Tag: Georges St. Pierre

MMA: Why Silva vs. St-Pierre Won’t Solve the Pound-for-Pound Debate

With Anderson Silva set to face off against Yushin Okami in August and Georges St-Pierre set to square off with Nick Diaz in October, the great pound-for-pound debate is set to rear its head again. The pound-for-pound rankings are one of the most excit…

With Anderson Silva set to face off against Yushin Okami in August and Georges St-Pierre set to square off with Nick Diaz in October, the great pound-for-pound debate is set to rear its head again. The pound-for-pound rankings are one of the most exciting and controversial debates within the MMA community.

There are many problems that exist within the debate, and these involve fighters that fight in different organizations, strength of competition and the ability of fighters to finish fights. However, the main problem with pound-for-pound rankings is that they are completely hypothetical.

The true meaning of the rankings is to objectively look at each fighter’s skill set and try to determine who would win if both fighters were the same size. Trying to determine these rankings is easy in certain cases.

If Brock Lesnar weighed 155 pounds, would he be able to beat Jose Aldo? The answer to that question would be a resounding no. However, in some cases the lines are somewhat blurry and a deeper analysis is called for.

We begin to take a closer look at each fighter’s record as well as who they have  beaten and how. Sometimes, we are even lucky enough to have two fighters that are only one weight class apart, and the opportunity arises to put together a dream fight.

This brings us to Anderson Silva and GSP. While it is up for debate who is the clear cut No. 1, there is almost no debating that these two men are the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the world.

Personally, I believe the nod goes to GSP. While I understand that he hasn’t shown the ability to finish anyone since UFC 94 when BJ Penn’s corner threw in the towel after the fourth round, I still believe he has been the more dominant fighter, and his skill set is the one that has given Silva the most trouble over the years.

While Silva has had plenty of highlight-reel finishes, he has also looked very human at times in his tenure in the UFC. He was taken down and controlled by Travis Lutter, Dan Henderson and was also on the receiving end of a brutal beating by Chael Sonnen.

On the other hand, ever since being stopped by Matt Serra at UFC 69, St-Pierre has dominated everyone that he has fought, and the outcomes of his fights have never been in question. While finishes are important, thoroughly dominating someone for a full 15 or 25 minutes leaves no doubt as to who the better fighter is.

A potential showdown between the world’s two best fighters has been mentioned by fans for several years now. The goal of that fight would be to determine who the world’s true No. 1 fighter is.

However, that logic is flawed, and that fight would only determine who the No. 1 fighter would be if St-Pierre were to emerge victorious. While both men would weigh in at 185 lbs, Anderson is the only one out of those two men to be a true 185-pounder. St-Pierre noted that before his fight with Jake Shields that he was walking around at 194 lbs while Anderson usually cuts to 185 from 215.

This is a 20-pound difference between the two, and if Silva were to win it would leave the door open for people to argue that when two very talented men square off, the bigger fighter will win.

This same scenario was present when St-Pierre fought BJ Penn. Both men are tremendously talented, but when BJ weighed in at 166 lbs, that was his actual weight, and he did not have to cut weight. This weight advantage was clearly evident when St-Pierre was able to repeatedly take BJ down and not let him get up.

While I do believe that St-Pierre is the better fighter, it would have been a much more interesting and maybe even more competitive fight had the two men weighed the same.

Pound-for-pound rankings will always be a hot button topic in MMA and a fun thing to talk about. Everyone has their own opinions, and it’s interesting to hear different points of view on who people believe is the world’s best fighter.

However, pound-for-pound rankings remain problematic because it’s purely speculation. We also need to be wary in certain situations when fighters from different weight classes square off. If the smaller fighter wins then they can claim to be the better pound for pound fighter, but when the larger man beats the smaller man, it does not necessarily prove anything.

Just like BJ Penn vs. Georges St-Pierre did not determine who the better pound-for-pound fighter is, neither will St-Pierre vs. Silva.

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Nick Diaz Will Vacate Title, but Other Strikeforce Questions Still Unanswered

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, NewsVANCOUVER, British Columbia – It’s amazing how much can change in the MMA world in just a few short months. Take, for instance, UFC president Dana White’s stance on both Strikeforce and its TV partner, Showtime.

Befo…

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It’s amazing how much can change in the MMA world in just a few short months. Take, for instance, UFC president Dana White’s stance on both Strikeforce and its TV partner, Showtime.

Before Zuffa bought Strikeforce, White rarely missed a chance to rip on both his largest competitor and its premium cable home. But now? Even White is a little surprised at the words coming out of his mouth.

“Showtime has worked with us really good,” White told reporters following the UFC 131 pre-fight press conference on Thursday. “I can’t believe you guys are going to hear me say some positive Showtime stuff right now, but to be honest, and no joking, they’ve been great with us. We’ve worked together very well and we’ll see what happens.”

That doesn’t mean the situation isn’t sticky at times, however. White explained how the UFC made a deal with Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz to come to the UFC and face Georges St. Pierre – a bout he was spurred to sign due to overwhelming fan request for it, White explained.

The move means that Diaz will vacate his Strikeforce title to fight for GSP’s UFC belt, White said, leaving the Strikeforce strap behind for two as-of-yet unnamed fighters to compete for.

“He will give up the title. He will give up his Strikeforce title. He will come in and fight Georges St. Pierre. Two guys will fight for the vacant belt in Strikeforce, and then we’ll go from there,” White said.

“[Diaz] has a UFC contract now. …If things didn’t go well, there’d be no problem with him fighting over in Strikeforce. He’d still make the same money. It’s the same company. It’s not like we’d say, ‘Now you’re going to Strikeforce and you got to do this.’ Diaz is stepping up. He’s going to take this big fight with Georges St. Pierre. We always make it right with the guys, so we’ll figure it out.”

White seemed upbeat about his recent meeting with Diaz, saying the Stockton, Calif. fighter has “a completely different attitude than he used to have when he was in the UFC.”

But has he finally learned, as White long said he’d have to, how to “play the game”?

“That is the million-dollar question,” White said.

But just because Diaz got shuffled into a UFC title fight relatively quickly, it doesn’t mean all Strikeforce fighters should expect a similar opportunity. White said he wants to “respect the deal that we have with [Showtime]” and not pick Strikeforce clean of all its best talent.

In the end, he said, it’s “ninety-nine percent economics.”

“We want to make this thing work for them and us. And the big question with Strikeforce is, can we make this thing work on Showtime so that we don’t get murdered and lose a bunch of money?”

For now, White and the UFC seem to be taking it one step at a time when it comes to Strikeforce issues. When asked several times and in several different ways what he plans to do with the eventual winner of Strikeforce’s heavyweight Grand Prix, White pleaded ignorance, explaining that they had yet to decide on a course of action.

“I have no clue,” he said during Thursday’s press conference. “I don’t know what we’re doing with that. We’ll see what happens.”

White clarified that, at least in his eyes, the winner of the Strikeforce tournament would be “the best heavyweight in Strikeforce,” but it wouldn’t necessarily mean an immediate pass into the UFC, no matter how much people might love to see that.

“I’m glad that fans are excited about this stuff,” White told reporters. “Part of being a fight fan is getting excited about fights. The fact that fans get excited about fights and media get excited about fights and want to know what’s going to happen next, I love it. It’s good stuff. It’s just that the answer is: I don’t know. If I knew, I’d tell you. We’re trying to figure this thing out.”

 

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The Top Five Biggest Moments in UFC History — According to Google

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!

I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.

5.) St. Pierre Beats Shields at UFC 129 – 04/30/2011

Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.

The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point.  The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!

I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.

5.) St. Pierre Beats Shields at UFC 129 – 04/30/2011

Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.

The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point.  The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.

4.) Lesnar Submits Carwin at UFC 116 – 07-03-10

Why it’s ranked: This was Brock Lesnar‘s first fight since giving Diverticulitis the F5. (Too bad it was only a two count.) No one knew what to expect. How much cage corrosion would Lesnar have? What about his cardio? Would Shane Carwin win another fight in the first round? That was all answered in the first five minutes as ‘The Engineer’ laid out the blue print for not only how to beat the UFC heavyweight champion, but also what a 10-8 round looks like.

Looking back, it was such a noteworthy night because it capped off, or so we thought, the trials and tribulations of the biggest draw in MMA and left us all with a warm fuzzy feeling. Not Shane, though, he was still sucking wind worse that Roy Nelson a few weeks ago. Regardless, the first round and the shocking result raised a lot of eyebrows, hence it’s spot on the list.

3.) UFC – WEC Merger Announced – 10/28/10

Why it’s ranked: Finally! Something that actually deserves to be on this list, right? I know, I know, settle down scooter.  Remember, Google analyzes what EVERYONE is searching for, not just the hardcore fans that spend their free time commenting on a niche website trying to provoke a flame war. Now where was I? Oh yeah, this is the first moment that actually has long-term significance to most of us.

The WEC was home to some of the best fighters in the game today and sadly, they were gobbled up by the UFC like the last piece of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Usually when one promotion is consumed by another, much larger and well known promotion, heads turn and people seek out any little nuggets of truth they can. It marked the beginning of a new chapter for the mma world as a whole. Little did we know at the time that the WEC was just the appetizer.

2.) Anderson Silva Stops Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 – 02/05/11

Why it’s ranked: Honestly, I think it’s high on the list merely because some crackpot former pseudo badass named Steven Seagal claimed to have taught UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva the single most lethal front kick in all of combat sports. Seriously, WTH? It was a joke. No, no it wasn’t. It was just a media stunt to get more attention. For real now, I most definitely taught him that kick and to prove it I trained my dragon to do the same thing.

This is a classic example of what a holy $&*% moment is because when you first see it your instinct is to yell out “Holy $&*%!!!” and then look at the guy next to you and repeat. Unforgettable moment + delusional B-list Hollywood celeb = mass hysteria.

The single biggest moment in UFC history according to Google is (drum roll please)…………..

1.) UFC 100 – 07-11-09

Why it’s ranked: UFC 100 was the biggest, baddest, most heavily promoted fight card up to that point and it smashed records left and right including gross revenue, tickets sold, and PPV buys. Two title fights including transcendent fighters Brock Lesnar and GSP plus the culmination of Michael Bisping writing a check his chin couldn’t cash after an entire season of trash talking Dan Henderson on The Ultimate Fighter. Everyone and their mother heard something about the epic event thanks to ESPN and others mentioning it leading up to fight night. Oh yeah, there was that little incident after the main event that got a little attention too.

It seemed like the mma community was stricken with an ailment that prevented the poor soul from acknowledging anything outside of UFC 100 the week of and after the event. We just couldn’t help ourselves. It was our Super Bowl, granted it didn’t kick0ff an annual pop-cultural mega event, but it was significantly larger than anything else we had seen. There’s just something magical about the number 100. We did it, err, they did it. They fought the politicians, PPV blackouts, and the economy while nearly going bankrupt in the process. MMA soared out of the shadows and boldly announced its presence that night putting everyone on notice; in case you weren’t aware, MMA is here to stay.

I know. You know. I know you know. I know you know I know. Don’t get all pissy at me, I didn’t make the list.  All I did was try to make sense of what the data said and make you laugh in the process. Double fail, right? But go ahead; tell me what should have been on this list in the comments. Do you want a follow up with what CagePotato thinks are the biggest moments in UFC history? How about the biggest moments in PRIDE FC’s history? Strikeforce? Ah, who am I kidding? You stopped reading after you saw Steven Segal mentioned.

Behold: Keyboard Warriors #1

Potato Nation, sometimes it’s hard to entertain you. Frankly, there are some weeks we hope that War Machine stabs a dude during pre-release just because there’s no real news. There’s only so many ridiculous KO videos to go around, you know?

That is not, however, the reason you’ll find us posting an entertainment piece that is (mostly) fiction. Nope, that’s got nothing to do with it.

Truth is, one of you suggested we try our hand at an MMA version of “The Dugout” over on WithLeather. If you dig sports in general, chances are you’ve seen some of their work. If not, allow us to turn you on.

Long story short, we reached out to Brandon Stroud over there, and offered to exchange links if he would let us play with his toys. He’s a cool guy, so we went to work. Check out WithLeather, play nice, and, if you’re interested, come on in for the first mega-sized edition of CagePotato’s new exclusive feature: Keyboard Warriors.

Special thanks to Brandon and justchris/lenny/something. Enjoy!

[RX]

Potato Nation, sometimes it’s hard to entertain you.  Frankly, there are some weeks we hope that War Machine stabs a dude during pre-release just because there’s no real news.  There’s only so many ridiculous KO videos to go around, you know?

That is not, however, the reason you’ll find us posting an entertainment piece that is (mostly) fiction. Nope, that’s got nothing to do with it.

Truth is, one of you suggested we try our hand at an MMA version of “The Dugout” over on WithLeather.  If you dig sports in general, chances are you’ve seen some of their work.  If not, allow us to turn you on.

Long story short, we reached out to Brandon Stroud over there, and offered to exchange links if he would let us play with his toys.  He’s a cool guy, so we went to work.  Check out WithLeather, play nice, and, if you’re interested, come on in for the first mega-sized edition of CagePotato’s new exclusive feature:  Keyboard Warriors.

Special thanks to Brandon and justchris/lenny/something.  Enjoy!

[RX]

UFC 137 Fight Card: Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz, Early Head to Toe Breakdown

Nick Diaz vs. Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 is one of the biggest fights left this year in a lot of fans minds. The meeting of the Strikeforce welterweight champ and the UFC welterweight champion will do big in pay-per-view draws.Two fighters who have …

Nick Diaz vs. Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 is one of the biggest fights left this year in a lot of fans minds. The meeting of the Strikeforce welterweight champ and the UFC welterweight champion will do big in pay-per-view draws.

Two fighters who have seemingly cleared out their divisions, and one fighter who will push the other to finally open up and stop playing it safe.

Who will be left standing come UFC 137? Who has the edge in the separate departments? Here is an early head-to-toe breakdown of Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz, and UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre.

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The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale Results: Top 25 Pound for Pound Fighters in MMA

Saturday night, Tony Ferguson knocked out Ramsey Nijem to win Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter.Ferguson came out and started off very quickly, and ended Nijem’s night at 3:54 of the first round.In the fight just prior to that one, Clay “The Carpenter”…

Saturday night, Tony Ferguson knocked out Ramsey Nijem to win Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Ferguson came out and started off very quickly, and ended Nijem’s night at 3:54 of the first round.

In the fight just prior to that one, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida (29-11) took on the final WEC Lightweight Champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (13-2).

Guida came out, pushed the pace, and showed great submission defense after taking Pettis down, and Guida went on to win a unanimous decision victory.

After the fight, Guida pleaded his case for a title shot, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if he’ll get it just yet.

However, his performance may have been enough for him to crack into the top 25 pound for pound fighters in MMA.

Read on to find out if it was enough.

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