[GrappleRetarded]

I'm tired of the Gus hype. It ends in one week.

Shogun. KO.



You ain't ****in' with no Thiago Silva here Gus.

[SM33]

If you watch the fights, you'll see that Gustaf is not just hype. It doesn't matter who's on his record, just watch the way he fights... he's good.

He didn't finish Thiago Silva... so? He dropped him in the first minute then out-maneuvered him all night, beat him up nicely. Thiago dazed him with a hook... so? It was Thiago's only decent attack and Gus handled it well. Then carried on tooling him.

If he loses to Shogun, it doesn't mean he's hype. It means he fought a tried and true hard man with much more experience than himself. Look at the betting lines, Gustaf is actually favorite.

[jonnyg4508]

I don't like how people throw around "hype". What hype? He is young as hell and has destroyed most everyone since getting caught by Phil Davis when he was like 22 years old. No one is anointing him the next champ. They are anointing him a young challenger to the top guys. The term "hype" gets thrown around way too often.

So if he loses to a top 5ish LHW it means he was hype? No it means he was beat by a top 5 LHW.

I think people are overrating him in this particular fight. Where Gustaf is more than a 2to1 favorite. Which I think is nuts. But Gustaf has skills no doubt. How those skills match up vs. a guy like Shogun compared to a Thiago Silva? We don't know yet?

[Sports_Nerd]

Originally Posted by SM33

If you watch the fights, you'll see that Gustaf is not just hype. It doesn't matter who's on his record, just watch the way he fights... he's good.

He didn't finish Thiago Silva... so? He dropped him in the first minute then out-maneuvered him all night, beat him up nicely. Thiago dazed him with a hook... so? It was Thiago's only decent attack and Gus handled it well. Then carried on tooling him.

If he loses to Shogun, it doesn't mean he's hype. It means he fought a tried and true hard man with much more experience than himself. Look at the betting lines, Gustaf is actually favorite.

Gus is very, very good at striking. His TDD, on the other hand, is still highly questionable.

When people focus on the strengths of a competitor, while overlooking their weaknesses, that's quintessential hype.

Kind of like the Green Bay Packers last year. It's not that their offense wasn't historically potent, it's that their defense was bad. And everyone saw that, but they ignored it. Which made the team over-hyped.

As for the betting lines I don't have to go very far back to give you examples of them being wildly off the mark.

Originally Posted by jonnyg4508

I don't like how people throw around "hype". What hype? He is young as hell and has destroyed most everyone since getting caught by Phil Davis when he was like 22 years old. No one is anointing him the next champ. They are anointing him a young challenger to the top guys. The term "hype" gets thrown around way too often.

So if he loses to a top 5ish LHW it means he was hype? No it means he was beat by a top 5 LHW.

I think people are overrating him in this particular fight. Where Gustaf is more than a 2to1 favorite. Which I think is nuts. But Gustaf has skills no doubt. How those skills match up vs. a guy like Shogun compared to a Thiago Silva? We don't know yet?

Yeah, but by your own admission the majority of fans think he's going to walk through this top 5 LHW.

Being over-hyped doesn't mean he's bad, just that people are making him out to be better than he actually is.

[SM33]

88% of takedowns avoided.

http://uk.ufc.com/fighter/alexander-Gustafsson

[John8204]

Yeah I don't get the "hype" issue with him at all. Let's just run through some of the facts.

1. He should have been given the opportunity to fight Jon Jones in September, the UFC decided to do something very shady and bring in 2-3 MW's to stall the division in particular him from getting his shot. If you are in line for a title shot you are not a product of hype.

2. If he loses this fight to Shogun what happens to him when it comes to the rankings. Does he fall off the face of the earth like he was a WW or LW? Absolutely not, he will still be in the top ten and you won't see to many (or any) guys jump over him in the rankings. He's established himself as a top ten fighter so once again not a product of hype.

3. If he beats Shogun what happens to him? If he finishes Shogun or is more convincing in his victory then Henderson was he becomes the automatic undisputed number one contender. If you are a win away from being the undisputed number one contender you are not a product of hype.

Originally Posted by Sports_Nerd

Gus is very, very good at striking. His TDD, on the other hand, is still highly questionable.

When people focus on the strengths of a competitor, while overlooking their weaknesses, that's quintessential hype.

Kind of like the Green Bay Packers last year. It's not that their offense wasn't historically potent, it's that their defense was bad. And everyone saw that, but they ignored it. Which made the team over-hyped.

As for the betting lines I don't have to go very far back to give you examples of them being wildly off the mark.



Yeah, but by your own admission the majority of fans think he's going to walk through this top 5 LHW.

Being over-hyped doesn't mean he's bad, just that people are making him out to be better than he actually is.

Take downs mean very little to Gustaf as his BJJ game is so good. He'll fight off his back, he'll wear a guy out in his guard. And your analogy is horrible, the Packers weren't "hyped" they were unlucky that they drew the SB champion in the 2nd round of playoffs.

He's going to need to lose twice to be out of title relevancy you don't get that way from "hype".

[jonnyg4508]

Originally Posted by Sports_Nerd

Gus is very, very good at striking. His TDD, on the other hand, is still highly questionable.

When people focus on the strengths of a competitor, while overlooking their weaknesses, that's quintessential hype.

Kind of like the Green Bay Packers last year. It's not that their offense wasn't historically potent, it's that their defense was bad. And everyone saw that, but they ignored it. Which made the team over-hyped.

As for the betting lines I don't have to go very far back to give you examples of them being wildly off the mark.



Yeah, but by your own admission the majority of fans think he's going to walk through this top 5 LHW.

Being over-hyped doesn't mean he's bad, just that people are making him out to be better than he actually is.

Hey I'm a Packers fan, die hard. I mean they won 15 games with statistically one of the worst defenses ever. If you can win 15 games that way they many people will think you will continue to win. Especially coming off a SB. Especially with one of the best QBs in the game. I mean they beat damn good teams all year that way. And the game is becoming more and more about passing. Obviously it didn't work out. They lost to the eventual SB champ. A 2 time champ in like 4 years.

Isn't the poll above like dead even? I mean not that many people think he runs through Shogun. Some do, but some posters on here will go the other way and go real bold in any pick they make.

Some people are think Shogun runs through him. Many see a real good fight. And some think Gustaf will steamroll him. Pretty even fight from the public's perspective. So I wouldn't say his hype comes from "everyone" thinking he will run through a top 5 LHW.

Who knows how good he is. It is hard to say people are making him out to be better than he is when he is like 25 and has handled most everyone given to him. None of us know truly how good he is yet because he has only climbed to a fringe top 10 LHW (Thiago Silva) and won pretty easily. Now we see if he is top 5 worthy. The same 5-7 guys have been top 5 for a while now, if you beat one you can be mentioned with them. Rashad, Machida, Hendo, Shogun, Rampage is falling out of this tier since he doesn't really want to fight anymore, maybe Phil Davis now.

[meli083]

This is a huge fight for Gustafsson. I see him taking this very convincingly. He's got the advantage standing and I don't think Shogun has good enough wrestling to take it to the ground. That and Gustafsson's TDD is great!

[meli083]

Originally Posted by SM33

If you watch the fights, you'll see that Gustaf is not just hype. It doesn't matter who's on his record, just watch the way he fights... he's good.

He didn't finish Thiago Silva... so? He dropped him in the first minute then out-maneuvered him all night, beat him up nicely. Thiago dazed him with a hook... so? It was Thiago's only decent attack and Gus handled it well. Then carried on tooling him.

If he loses to Shogun, it doesn't mean he's hype. It means he fought a tried and true hard man with much more experience than himself. Look at the betting lines, Gustaf is actually favorite.

He's really good overall, agreed. But his last fight showed that he sort of backs down when his opponent gets aggressive. Thiago stalking him for a good portion of the fight, especially the 3rd round.

My question is, what does he do with another aggressive opponent like Shogun, who isn't nearly as tentative as Silva was?

This is what I'm afraid of. I hope he can hold his ground when Shogun starts stalking him.

[dsmjrv]

shogun will be happy to eat a pillow punch from gus, just to land his own overhand with followup TKO.. probably in the first round