CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

Daut44's Poker Blog

January 31, 2009

people wanted a little preview/writeup about it, so here goes.

main event: georges st. pierre vs bj penn

ok this is a really really sick fight. they are currently both top 4 pound for pound fighters in the world and at the peak of their careers. this is one of those fights that probably comes around every 5 years or so. first off its a superfight. bj is the best 155 pound fighter in the world and gsp is the best 170 pound fighter in the world. bj is moving up to 170 to fight gsp because hes pretty much another level of fighter from every 155 and gsp is the biggest challenge for him right now. gsp has been dominating the 170s really hard and bj is definitely his toughest challenge to date as well. adding to that their styles should lead to at the very least a 3 round war and at most a 5 round legendary battle its just a really great fight that will be remembered for a long time.

bj is probably the most naturally gifted fighter in the sport. every single physical attribute he has is good for fighting. he has insane flexibility which allows him to do really crazy stuff with his legs like trapping arms from the back, going for omaplatas/gogoplatas way easier. he has leather skin, never cuts, and has a monster head so he has a really good chin for taking punches. he has really heavy and accurate boxing, his hands are very good and strong. and finally he has unreal balance/takedown defense going tback to the flexibility, just look at this gif:

basically bj was born to be a fighter. he got his bjj black belt in 2-3 years when it usually takes 10-12. he was the first american to win a gold medal in the bjj world championships for his size. he has already been the 155 and 170 pound champions in the ufc. his one drawback or achilles heel has always always been cardio. he is notorious for gassing in the later round of a fight. in fights that have gone to at least the 3rd round he is 5-4-1. he always just relied on his natural ability and would only train 1-2 hours per day for really tough fights and come in unprepared for the later rounds. he claims that now he has been training 5-6 hours a day, eating healthy, not going out at night and is in the best shape hes ever been in, but that remains to be seen.

gsp is first and foremost a really unbelievable athlete. he has a 40 inch vertical, probably runs a 4.4 40, is the best wrestler in all of MMA and he didnt wrestle in high school or college. he has a bjj black belt, a black belt in kyoshukin karate and is regarded as the most complete mixed martial artist. he also happens to be a cardio machine who sets the most insane pace of anyone in the sport. some guys like sean sherk set a similar pace but what gsp does better is constantly switching between standup and brutal takedowns. and what separates him from sherk is the fact that he has much more dynamic and effective striking (hes taller, has longer reach, better kicks AND hands than sherk) AND hes a better wrestler. when gsp goes for a takedown hes almost always successful so the result is youre taken down, beaten up down there, you get back up, take some spinning backfists and a barrage of punches and then youre back down on the mat again. very exhausting process. here are some gifs of gsp:

bj and gsp fought once before almost exactly 3 years ago. bj outboxed georges by a lot the first round and won that decisively. in the 2nd round gsp scored a few takedowns, bj had some better striking and it was a close round but generally thought that gsp won it. and by the 3rd round bj was pretty gassed out and gsp had a couple really good takedowns, won that round and won a split decision. since then gsp has improved his striking, wrestling and bjj, and bj has really dedicated himself to the sport and has much better conditioining now and has practiced some of his technique much more so hes a better fighter as well.

basically this fight is going to be insane the first few rounds. gsp has to cover his face more than the first fight where bj was just picking him apart. he has to rely on his kicks more and has to get takedowns and get it to the mat. the first fight gsp wasnt even a brown belt in bjj at that point so being on the ground with bj was super dangerous. its obviously still dangerous but gsp has many more tools to deal with bj's excellent game of his back. gsp just has to try to physically wear down bj during the first 3 rounds while avoiding getting ko'ed or subbed and then finish him off in the last couple rounds.

on the other hand bj is expected to come out and control the fight early. he has to outstrike gsp and try to land some good blows and win the first few rounds. if it gets to the ground and bj is on top gsp is in a lot of trouble. bj's top position is insane, and while gsp has been practicing off his back a lot, bj is another level from most people. a lot of really good submission/bjj guys finish fights with a wide variety of subs like triangles, armbars, kimuras, omaplatas. bj finishes almost every fight from the mount or back which means hes reallly sick at passing guard, getting to a dominant position and finishing fights in a small amount of time. if bj is ever to sweep gsp and get on top or take gsp down then wow, gsp better hope there isnt a lot of time left in the round.

anyway i suspect gsp will eventually wear bj out and either win the last 2-3 rounds decisively and win on points or hes going to finish bj by tko in the 4th round. but i would not be at all surprised if bj has really good cardio now or can manage to finish gsp in the 2nd or 3rd round.

the rest of the fights:

lyoto machida vs thiago silva:
this is a cool fight that most people wont appreciate. machida is awkward and hard to hit and thiago is very aggressive and has a great muay thai clinch and bjj game. i suspect machida will just tilt the shit out of thiago because thiago probably wont land 2 strikes in the entire first round. machida by unanimous decision almost certainly.

stephan bonnar vs jon jones:
jon jones is a good athlete who has about 1 year experience training and fighting mma. he is really all over the place when he fights (for example he threw 4 spinning backfists in the first 2 rounds of his last fight), but has pretty good striking and really good grecoo wrestling. i just dont think hes ready for a guy who is as skilled as bonnar is. bonnar has a great chin, is big and strong and has good bjj, all of which are troublesome for jones. bonnar by any of the 3 possibilities, jones is just too raw and green right now (unless hes improved dramatically in the last 5 months which is unlikely)

clay guida vs nate diaz:
really cool fight. guida is similar to a guy like sean sherk. he keeps an insane pace in the fight and has really effective wrestling. diaz is like a tall lanky poor mans version of nogueira. hes really durable, goes for sub after sub and takes a lot of punishment. this fight could go either way as diaz could catch guida in a submission or he could use his reach and outbox guida while the fight is kept standing. but i suspect that guida will avoid subs and score enough takedowns to take a unanimous decision in this.

karo parisyan vs dong hyun kim:
judo vs judo. karo is a better mixed martial artist but is so fucked up in the head i dont think he can win. nobody knows where he has been training, what he has been doing. he has problems with panic attacks and is really spacey. i just think hes too out of it to win.

undercard predictions:
fitch > gono UD
thiago tavares > manny gamburyan any possible way
arroyo > cramer sub
obrien > wellisch tko
wilson > howard tko

and now for funny shit gsp nuthuggers have made. i am not really rooting for either guy, just want to see a great fight, but gsp has a really huge fanbase and people love him so they made funny shit like the following:

basically famous old fights such as chuck vs tito, fedor vs nog, henderson vs wandy, someone took the gifs of the fight and put gsp and bj's heads on the guys. pretty lol

and 2 of my favorite youtubes ever, the first is a gsp punchout knockoff which is just hilarious and the 2nd is referencing gsp telling matt hughes he was not impressed by his performance after a win:
www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

anyway i suggest watching tonight!

Entry Tags:

Feb 1, 09 22:14:18

Stiff Arms

"I wanted the blood to move to his shoulders so his arms would be stiffer and he couldn't strike as well"

WTFFFFFFF GSP 30th level MMA thinking. Although most of the fights on this card were ridiculously lopsided I liked it the best of this fantasy MMA month.

A new lyoto came out tonight, its sick to see that he has another dimension and I would love to see him vs. Rashad, I can only see him going down by a counter from rushing in (which he somehow always magically protects himself from) or ground pound.

I was really impressed by Jon Jones speed but clearly doesn't have Guidaesque cardio yet, he was gassed in 3.

Are we lookng at KFLo v. Penn now? Because that would be superrrr, kenny showed another dimension in his last fight as well.. not just another muay clincher.

Rollover2k