him bleed GSP turned on his final form and got his speed and timing back.

 

[YNWA14]

I think people forget that GSP has always had incredible striking and he only became the hugmonster/passive fighter after that fluke knockout by Matt Serra. That messed with his head a lot and he had to hire a sports psychologist. Maybe a few years away allowed him to collect himself and go back to his roots.

Either way one of the best cards I can remember. Great fights all around. Full credit to TJ (who I've never really liked) for digging deep and not letting the near finish at the end of the first round get him down. Rose is great. Respect to Bisping he's a warrior but it was maybe one of the easiest fights GSP could have had for the MW belt.

 

[Rocko604]

She actually looks pretty cute with long hair.

Total girl next door.

Anyone know how long Fight Pass takes before adding PPV cards? Seen all the finishes but would like to watch the main card from start to finish.

 

[Asiantuntija]

Shevchenko has beaten JJ 3 times in kickboxing, so yeah, she kind of does.

Different sport. If you beat someone in Muay Thai that doesn't mean you can beat her in MMA. Valentina doesn't like to move much and JJ is at her best against that kind of movement. Valentina is excellent counter striker, but she doesn't have KO power. It would be amazing 5 rounds war. Make that happen Dana.

 

[m9]

Different sport. If you beat someone in Muay Thai that doesn't mean you can beat her in MMA. Valentina doesn't like to move much and JJ is at her best against that kind of movement. Valentina is excellent counter striker, but she doesn't have KO power. It would be amazing 5 rounds war. Make that happen Dana.

Well, they need to make sure that fight at 125lbs is for a title. I'm not sure who here has been watching TUF, but the skill level of this cast is embarrassing. I suppose Barb Honchak can stick around, but this is going to be Carla Esparza all over again where a TUF "champion" gets absolutely crushed when the face real competition.

Anyways, my point to my rambling is that I think that the TUF champ takes on either Shevchenko or PVZ next. Probably about a year from now Shevchenko will have that belt and they can do the fight vs JJ.

 

[m9]

I don't like doing breakdowns via mobile, so here are my full thoughts on the card:

I picked Bisping to beat GSP by decision, and actually feel okay about it. I bet if you ask Bisping, he was happy with how the fight was going up until he got caught. GSP was starting to gas and slow down, and in the final two rounds you would have seen Bisping take over the fight. Maybe GSP wins a decision anyway, who knows. I don't think there's anything else to really say on Bisping - he looked like he usually does. This was all about GSP looking amazing in there. I know GSP was the favorite and many people picked him to win, but I have watched every second of every GSP fight and I really didn't think him looking this good was on the table. This was early-UFC GSP again where he is more athletic and quicker than the guy he's fighting while still having the threat of a takedown. For him to come back after this time off and look better than he did in his last handful of fights was a pleasant surprise. I also have no idea what's next for either guy. I think if Gastelum beats Anderson Silva, you do Bisping v Silva 2 in the UK as Bisping's last fight. If Silva wins, I just do GSP v Silva for the belt on Super Bowl weekend. Whittaker won't like it, but he's there waiting for the winner. Lots of options for both of these guys.

Garbrandt v Dillashaw was a great fight. The buildup was excellent and the fight didn't disappoint. My main reason for picking Dillashaw in this fight was that Garbrandt coming off of a bad back injury scared me, and I didn't know how he would react to Dillashaw's movement. Credit to Dillashaw for the win, but I think it's a different fight if Garbrandt is healthy. Glad Dillashaw used the moment to call out DJ as well.

Very excited for Rose. If you watched her season of TUF, it was hard not to cheer for her. On the other side, if you watched Joanna on TUF it is easy to cheer against her.I didn't give Rose a chance in this fight, mainly because I didn't think she could get Joanna to the ground. Obviously I overlooked her striking. Great gameplan to come out aggressive and take advantage of Joanna's slow starts. I do agree with others that Andrade will give her some trouble as she looked spectacular against Gadelha, but that's the fight to make. I also know it doesn't make that much sense, but I would do Gadelha v Joanna 3. Nobody else really is knocking on the door, both coming off a loss. Would be a great Fight Night main event in Brazil or Europe.

 

[m9]

Thompson did a good job getting the win, but I didn't find the fight overly exciting. Reminded me a ton of the "bad" Machida fights where he would stay at range knowing his opponent had nothing for him. But, key win for him.

Paulo Costa (I like that name better anyway) did the expected, but I just wanted to mention that we see so many top prospects flop when they get this chance against a tough vet & it was nice to see him dispose of Hendricks. Still need to see more of him, but a good step forward.

I'm slowing becoming more convinced of James Vick. Yes he's big, but I always questioned his movement in there. I always see these "TUF" guys that don't jump out on the show as having a ceiling, but I think maybe his ceiling is higher than I thought. He needs that top ten fight next.

Regarding the two HW fights with the weird endings - I'm just glad they got it right. I thought for sure Blaydes would be disqualified, but they used replay and got it right. Excellent job by all involved. Curtis Blaydes is regaining that hype that made him a top HW prospect.

I thought Randy Brown would beat Mickey Gall, but the way he did it was pretty impressive. Taking him down and essentially grinding him out is a big step for Brown. Gall just looked terrible in there.. I guess like someone who only has 4 fights.

That Ramos KO was absolutely ridiculous.

Finally.. OSP with the pure UFC video game knockout. I thought Anderson was doing a great job until that moment - sure it wasn't pretty, but he had an excellent gameplan. That's why you don't bury that guy on Fight Pass. I know he's never going to win a belt, but how many great finishes has he been involved with? You're going to bury him off FS1 for Walt Harris & Mark Godbeer? Come on, UFC. They got bailed out by the other fight falling through, but just a ridiculous head kick.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

How did everyone feel about DC's commentating? I like the energy but dude sounds like a fanboy in there.

 

[1specter]

How did everyone feel about DC's commentating? I like the energy but dude sounds like a fanboy in there.

He is kind of a fanboy but I like DC a lot overall. He's very knowledgeable, well-spoken and has a lot of enthusiasm for the sport. It's kind of akin to a former player being colour commentators for NHL broadcasts.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Rewatched a few fights.

TJ really didn't land a lot of shots, even in the 2nd round. Garbrandt evaded almost everything. Literally, the only times TJ landed cleanly, Cody got hurt. Cody's chin was suspect before (a clean KO loss in the amateurs, getting dropped by an arm puncher Cruz, stopping throwing punches when Henry Briones tagged him). Now I'm convinced he has a bad chin. Will be interesting to see how Dillashaw adapts to a rematch with Cruz. I thought Dillashaw won the first fight, but Cruz got it because he's so good a bullsh**ting and no-selling other man's strikes. I'd like to see Dillashaw be more efficient with his kicks. He misses so much of them and Cruz is great at creating a narrative of opponents missing and diverting the attention away from the shots his opponents DO land

Mickey Gall has the defense of a guy who doesn't have experience getting punched in fights. Oh wait, he certainly hasn't been punched much in his career. Not sure if that's a good thing to be in the UFC and you don't know how to handle getting punched outside of sparring (not that I know how hard his sparrings are)

Hendricks should retire. Can't make WW, can't hurt anyone at MW, too small for the division. Now he looks like the very poor's man Tyron Woodley without the pieces to make the Woodley game work. I used to believe Hendricks was one of the most underrated strikers, showing really great pocket striking with GSP and Lawler fights.

 

[Avs_19]

How did everyone feel about DC's commentating? I like the energy but dude sounds like a fanboy in there.

I like him. Sometimes he goes a bit over the top, like two weeks ago when Machida came out to the Game of Thrones theme and he kept going on about it but overall I think he's good. I actually enjoyed the reaction from all three after the Rose win because that was all genuine shock and excitement.

 

[1specter]

I like him. Sometimes he goes a bit over the top, like two weeks ago when Machida came out to the Game of Thrones theme and he kept going on about it but overall I think he's good. I actually enjoyed the reaction from all three after the Rose win because that was all genuine shock and excitement.

On the note of commentators, Rogan got on my nerves a bit in the title fight. While I enjoy Rogan overall, he has a tendency to overreact and create narratives. Watching the fight live and hearing Rogan's reactions you'd think GSP was going to die in the ring of old age. Re-watching it the next day, GSP actually looked very impressive outside of the sequence where he got gassed after he couldn't maintain ground control after the takedown and started to eat some shots. But he adjusted his game plan well and utilized excellent striking after catching his breath.

 

[LSCII]

Rewatched a few fights.

TJ really didn't land a lot of shots, even in the 2nd round. Garbrandt evaded almost everything. Literally, the only times TJ landed cleanly, Cody got hurt. Cody's chin was suspect before (a clean KO loss in the amateurs, getting dropped by an arm puncher Cruz, stopping throwing punches when Henry Briones tagged him). Now I'm convinced he has a bad chin. Will be interesting to see how Dillashaw adapts to a rematch with Cruz. I thought Dillashaw won the first fight, but Cruz got it because he's so good a bullsh**ting and no-selling other man's strikes. I'd like to see Dillashaw be more efficient with his kicks. He misses so much of them and Cruz is great at creating a narrative of opponents missing and diverting the attention away from the shots his opponents DO land

Mickey Gall has the defense of a guy who doesn't have experience getting punched in fights. Oh wait, he certainly hasn't been punched much in his career. Not sure if that's a good thing to be in the UFC and you don't know how to handle getting punched outside of sparring (not that I know how hard his sparrings are)

Hendricks should retire. Can't make WW, can't hurt anyone at MW, too small for the division. Now he looks like the very poor's man Tyron Woodley without the pieces to make the Woodley game work. I used to believe Hendricks was one of the most underrated strikers, showing really great pocket striking with GSP and Lawler fights.

Agreed with all of this, especially Big Rig retiring. Guy needs to GTFO fast because he catches permanent damage.