UFC 94 - Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn II

[Lord of The Curry 0]

UFC 94

 

Dead Man Walking vs GSP

Thiago Silva vs Lyoto Machida

Stephan Bonnar vs Jon Jones

Manny Gamburyan vs Thiago Tavares

Christian Wellisch vs Jake O'Brien

Karo Parysian vs Dong Hyun Kim

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

...and when is this show happening?

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Super Bowl weekend.

[Mik 0]

 

Challenge details to be made official after Thanksgiving.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Oh man. I died. Thanks Mik. Jew Jif Shoes had me losing it.

[Mik 0]

[Mik 0]

Up until this morning that only MMA brand clothing I have owned is a GSP Affliction t-shirt.

 

I felt the need to change that and ordered (a way overpriced at $30+$10 s/h) shirt from BJPenn.com. It was the corner man shirt from UFC 84 and it's the only one I thought wasn't laughable.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Suggestion on the bet: Whomever welches on the avatar/sig of the winning team is banned from the folder for the month of the bet. I only say this because I myself welched on the Arlovski avatar back in the day with EHME and I'm sure it bugged him.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

This shit just got real.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

You better make it down to Casa De Curry for this one, cockfag. Better yet we get a whole slew of people and rent out a party room at some bar.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

Two more months of everyone having the same signature, I presume.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

..............

 

Wrong part of town, amigo.

 

And it's a month, IIRC.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I still can't believe a fight where I'm actually cheering for GSP. Nothing against him... great fighter and personality. It's just that I think of Jean-Claude Van Damme, and then he goes and totally rapes one of my favorite fighters twice, and then dominates two other favorites.

 

It'd be like Rich Franklin coming in and destroying Maia for three rounds, then beating Sokoudjou in a round. Don't hate Franklin now, but if some shit like that were to happen... HATE

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Honestly. I've never been that excited for this fight, but the more I've thought about it the less enthused I am. In fact, it's starting to really bug me.

 

What has BJ Penn done to deserve this opportunity? This isn't just a "title shot", this is the case to make history. You can't even use the Henderson/W. Silva example for this (That was in America and PRIDE desperately wanted an American in the main). This show isn't in Hawaii. BJ Penn was just GIVEN the opportunity to make UFC history. It doesn't feel like he's earned this at all.

 

Since his back to back losses to GSP and Hughes, he's won three fights.

 

Jens Pulver - I don't think this fight means anything. I didn't think it meant anything back then, but given that Pulver was murderized by Joe Lauzon before this fight, and then after he failed to beat Urijah Faber and then was blown out by Leonard Garcia it's even more evident. This fight was hype, not substance.

 

Sean Sherk - I can't take anything away from this one, because Sherk is a talented if usually an incredibly boring one dimensional fighter. BJ Penn smoked him.

 

Joe Stevenson - This one looked like a credible fight...but the fact that Kenny Florian just absolutely murdered him in half the time it took Penn kind of negates it.

 

I think what really bugs me about this, is the fact that this isn't an Anderson Silva situation. BJ Penn only defended his championship *ONCE* and magically got this shot. And poor ole Kenny Florian has had to fight two "top contender" fights now, and STILL has to wait. Unless BJ Penn wins, the earliest Florian will get his chance is probably Summer 09. Maybe later. It's not fair. And if Penn wins, Florian will fight in a vacant title fight, most likely win, and then have people claiming he's a "paper champion". Florian's 9-2 in UFC (With one loss being in MW to Diego or whatever that was, and the second a decision), and is on a six fight winning streak. He's more then earned a chance.

 

Plus, what has changed with BJ Penn to make this go any differently? He got "serious", which I buy, but GSP doesn't have to "get serious". He's ALWAYS serious. GSP doesn't need some kind of external motivation. His motivation is clearly to be the best fighter in the world.

 

I think my sig pretty much shows where I stand, but I predict GSP will stop Penn. Probably in the later rounds when Penn's "new" gas tank empties and GSP isn't even at half down.

[Mik 0]

Kenny may have beaten Joe in half the time but on one hand you have an impressive victory and on the other hand you have a first class beatdown that looked like a homicide that left Joe's wife screaming and crying like Joe was being murdered in the ring.

 

BJ himself has said that the hardest part of the Stevenson fight was during the cut stoppage looking in the crowd and seeing Joe's wife absolutely hysterical in tears. Somehow I doubt that happened during the Florian fight.

 

 

What has BJ Penn done to earn this shot?

1) Nearly beat GSP a few years ago. He lost a razor thin split decision that he only lost due to his lack of cardio. That's it. You can spin it any way you want but after he busted GSP's nose he had him and then he gassed out and still could have won the fight. I agree with the decision but you're a Cecil Peoples away from BJ having won the first fight.

 

2) In the process of painting the UK red with Joe Stevenson's blood he became the second man in UFC history to hold championships in two divisions (What's up Randy?). I think this is worthy of a mega-fight.

 

3) He took Sean Sherk, who has looked unbeatable at 155 and made him look like a fucking bitch. He was AFRAID of BJ. Mr. Muscle Shark shot only ONCE and checked his gameplan at the door because BJ was too much for him. One can argue that BJ didn't look impressive because it went 3 and he mostly pawed with his jab but I would argue that they weren't watching the same fight that I was. It was a beautiful gameplan, executed flawlessly and that TKO sequence at the end is a thing of beauty... perfectly timed knee.

 

4) BJ has been calling out GSP for years... even before he beat Pulver.

 

5) Brock Lesnar corollary: book the fight that will sell the most money.

 

Even without #5, he deserves the shot at GSP more then anyone. The ONLY other logical contender for GSP at this time is Thiago Alves but they couldn't have rushed him in to a title shot because he still hadn't proved he could make weight by the time the fight was booked. If you ask me, he still hasn't proven it.

 

Yeah - Florian deserves BJ. I can't even argue that. But BJ abso-fucking-lutely deserves GSP.

 

And Czech - 1 and 1/2 months left of the sigs followed by an additional month of 1/2 of us with matching sigs of the loser getting tooled. Enjoy!!

[Lord of The Curry 0]

"Only lost due to lack of cardio"

 

That's pretty broad. Like saying The Lakers lost to The Celtics because they couldn't put the ball in the net.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

There is no doubt that BJ/GSP is a mega-fight, but why is it a title match?

[Burning Pirate Ship Sex 0]

There is no doubt that BJ/GSP is a mega-fight, but why is it a title match?

 

1. BJ wanted a shot

2. GSP said ok

3. Dana drew up a contract to make it official.

 

Anything else?

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

What did he do in the 170lb division to earn a 170lb title shot? And no, calling GSP out is not an acceptable answer.

 

 

BJ vs. GSP - Champ vs. Champ (Non-title) would still draw the same amount and not mess with either division.

[Mik 0]

Be a former champ that (aside from Matt Serra upset) gave GSP his closest fight in the past 3 years?

 

It's no secret that BJ wants to be at 170 and he's also a former WW champ. It's not that far-fetched.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

The fact that it's for a title is bullshit, straight-up. BJ is 0-2 in his last two WW fights and it's an insult to guys like Alves, Koscheck and others that he leapfrogs ahead of them.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

It's the only way to make it a five round fight. With two guys like this, the level they're at, I think they deserve it.

 

It's the same reason GSP/Hughes III was for an interim title.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Wasn't GSP/Hughes III for an interim title because the jury was out on Serra's back and they needed to potentially have a champ ready to defend in case it was a long-term injury?

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

If you want to use BJ Penn "nearly" beating GSP as a reason for why he's getting this title shot, then Matt Serra should have already gotten his rubber match. Because he kicked GSP's ass. Yet he isn't, because he's not ranked that high. GSP beat him. Just like he beat BJ Penn. Does not compute.

 

The point Curry and I seem to be making, is it's insane that BJ Penn has leapfrogged everyone to get this fight when there's more deserving champions in other weight classes. Anderson Silva is the prime example. He has *NO ONE* left to face aside from maybe two people and one of them (Maia) isn't ready yet. The other doesn't even speak English.

 

Another issue I have with this fight, is what the fuck does GSP have to fight for? Only his title is on the line. He beats BJ Penn...so what? Penn's not in his division. He's already beaten him once. The only motivation I can see if sheer competition and the fact that GSP likes being champion. He's really got nothing else to prove.

 

I will conceed the money issue, however, since this is potentially a big fight...but I really think fans and UFC are overestimating the drawing power of these two men. I think it'll do well, but not the 800,000+ I've seen pitched around. Both men are insanely over with the hardcores, but with casuals? I don't know. Obviously, casual people not from Hawaii or Canada. I'd expect this to be a national day off when this happens in both.

 

And yes. Hughes/GSP III was for the interm title because Serra pulled out due to injury against Hughes, UFC panicked and called GSP who filled in. That was legitimately for the title since no one knew how long Serra would be out. Many feared it could be career ending, but luckily he came back strong.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

It's a fight between two of the UFC's most notable and popular stars, both have interesting (and more importantly, opposite) personalities that should make for a good countdown, and -wait for it- it should be a fucking awesome fight anywhere it goes. Both guys have their die hard fanbase so the crowd should be nuts, and they are two of the most well rounded fighters in the game, if not two of the top 5. How often do you get 2 p4p best fighters going at it? I am super psyched for this. Fuck the haters.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Watching the press conference for this and I am even more stoked. St. Pierre saying he is champion, and as champion he has to set his sights higher, that he doesn't want to be fighting to be champion, that he is fighting to be a legend. Both guys are fighting, not for titles, or revenge, but for legacy.

[Mik 0]

Real interesting quote by BJ at the end there about how he's targeting 9% body fat and not a weight number. And the weight he's going to come in at is for him to know and GSP to find out on weigh-in day.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Here's something even more interesting: GSP always makes 170. It's up to BJ to step up.

 

*Epic Fail quote*

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

It won't be a Stevenson style beat down, but it will be bad.

 

BJ with a RNC in Round 3.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

It won't be a Matt Hughes beatdown. It'll be worse.

 

GSP TKO R4.