MMA News Forums » MMA Forums » General MMA Forum

[joeodd2]

Originally Posted by Adambomb

Honestly, I find it funny how people actually think GSP changed anything about his style or general philosophy in this fight with Condit. Condit was better than Koscheck, Shields, or Hardy, so he was actually able to make the fight competitive.

However, GSP was still content to play it safe. Several times during the fight GSP landed combos which had Condit reeling back into the cage. Instead of continuing to throw strikes, GSP went for the takedown which he easily achieved. He continued his G&P assault even though it was clear that probably wasn't going to finish the fight, as Carlos had continually done a good job defending himself despite eating a lot of shots. Carlos couldn't stop GSP's takedowns but had good enough BJJ to make a submission very difficult, so Georges focused on G&P. GSP simply found Condit's biggest weakness and continued to exploit it.

That's the exact same thing GSP did in his previous fights. Hardy had horrendous grappling, so GSP went for submissions all day instead of mixing up striking or G&P. Koscheck couldn't stop the jab, so Georges just used that instead of throwing any combos or kicks in pursuit of the finish.

GSP always takes the safest route to victory. It's a credit to his skillset that he's versatile enough to exploit even the tiniest weakness in an opponent's game, but let's not pretend he's actually changed. If GSP wanted to stop Condit he probably could have by continually throwing combos once he had Carlos backing up. But that would've come with the risk of getting Ko'd, so he again chose not to.

After GSP got rocked and almost finished, I can't blame the guy for not playing on the feet for a long period of time during the rest of the fight. He did go for some descent GNP, but he said it himself, he doesn't have the same kind of power other fighters do. Personally I don't believe he likes to commit too much to his punches and kicks, he likes to confuse his opponent with strikes and take downs. Either way he's the most exciting non finisher in MMA.

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by joeodd2

After GSP got rocked and almost finished, I can't blame the guy for not playing on the feet for a long period of time during the rest of the fight. He did go for some descent GNP, but he said it himself, he doesn't have the same kind of power other fighters do. Personally I don't believe he likes to commit too much to his punches and kicks, he likes to confuse his opponent with strikes and take downs. Either way he's the most exciting non finisher in MMA.

I think this is the mindset one needs to enjoy GSP. He's not a brilliant striker; everyone saying he's a fantastic striker are kind of overlooking his weaknesses. He will never box like JDS or have the muay thai strength of Anderson Silva or Jose Aldo. Also, he's not a brilliant grappler either. He's got a great double leg and a suffocating top game, but he's not a BJJ wizard like Maia or a master of the clinch like Sonnen. He's just really good at everything.

What he's really great at is misdirection. He's good enough everywhere that people have to guess what he's going to do. His striking looks better the other guy is watching for the takedown. His wrestling looks better when they are wary of the jab. He's such a tough opponent because he forces his opponent to be better almost everywhere.

[Kimbo> Rampage]

Definitely dont think Condit won, but he was doing better in the standup in the later rounds... He was very tentative early on... He was worried about GSP's takedowns and got outstruck as a result... But later on when he became loose he was landing some good shots on GSP... Carlos snuck in a few rights and some decent kicks...

Carlos was also very aggressive off of his back... not to the point of scoring a lot of points, but GSP had to be on point and he wasnt landing huge GNP shots....

Originally Posted by goodtimes

I think this is the mindset one needs to enjoy GSP. He's not a brilliant striker; everyone saying he's a fantastic striker are kind of overlooking his weaknesses. He will never box like JDS or have the muay thai strength of Anderson Silva or Jose Aldo. Also, he's not a brilliant grappler either. He's got a great double leg and a suffocating top game, but he's not a BJJ wizard like Maia or a master of the clinch like Sonnen. He's just really good at everything.

What he's really great at is misdirection. He's good enough everywhere that people have to guess what he's going to do. His striking looks better the other guy is watching for the takedown. His wrestling looks better when they are wary of the jab. He's such a tough opponent because he forces his opponent to be better almost everywhere.

Agree.... the guys at WW need to be careful of GSP's striking... because he is a good technical striker... but Anderson is several levels ahead of him... How much would he even have to respect GSP's striking at all...

We all know that GSP has a cookie cutter gameplan of striking with his opponent early on, keeping it safe, then goes for a takedown later on to secure the rounds... His game revolves around Jabs, rights, leg kicks and an occasional superman punch... Would he even dare take that approach with Anderson, he probably looks for the takedowns right away.