Almost universally, they are picking GSP to beat Matt Hughes in the rematch. The alternative is Matt again beating GSP, which will be really embarassing since the closest BJ came to beating GSP was bloodying his nose with a nearly-missed punch in the opening minute.
What is their argument for why GSP will beat Hughes this time, despite being submitted in the first round a year ago? Because he has improved so much.
And yet, these are the same people who howl with laughter at the thought of Gomi beating Penn in a rematch.
Gomi has visibly improved 10x since losing to Penn (a fight that almost went the distance, by the way, and in which many feel Gomi won one round). GSP, while being on a nice streak, has not really shown improvement per se (and in fact last night was his least impressive performance in a long time), and he was submitted in one round by Matt Hughes in their last meeting (which was much more recent than Penn/Gomi).
"closest BJ came to beating GSP was bloodying his nose with a nearly-missed punch in the opening minute. "
GSP himself said he thought about quiting. Dont play it off like it was nothing. He spent the night in the hosptial for christ sake..
As for Penn vs any one lighter we (BJ penn fans) laugh. Penn moved up in weight to fight GSP who most people, ourselves included believe would have beat hughes in a rematch prior to the Penn fight.
After last night I want to see hughes demolish GSP (doubt it will happen) then I would love to see BJ fight GSP in a 5 round fight
good point except for one thing, if u just lay on your opponent and not really try anything it's hard to go for subs. a lot of subs come from transitions. why did hughes sub gsp so easily?? well gsp was trying to beat hughes he went for a couple kimuras and on the second one hughes spun around beautifully into an armbar. how did penn beat hughes?? the first time hughes tried to lock up penns arm, penn took his back. hughes got out the first time but the second time he tried something penn realy sunk his hooks in and finished him.
I've been doing BJJ for about 8 yrs and i'll tell u what. if i just lay on top of u and dont let u move odds r you're not gong to do anything to me, but i'm not going to be able to do much to u either. but if i let u move and turn the wrong way and make a mistake, then i can capitalize.
hughes/gsp nd hughes/penn were far different fights then bj/gsp was. the other 2 fights were more open with people going for things
im not sure everyone KNOWS gsp will beat hughes......but everyone wants him to so that the rematch with penn is a 5 rounder a resounding victory for someone
I for one don't think it's a given that he will beat Hughes. In fact I think it's an uphill battle for him to beat Hughes. I don't know how anyone has an automatic win for GSP over Hughes, unless they're on some of the fine Canadian drugs.
My point is mainly how ironic it is that they write off Gomi's chances in a rematch while picking GSP as a virtual lock, even though 1) Gomi had at least a longer and arguably more competitive fight with BJ than GSP did with Hughes, 2) the Gomi/Penn fight was longer ago than GSP/Hughes, and 3) Gomi has improved much more dramatically than GSP has.
"As for Penn vs any one lighter we (BJ penn fans) laugh."
Of course. His incredible performances against Pulver, Serra, and Uno the second time make it comical indeed. As does his unassailable 6-1-1 record at 155, with one win over a nobody, one a controversial decision, and one a win over a guy who drew with him in the rematch.