I think both of those and DC’s win over Stipe to be a double champ were all equally impressive.Bader winning the Bellatro HW GP to be a double champ is as well.
This is true.
Two huge moments for sure.
I’m glad you were able to admit that you’re wrong.
You’re a flog mate
Couldn’t even come up with 1 lmao
It was 5 years ago. That’s how relevant your boy is
One argument in favor of GSP over both Conor and DC is that nobody believed that GSP was an actual MW. Conor stuck at 155 and had previously won belts in that division in other promotions. DC was always a better HW than he was at LHW.
Conor was better at 145. But, he was also a normal sized LW.
GSP was legitimately fighting up a weight class. So bad that it gave him colitis. That’s what Izzy was doing, too. And Wand when he fought at HW.
Cowboy fight was at 170. Conor is 1-3 at LW in the UFC
No it wasnt lol. Just because Eddie is losing (also fighting at 170) youre having recency bias.
I’d say in a title fight, what Silva did to Franklin to win the belt was worse. But still, comparing it to prime Anderson is pretty impressive.
1 Like
BJ going up and manhandling Hughes is more impressive than either of these performances. Hughes is an all time great, on a run, and Penn smashed him. That isn’t a never defended the title champ. It is one of the 3 greatest WW’s of all time. Never got taken down. Put Hughes on his back. Smacked him up and then choked him out.
Of the Conor vs GSP winning the 2nd title comparison…Conor’s was more impressive but I see the quality of competition being Bisping a tougher fight than Alvarez.
Good point. You’re right.
I already said I mistook that 5 round dominant win for RDA beating Pettis. Relax fella
Tough one for me to answer in terms of Conor or GSP’s win being more impressive. I think Eddie was a much better fighter than Bisping, and Conor looked much better beating him…but coming back after 4 years to beat anyone in the top 10 in a weight class above your own is crazy impressive.
Lots of people felt both Eddie and Mike got lucky winning the belt, but Eddie was at least the scheduled opponent, and had just beaten a couple guys fresh off losses in title fights. Granted, they were close fights that could have gone either way, but Eddie did beat 2 top 5 guys, and whether he was the best 155er in the world on the day he won the belt, it can’t really be argued that he wasn’t top 5.
Mike was pretty up and down, and was ranked something like 8th at the time he got the short notice title shot, and had that razor thin decision over Silva that most people gave to Silva (and it was Silva 3 years after the loss to Weidman, long layoffs for snapping his leg, then the PED suspension). Silva was right in the middle of the 2-7 run that ended his UFC career.
So I guess my point is…when I look at who they beat, Eddie was a much better fighter at the time they beat them. Eddie had the Gaethje win after than too, and was clearly not washed up. Bisping fought one more time and got cleaned up in a round by Gastelum then retired. One guy was still fighting elite guys, the other wasn’t. There wasn’t anyone in the top 5 at 185 that would have been a betting underdog in a title fight with Bisping when he was champ.
It was impressive that GSP came back after 4 years, flat out amazing…but it felt like he was taking the easiest title fight possible for him at the time…while Conor was trying to fight the champ, regardless of who it was. He was booked against RDA prior to RDA getting hurt, and was fighting whomever the champ was.
It’s honestly a super tough call. Conor looked better against the better fighter, but coming back after 4 years is amazing.
Again, it’s very important to note GSP targeted Bisping’s blind side. This gave GSP a tremendous advantage against Bisping, unlike his prior opponents.
Smart tactic by GSP and I’m not blaming him or saying he wouldn’t have won otherwise (not sure really), but having an advantage of knowing someone can’t see your strikes properly from one side and training/game-planning for that fact his huge.
Gsp vs Bisping was the one time I picked against Gsp. Conor vs Eddie wasn’t really in doubt due to Eddie’s style. Pretty much my answer right there.
Conor is more a natural 155’r than a 145’r… so LW is his natural weight class. Doubt he could ever make weight and fight at FW again.
GSP is a natural WW… and he had a lot of trouble gaining weight and developed ulcerative colitis leading up to the MW fight. Perhaps Bisping is not the same level of fighter as Alvarez but the size difference was much larger and coming off a 4 year lay off and fighting with ulcerative colitis very impressive.
If GSP went down to LW and won his 2nd weight class belt, then Conor’s win would be more impressive… but considering the real size difference between GSP and Bisping when he moved up and the health issues he had… giving the edge to GSP.
Conor has a MUCH better record at 145 than above it.
1 Like
I think most of us thought Silva/Franklin was a pick-em fight. I felt Silva wouldn’t be able to handle Franklin’s strength and power.
Conor/Alvarez wasn’t that big of a shock for me b/c I picked Conor to win against a Chad Mendes-type without a powerful double-leg takedown (which is what I felt Alvarez was).
Hughes/Penn 1 was definitely a shocker, but it was also an anomaly, in that, history has shown that Penn matched up incredibly well with Hughes. He could have won all 3 fights if not for the self-induced rib injury in the 2nd fight. It turned out Hughes was about the only person that Penn could beat at WW.