UFC 129 toronto GSP-Shields

[Svino]

Some tl/dr thoughts on GSP / Shields.

First, a semi-rhetorical question: Why wasn't the fight stopped (in Shields' favor) due to GSP's blindness in one eye?

You either are allowed to fight with one eye, or you aren't, right? Was it just because the injury didn't look very bad? I didn't think that was supposed to be the issue.

And don't tell me the cageside doctors didn't have a clue about it. If a million people watching at home knew, they surely did.

You could say that the vision rule is really only meant to be used as an excuse to stop the fight in the case of a fighter getting brutalized, but if Couture lost to Belfort and Fedor lost to TK, why didn't GSP lose to Shields last night?

Anyway, I think you know my real opinion on this: get rid of the idea that a fighter "cannot fight" with vision in only one eye. There are worse handicaps that people fight with. GSP was tentative, but you can't say he couldn't defend himself.

-----------------------

Overall, I loved the fight result. As long as GSP keeps winning his fights by boring decisions, people will continue to underestimate him and we'll keep getting good lines. Not enough people understand that his cautious style makes him a *better* fighter to bet on, not a worse one. My favorite fan reaction, which I've seen a few close variants of, goes like this: "What a joke that people call GSP #1 p4p! He just plays it safe in the closing rounds instead of trying to finish! He's an athlete, not a fighter. A fighter like Anderson Silva would never fight like that!" [facepalm]

What's next for GSP? I don't know -- moving up to MW for a superfight against champion Yushin Okami? Seriously though, I don't think all the people clamoring for GSP to move up so we no longer have boring WW title fights have thought their cunning plan all the way through. You've got elite WW's like Shields and Fitch likely to take over if that happens, and you know what that means.

Also, the fan reaction to this fight reinforces my fear that the UFC may be making a mistake with 5-round non-title fights, at least if they aren't very careful with who gets them. Last night was such an awesome card, and yet anger at the boring main event seems to be by far the dominant topic of conversation on forums. People wouldn't care so much if it had been 3 rounds. I really think it's those extra 10 minutes tacked onto an already dull fight that take people from "meh." to "FANBOY RAGE!" Aldo / Hominick was 5 rounds and good; great even. But there's something about just one boring 5-rounder on a card that people just can't get over.

[MMA_scientist]

Well Seagal at least deserves some credit in that he IS a legit Aikido black belt.

I am sure is was a rough 6 weeks for him. I am open minded about martial arts, but Aikido (as we know it) is basically completely useless in mma.

[MMA_scientist]

I don't know what happened to Aldo. He was fast and destroyed Hominick in the 1st round, then he came out flat and awful in the 2nd and it was nothing of Hominick's doing.

Also, fuck Chad Mendes.

Aldo must fight Hatsu Hioki.

Exactly, I just thought he gassed inexplicably for some reason and that was why I was worried.

[SPX]

I don't know whether Seagal is actually teaching these guys anything useful, or if it's just the case of a mental block being overcome. IE: One guy does something people don't think is possible, people realize it is, and other capable fighters try more vigorously to employ said technique. It's pretty common in sports and fighting.

It's hard to overlook the presence of Seagal though, as preposterous and hilarious as it seems.

Well Seagal at least deserves some credit in that he IS a legit Aikido black belt. I don't know that he's a "master" as people keep saying, but it's something he's very experienced that.

But the question is what does he know about striking? We really have no idea what Seagal does in his day to day life. Maybe he actually has a lot of experience in other martial arts as well, and it's just not talked up like his Aikido experience. Big question mark there.

[MMA_scientist]

Furthermore, is Seagal actually teaching these guys something useful?

No. They like him because they are crazy brazilians and they want to slurp his balls so they give him credit where it clearly is not due.

[SPX]

. . . he wasn't controlling posture at all and he was just laying flat on his back, horrible.

Laying flat on his back and getting tagged repeatedly.

[zY|]

I don't know what happened to Aldo. He was fast and destroyed Hominick in the 1st round, then he came out flat and awful in the 2nd and it was nothing of Hominick's doing.

Also, fuck Chad Mendes.

Aldo must fight Hatsu Hioki.

[zY|]

I don't know whether Seagal is actually teaching these guys anything useful, or if it's just the case of a mental block being overcome. IE: One guy does something people don't think is possible, people realize it is, and other capable fighters try more vigorously to employ said technique. It's pretty common in sports and fighting.

It's hard to overlook the presence of Seagal though, as preposterous and hilarious as it seems.



^^Martial Arts master

[Vandelay]

I really felt like Hominick had the best shot of the Aldo-Machida-GSP triumvirate, which is why I stayed away from betting that one. I think Hominick's boxing is really solid and was giving Aldo some problems. Also, I think that if Hominick had worked in takedowns more in every round rather than just at the very end then, based on what we saw, maybe he could've actually won.

Hominick only got that td cause aldo went for the choke...Mendes gassed horribly in his last fight. He's still a little too green to beat Aldo in my mind. He does have power in his hands and a good double leg though.

[SPX]

SPX is the winner of the straight picks test with 10 of 13, besting several that had 9.

Thanks for the props. This was just such a great event for me on so many levels.

Speaking of contests, it's really time to do another official one.

Also, there were 4 unanimous IWS picks and they all won.

We should do this for every event for a couple of months and see how it works out. Maybe there's something to our unanimous picks. If they could could consistently pay out, say, 8 of 10 times it might be worthwhile to actually try to work it into our betting strategies.

[SPX]

I really thought Garza would win, and I am pissed I didn't pull the trigger on that one.

Yeah, I was a little frustrated with myself for just dropping a little piddly ass .25u on that one. It really looked like Jabouin was on his way to a win, though. He was fucking Garza up on the feet. BTW, did anyone else expect Garza to have some kind of thick accent?

As for the fights... I really enjoyed every fight except the GSP fight. JMAC's triangle set up and Rory Macdonald's suplex were the highlights of the event for me, aside from the obvious MAchida kick, which was incredible. I was happy to see Randy go down, but I couldn't really celebrate because I had a bunch of people over and they were all cheering for Couture. I was really hoping they would have to stretcher him out of there so I wouldn't have to see all the hero worship stuff yet again... but I will take it.

I'm still not over that kick. The only thing that would've made it better is if we hadn't seen Anderson do something similar just a few months ago. When I saw it I immediately thought, Scientist is going to be happy about this. I was happy myself, though I don't hate Couture or anything.

So is Machida "back" and does he continue his interrupted winning streak or does he still have a rocky road ahead of him? What kind of chances do you give him against Jones? Furthermore, is Seagal actually teaching these guys something useful?

I was nervous as hell after Round 1 of the Aldo fight. Aldo looked like Aldo for the first 2 minutes, and then he just fizzled. I really thought Hominick was going to beat him after that round.

I really felt like Hominick had the best shot of the Aldo-Machida-GSP triumvirate, which is why I stayed away from betting that one. I think Hominick's boxing is really solid and was giving Aldo some problems. Also, I think that if Hominick had worked in takedowns more in every round rather than just at the very end then, based on what we saw, maybe he could've actually won.

[poopoo333]

There was no need to play it safe though. Shields posed no threat standing and his takedowns were stuffed with ease. It's only a matter of time before GSP starts losing fans and his ppv numbers start diminishing. Most people don't like to watch a boring winner. Look at Tim Sylvia, Lyoto Machida, Frankie Edgar, Jake Shields, the spurs, josh clottey (boxer). All safe competitors who usually dont take risks and get hated for it.

I think the casual fan will always tune in for GSP. At BWW, even with GSP's recent "boring fights" or whatever, the place goes nuts for GSP at every event and they go crazy each time he throws a punch, gets a TD, etc.

[poopoo333]

Aldo was also gassed imo. But I will be betting Mendes also

[MMA_scientist]

As an aside, Aldo is supposed to fight Mendes next... Aldo has a very impressive bjj record, but it was clear that his game is on top. In the bjj matches I have seen, he gets on top and hold it. I am probably going to look hard at Mendes there. I think he has a great chance. Aldo looked like shit off his back. Maybe he was tired, but whatever, he wasn't controlling posture at all and he was just laying flat on his back, horrible.

[SPX]

It must be great to be GSP

Fight like shit, have one eye








Easily beat a guy on a 15 fight win streak.

No shit. It really does make you wonder how or when someone's going to figure out how to beat him.

Either someone else is going to have to pull a Serra or we're going to have to see some guy appear on the scene out of nowhere who just starts fucking everybody up like he's GSP 2.0.