UFC 217 and the Return of GSP

Georges St. Pierre returns tomorrow night, and this is one of the most exciting comebacks in MMA history. Usually when guys are coming back after a retirement, it usually leads to morbid curiosity as I almost certainly know that a legend from the past is going to get smashed, but I still hold out that bit of hope that maybe they can show some of their past magic. GSP is different as despite a four-year layoff, he is still younger than his opponent on Saturday night.

So the question is, does GSP have what it takes to win a title at a different weight class than the one he specialized in after taking a long hiatus from the sport? Well, it's not going to be easy. Mixed Martial Arts is maybe the fastest evolving sport that we have. Just when you think a fighter has figured things out, somebody comes out of nowhere to shock the world. Anderson Silva was unbeatable until Chris Weidman had his number; nobody could handle Dominick Cruz's footwork until Cody Garbrandt came along and did it better; and Jon Jones continually gets TKO'd by USADA. Although GSP proved to be nearly unstoppable in his prime; we're years away from that era.

GSP's greatest strength is his versatility. He lacked a clear weakness, so opponents couldn't find an easy way to exploit him. Even if they were better in one area, GSP was strong enough in other facets of the fight game to keep them out of that area and control the match for victory. But even if he has versatile skills, have those skills grown, have they stagnated, or have they already started to deteriorate? It's not like those skills couldn't have grown. His opponent is a great example of that as Michael Bisping is fighting better now than he ever has in his career.

Speaking of Michael Bisping, he presents an interesting fight for St. Pierre. He's not a guy known for knockout power, but if he connects, as he did against Luke Rockhold, he definitely can put a guy out. Out of GSP's past opponents, I would say Bisping's style most closely matches up with Carlos Condit, a guy with good footwork who can strike in a variety of ways. GSP dispatched of Condit fairly easily, but Bisping is larger and has better wrestling defense. And that latter part is where this fight is going to be won.

If Bisping keeps it standing, I don't think GSP will offer enough on the feet to win the fight, but if Bisping's sprawl isn't on point, it is going to be 25 minutes of ground and pound for him as GSP is excellent at controlling opponents on the ground. Since I wear GSP-tinted glasses, I think he has the wrestling to get the fight to the ground and control the fight, making a triumphant return to the UFC to win the Middleweight Title.

The Rest of UFC 217
Since this card is in New York, they put together quite a stacked card. Although, GSP/Bisping is the main event and the one I am most excited for, here are quick thoughts and predictions for the four other fights on the main card.

Johny Hendricks vs. Paulo "Borrachinha" Henrique Costa
I really don't care about this fight. Borrachinha is an up and coming prospect as he is undefeated and has finished his first two opponents in the UFC. That part is interesting. Unfortunately, it is against Johny Hendricks, a guy who has had the fight beaten out of him in the last few years. The guy got lazy with the Welterweight limit, so he moved up in weight and still managed to miss the Middleweight limit. He's a man fighting for a paycheck, and considering he'll be making six figures to do it, it's good money to take a beating, but that's all I see happening in this fight. I say the Brazilian stops him in the first round.

Stephen Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal
Don't sleep on this fight. Stephen Thompson's only loss in the last five years is to the Welterweight Champion, Tyron Woodley, and that was only by Majority Decision. But do not underestimate Jorge Masvidal, the man with the worst luck in the UFC. In the last six years, he has five losses, but four of those were by split decision, and Masvidal has fought some of the best in the division during that time. I think this is a super close fight, but nobody's truly figured out Thompson yet as even Woodley was just barely able to get by, so I'll stick with Masvidal's bad luck continuing and him losing by decision to Wonderboy.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk vs. Rose Namajunas
Good God, does this division need easier to spell names. Namajunas is about as easy as it gets with these Strawweight Ladies. Anyway, there's a reason that Jedrzejczyk is champion. Namajunas most impressive win was beating up Michelle Waterson in her last fight, and although that was impressive, Waterson is undersized for the Strawweight division. Also, the fact that Namajunas couldn't handle Karolina Kowalkiewicz in the fight before that, someone that Jedrzejczyk handled easily is not a good sign for her chances. Namajunas sticks around for the whole fight, but the champion retains.

Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw
TJ Dillashaw is a tremendous fighter. He puts up a high pace and has knockout power to back it up. He combines this with an impressive wrestling pedigree, and when you put it all together, it's kind of surprising he isn't an unbeatable champion reigning over his division. No matter how you slice it, Dillashaw is a special fighter.

But Cody Garbrandt is SPECIAL. He is so freaking good. All of the compliments I gave Dillashaw above can also be said about Garbrandt, except his knockout power is so impressive that he has finished all but two of his opponents via strikes. I'll admit, I thought Dominick Cruz was going to be unbeatable in that division, but Garbrandt not only beat him, he did it while talking shit the entire fight. There is a lot of bad blood in this fight, and for actual action, I don't think you can top this one. Dillashaw is super good, but I say Garbrandt not only wins, he finishes him late in the fight.

The UFC is putting on so many fight cards that many of them get watered down. This is not one of those times, as this is definitely worth going out of your way to see.

Dan Henderson: The World's Most Interesting Fighter

Dan Henderson recently retired after a close (some would say controversial) decision loss to UFC Champion, Michael Bisping. Henderson's career will be underrated by many, as his prime happened outside of the UFC. Even with that, it's tough to make an argument that Henderson is the greatest fighter ever, but it's also hard to make an argument against him being the world's most interesting fighter.

Unless you are a truly hardcore MMA fan, you probably don't remember Dan Henderson's early UFC career. It was during the dark ages of the UFC, and Henderson, with two fights and limited MMA training, went out and won a four-man tournament at 205 pounds. You would probably assume that he was facing off against guys that were just as limited as him, but he actually went out and beat two legitimate mixed martial artists. Allan Goes, who did not have any signature wins, had two of the most high quality draws in the sport against Frank Shamrock and Kazushi Sakuraba. And then in the finals, Dan fought Carlos Newton, who although was undersized for that weight class, became a UFC Champion by beating Pat Miletich a few years later. Those were guys with years of training and fights, and Dan Henderson walked in and beat them.

I should also mention that this began the legend of "Decision" Dan Henderson (the nickname was fair early in his career, even though he had enough huge finishes to make it obsolete by the end). Henderson had 22 of 47 of his fights go to decision, but that number is toned down due to late career Dan Henderson, with seven of his final eight fights being finishes. More incredible is he had nine split decisions in his career. Almost 20% of his fights were split decisions. I don't know where to find the records for that, so I'll just assume that Henderson is the Babe Ruth of split decisions.

After that, he went to Rings where he took out a couple of nobodies, and then on February 26, 2000, he had maybe the most impressive night in MMA history. In the first round, he faced Gilbert Yvel, who was 20-3 at the time and basically knocking out everyone that he faced (when he wasn't getting DQ'd), but Decision Dan would not be denied. Then he took on the greatest heavyweight fighter before Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. a man that only lost once in his first 21 fights. Unfortunately for Nogueira, that one loss was to Dan Henderson by split decision. After that, he took on Babalu in the finals. Babalu, a man who won his first twelve professional fights before taking on Henderson where he experienced the unlucky number 13, as Henderson won by majority decision. Yvel, Big Nog, and Babalu: There is nobody who has beaten anything close to that caliber of competition in a single night.

With that, Henderson made the move to Pride. Since this is Dan Henderson, he lucked into an easy fight to start off his Pride career, taking on the most terrifying fighter in MMA history, The Axe Murderer, Wanderlei Silva. Pride was the premiere organization at the time, and Silva didn't lose in his first 17 fights, and when he lost in his 18th, it was controversial. Although Henderson took his first loss, you could make a pretty strong argument that he won the fight.

He followed up his first loss by beating Renzo Gracie. That's a good win, but not too special. What was special was that Henderson won by knockout. He learned to throw a right hand, and that would become incredibly important later in his career.

I'd like to take a brief aside to address something. During this whole time, Henderson was still working on representing the United States in Greco-Roman Wrestling, as he didn't give up wrestling until 2001, when he had already twelve professional fights over four years without yet focusing on fighting full time. Yes, he had probably the greatest night in MMA history without even being a full time mixed martial artist. Dan Henderson was so fucking cool.

He finally bedcame a full time MMA fighter and fought in Pride for the next six years. Over that six year span, he lost four times, but only once was it to someone in his actual weight class. Otherwise, he lost to both Nogueiras and Ricardo Arona (which just reminds me how tough Arona was back in the day).

The highlights were mostly centered around that big right hand as Henderson started showing the ability to knock dudes out. He also became the first (and only) Pride Welterweight Champion (welterweight was 183 in Pride) by beating Murilo Bustamante, who is one of those legendary tough guys from Brazil that had his prime about 5-10 years too early.

But the biggest highlight was his rematch against Wanderlei Silva. It was the final fight in the history of Pride, and it was for the middleweight title. Henderson lost their first fight by decision, but he wouldn't let the same thing happen again as he about knocked Silva's head off in the third round to get the knockout victory and be the only guy in a major organization to hold titles in multiple weight classes at the same time.

And after all of that, he finally went back to the UFC.

Since it's Dan Henderson, there was no easing him in. he started with not one but two title matches in the weight classes where he held the belts in Pride. It, uh, did not go well. First, he lost a sluggish decision against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Then he took on Anderson Silva, where he took Silva down and dominated him in the first round. But by the second round, he decided game plans were for nerds and decided to just stand and trade with Silva where he got knocked silly and then choked out.

I guess now is as good of time as any to address something with Dan Henderson. He doesn't give a shit when he gets in a fight. His first goal is to knock someone's head off. Sure, he's an Olympic level wrestler where he could easily smother someone on top, but he almost exclusively used those skills to keep things standing so he could try to knock someone's head off. He could have been more successful had he stuck to a smart gameplan, but there is no way he could have been as awesome.

He got back on track after that with wins over basically the worst person in mixed martial arts, Rousimar Palhares, and one of the best people, Rich Franklin. After that, he coached on The Ultimate Fighter, opposite Michael Bisping, to set up their fight at UFC 100. It definitely wasn't his best win, but it probably was his most memorable, as Henderson destroyed Bisping with a right hand, and then gave him a leaping forearm for funsies. It was brutal and awesome all at once.

At this point, Henderson was probably only a fight away from a title shot, so he did what nobody else in the world would do, and left the UFC to go to Strikeforce, because Dan Henderson doesn't give a shit about titles when he can get more money somewhere else.

Henderson's Strikeforce career didn't start off the best. He gave Jake Shields one of the worst beatings I've seen in the first round of a fight and then totally ran out of gas and lost a decision. After that, he beat Babalu again and then took out Rafael Calvacante. Although he finished both guys, it's not going to make his career highlights. Then, since it's Dan Henderson, he took on the greatest heavyweight in the history of MMA, Fedor Emelianenko and proceeded to knock him out in the first round. This would be his last fight in Strikeforce, and he picked a hell of a way to go out.

In fact, let's look back on how Henderson left every organization he was in.
Brazil Open - Won Tournament
UFC - Won Tournament
Rings - Won Greatest Tournament Ever
Pride - Won Middleweight Title from scariest fighter ever, giving him two belts in different weight classes.
UFC - Most memorable knockout of his career, proved America's domination over England.
Strikeforce - Knocked out the greatest heavyweight of all time.

And even though he lost the final fight of his career, he did it in the perfect way, losing a close decision, because had he won, the UFC would have thrown a ton of money at him to fight again, and Dan Henderson does not turn down tons of money. There is no way he could have left these organizations on a higher note. This man knows how to increase his value at the right time.

When Dan Henderson went back to the UFC, he was already 41 years old, and age can catch up to anybody, even someone as great as Dan Henderson. Although he had two memorable wins over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, he went 1-6 in his other fights with three losses coming by knockout.

But as important as timing his right hand, he also knew how to time his wins, and he was able to knockout Hector Lombard right as Michael Bisping was busy winning the UFC title. Somehow, despite going 4-6 in his last run in the UFC, he was given a title shot, because he's Dan Henderson, and that was the most interesting fight available.

His final fight gave you everything you could have asked for in a Dan Henderson fight. He landed a couple of those right handed bombs that nearly took out Bisping and gave Dan the early advantage. And then, like so many other times, he ran out of steam and Bisping started winning the later rounds. He put on a good final round, but there was only one way for "Decision" Dan's career to end. Sometimes those decisions went his way, this time it didn't. It was probably his best fight since the first Shogun fight, which happened five years prior, but at 46 years old, Henderson was able to show why he is one of the greatest fighters in history.

With a 32-15 record, it's tough to make the argument that he was the best fighter ever, but there is nobody who had a more interesting career than Dan Henderson. The guy fought in three weight classes (technically four, since the Brazil Open was close to the Welterweight limit), and fought nearly every interesting person in all of those divisions. Wanderlei, Fedor, A. Silva, Shogun, Cormier, Big Nog, Little Nog, Bustamante, Vitor, Franklin, Arona, Machida, and Rampage all fought Henderson at least once. He fought for two decades, and the only legends he missed over that period were Couture, Liddell, Jon Jones, Cro Cop, and Sakuraba. That's only five guys across three different weight classes over 20 years that Henderson couldn't find time to fight.

Dan Henderson had more big matches than anyone in the history of mixed martial arts. He is the world's most interesting fighter, and unlike the Dos Equis guy, there will never be a replacement for Hendo.

Chael Sonnen Will Beat Anderson Silva

The biggest fight in the UFC for this year is happening on Saturday when Anderson Silva defends his title against Chael Sonnen. The trash talk may be overshadowing the fact that this should be an awesome fight. Although many people rave about the first fight, it was really more shocking than great. Watching Chael Sonnen beat up Anderson Silva for 23 minutes was fun, but it was really just watching a better fighter beat up on somebody who wasn't on his level. I was one of the few people who believed Chael would beat Silva in their first fight, and my opinion is unchanged. Chael Sonnen will be crowned the Middleweight Champion on Saturday night.

Anderson Silva is a great fighter. There is no denying that. He has beaten everybody that has been put in front of him since he got to the UFC. Chael Sonnen's resume does not match up to Anderson Silva's. Looking at this matchup on paper, Anderson Silva will definitely win. However, this ain't no paper fight, and Chael Sonnen will beat Anderson Silva. He might even make it look easy.

I was born and raised in Iowa. That fact alone makes me a better wrestler than most. When I came out of the womb and the doctor was trying to cut the umbilical cord, I put him in a whizzer, because I thought he was going after my whizzer. Chael's not from Iowa, but a little thing like wrestling on the US Olympic team gives him honorary Iowan status. Wrestling is the martial art of the USA, and it's really effective against people who don't know how to defend it.

Anderson Silva is a poor wrestler. He is training down in Brazil which just shows that he is not taking this fight seriously. You know who's a good wrestler out of Brazil? Nobody; they all suck. They think a double leg is a style of pants. If he was serious about being the best he could be, he would train in the US, where he could train against wrestlers. 


Some would say that his jiu jitsu is so great that he can be taken down in the fight and still win. Although it did work out in the first fight, if he was that good, he wouldn't have let Sonnen beat him up for four and a half rounds. He went for the same move for the entire fight, and the triangle is definitely his go-to maneuver in a fight. He telegraphs what he wants to do, although I think he is very good at maneuvering his way into getting what he wants, even if he isn't sneaky about it. I really don't think Sonnen has to worry about being swept, because Silva has never shown great aptitude with leverage.

So then we have the people who believe Silva will be better in this fight, because he is 100% for it. But what documentation of an injury do we have outside of Anderson saying he had a hurt rib? A hurt rib is not an injury, it's some pain in your torso. I once bruised my rib while I was training in MMA. It hurt like hell. I told my coach about it, and he looked at me like I was the biggest pussy in the world. He was right; I am a giant pussy, but I still never took a day off, and after my coach made me realize what a pussy I was being, I never made another peep about it. Anderson Silva has been talking about his hurt rib for two years.

I understand that Chael Sonnen rubs some people the wrong way. I think he is awesome, personally, but even with my bias thrown out the window, it is really tough to make the argument that this guy is an asshole. Yes, he has talked a lot of trash about Anderson Silva, but he has also had matches with Brian Stann and Michael Bisping between his last fight with Silva. He had nothing but nice things to say about Stann, which is pretty easy, because Brian Stann is an American hero who is a really nice guy who does great things for veterans. Also, everybody hates Michael Bisping, and Sonnen still did not go out of his way to talk trash. He just hates Anderson Silva. That doesn't make him an asshole, that makes him human. We all have those people that we just don't like; it's just that Chael is open and honest about it.

Also, Chael Sonnen is a really good fighter. He's the best wrestler in the middleweight division, and his striking is very underrated. Honestly, it is tough to come up with a guy who can beat him, because Anderson Silva ain't that guy. Get ready for the greatest fighter in the Middleweight division to take his title, and don't expect him to give up that title anytime soon. Long live the title reign of Chael Sonnen.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale Preview

I really haven't written anything about Mixed Martial Arts in quite a while, but I was inspired by the recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, so I figured I would share my thoughts with the world. Let's go over the Ultimate Fighter finals as well as the coaches fight.

Bantamweight Final: John Dodson vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Not gonna lie, I'm horribly biased in my prediction for this fight. Dodson was one of my main coaches when I trained at Jackson's, and not only is he an awesome coach to have, he's also just a really good guy. Although the conditioning we did on Thursdays sometimes bordered on cruel and unusual punishment, it definitely helped me get in, by far, the best shape of my life.

As for real analysis of the fight, Dodson has most of the advantages. I don't think Dillashaw wants to stand with him for very long periods of time, so he is going to try to take the fight to the ground. From what I have seen, and because of his size advantage, Dillashaw is probably the better wrestler, but Dodson is incredibly hard to take down, and as people have seen on The Ultimate Fighter, he is even tougher to keep down.

I think the fight is going to end up a lot like the Johnny Bedford fight in the final episode. I think Dillashaw will get a takedown; I think Dodson will get up, and I think Dodson will TKO him in the second round.

Dodson by TKO - Second Round

Featherweight Final: Diego Brando vs. Dennis Bermudez
I am less biased in this one, but admittedly, still biased. Diego also trains at Jackson's, and if you saw the show, it's a pretty accurate portrayal of him. He's a real nice guy for the most part, but if you get on his bad side, he will destroy you. I only had a few interactions with him, and luckily, always remained on his good side.

In the fight, I really have trouble seeing Bermudez win this in any way. His only hope is to take Diego down and pull a lay and pray for three rounds. Not only is it going to be difficult to do, but Brandao has really good jiu-jitsu, so even on the ground, he could finish the fight. I don't think Bermudez gets it there, and this fight ends like all of Diego's other fights, first round knockout.

Brandao by KO - First Round

Michael Bisping vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller
No bias in this fight. Miller has always been solid, but he has never shown any elite skills. Bisping also isn't a guy with a lot of "wow" factor in his game, but he's really good everywhere. Although I dislike Bisping, I think he probably wins this fight, although I will definitely be rooting for Mayhem, because I'm American.

Bisping by Decision

-Joe

P.S. The Post Script has slowly turned into an advertisement for the Twitter handle of @si_vault, but when they post awesome things like a picture of Michael Jackson and Bo Jackson throwing a football together, it's really tough to not share it with the world.

That's just...perfect.