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UFC 129 - Jose Aldo vs GSP in P4P Status

1K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  hadoq 
#1 ·
Despite all the focus been on another unexciting GSP decision and despite the look of Mark Hominick face after his fight with Aldo, I personally feel that GSP did much much more give argument as to why he should be considered P4P No.1 than Aldo.

What was so great about the GSP fight, well it certainly was NOT entertainment value but it was perfect strategy and execution of a game plan that's one sole purpose was to defeat the exact guy right in front of him, and you have to give that some credit despite the fact that it was not the most entertaining thing to watch.

How did GSP achieve this, by been able to maintain perfect distance throughout the fight and never giving Shields chance to clinch or secure a TD thus neutralizing his opponents main strengths and forcing him into the exact type of fight he wanted it to be.

I was as disappointed as the next guy as a fan of the sport with the GSP/Shilds fight because basically we may never get to see who is the superior grappler of the two fighters, and I really wanted to see that happen, but we may never know because GSP was the far superior MMA Artist and proved one thing last night that that was no matter how good you are in one field of the sport you not going to beat him unless your entire game is A class.

Aldo on the other hand did not look another class against Hominick, despite causing gross damage to his opponents face and having a the edge thought the majority of the fight, certainly a fair winner of the fight, as far as P4P status goes he did not put on an untouchable display of excellence, unable to pass guard even once on the ground, been fairly slow on the feet for a FW standards, Frankie Edgar is quicker @ LW, hell I have seen better movement from Bisping than I did from Aldo in that fight.

Another point on his ground game that night is that it lacked any real technical skill set and conviction, all the damage been done from short sharp elbows from inside the guard, if anything that was a good advert for why I think the sport is better off without using elbows on the ground, they are mostly used as nothing more than an easy way to cause damage without the need to advance position or display a more technical set of ground skills.

Final point on Aldo was his cardio, he was not fighting out at a tremendous pace, he had moments in top position on the ground where he was doing nothing more than LnP thus been stood up by the ref, these moments would of give him some kind of breather, yet he still showed signs of bad cardio as the fight progressed, although he still had what it took to collect the win over his opponent, on a P4P scale it did not do his argument for No.1 status any favors.
 
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#2 ·
Aldo was ill, and a different doctor may well have stopped that fight because of the damage he inflicted on Hominick. You can argue that GSP has the edge for P4P rankings, but personally I rank Aldo above him, Anderson Silva being No.1.

The term 'untouchable display of excellence' really is sensationalist, you cannot expect that out of these guys every time they fight, and GSP didn't display that at 129 anyway. I think you have to look into a fighter's mind as much as their actions, and I can see that Aldo turns up to do damage, he wants to be dangerous, he wants to be impressive. I can't say the same for GSP anymore. Some people may not consider that a factor though so...
 
#7 ·
This. I dont think the ranking has changed. People thought that Shields actually had a chance if even a small one. While Hominick was supposed to get massacred in the early rounds. It just shows the type of competition that they both fought. GSP fought the tougher, more accomplished opponent that night and won. We could all say it was boring, but in the end of the day, GSP is still the WW Champ. If we gave excuses to why Aldo didnt look so good, then we should also excuse why GSP didnt look that good (eye). Aldo was a beast in the first 2 Rounds though.
 
#5 ·
Silva is older and has been defending longer, that's really all that matters. I think GSP and Shields would both beat him but that's not as relevant. GSP at 35 if he hasn't lost would easily be considered the #1 P4P.
 
#8 ·
I think GSP is #1, his beat better opposition than Silva IMO.

Aldo is #3 but way behind either Silva or GSP (if he takes out Mendes, Florian and another top contender then he comes a lot closer, he needs more time).

You can't move either of them P4P based on their last performances. One thing is I think Aldo can learn a lot from his performance (including on his ground game particularly off his back).
 
#12 ·
#GSP
#Spider
#Aldo

In that order for me, but I can see people putting Anderson above GSP. But Aldo? No, not yet. he needs to fight some bigger names.

Many seem to be upset that GSP didnt follow Shields to the ground when he dropped him, but the same can be said for Anderson against Leites and Maia.

Why the f... would you follow your opponent where he Is the absolute strongest? Thats how Fedor lost his P4P status. Its stupid, and every single above average fan should realise this.
GSP tried to take Shields head off throughout the fight, but he couldnt. His stand up skills just Isnt up there with Anderson, just as Andersons wrestling skills Isnt up there with GSP.
 
#13 ·
I would not even rank Aldo in the top 5, I think it would be quite generous to have him in the top 10, to me his entire P4P status was based on the assumption that his ground game was equal to his striking witch when looking at a skilled based raking system like the P4P system, would have had him right up there due to the fact that if that was true he would be one of the most elite well rounded fighters on the planet.

But that was brought into serious question the other night, so he is an elite striker with good Take Down defense, I can think of another one JDS, in fact I would rate JDS as a better striker with better TDD, so by default where ever Aldo is in the P4P rankings it below JDS, which bring many others into the picture not least of all Cain Velasquez, I would drop him somewhere in the P4P listings down to around the likes of Thiago Silva and Thiago Alves because thats about hows skilled a fighter he probably is.

Just off the top of my head in no partiuar order I would rate all the following fighters above him

GSP
A.Silva
Cain Velasquez
JDS
BJ Penn
Frankie Edgar
Gray Maynard
Nick Diaz
Jake Shields
Overeem
Werdum
Machida
Rashard Evans
Dan Henderson
Jacare Souza (showed fantastic stand up in the Kennedy fight, can tell he has been training with Anderson Silva when you watch that fight, and for such a high level BJJ guy to have that kind of stand up, we could be looking at a future P4P king)

Seriously if I was to really look into it and start going through list of names instead of just the top of my head used to make this list, I think he would struggle to make my top 20 P4P.
 
#14 ·
#GSP
#Silva
#Aldo/Edgar

If Edgar retains his title at 130 convincingly i'd put him at #3.

GSP #1 because of the level of competition, look at Silvas opponents records.. I think the longest win streak was Franklin at 8 fights.. Everyone else drops to 5, 3, 2, 1 win streaks with even 2 of his opponents facing him after directly coming off of a loss.

GSP has fought guys with 16, 15, 12, 7, 8 fight win streaks. He's fought tough guys, GSP doesn't seem to possess one shot KO power. He wins fights through being the better fighter and he's proven that he's the King of the WW division. How come no one can finish him? He's got nothing to prove, he's on top the contenders need to prove why they should have his belt.
 
#15 ·
we may never get to see who is the superior grappler of the two fighters, and I really wanted to see that happen
it did actually, when GSP too Shields down, even tho GSP was on top, he was more defending than anything else, and you could tell he was really in a hurry to get the fight back up. He didn't even risk that many TD and always at the end of rounds.

imo, on the ground GSP doesn't want to mess with Shields
 
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