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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Georges St-Pierre did what he always does to his opponents at UFC 158, as he controlled Nick Diaz for most of their fight Saturday. It was wash, rinse, repeat, over and over again. It was the type of performance we expect from GSP. It was a little frustrating, though, because GSP was in such control that he could have pressed things further if he wanted to. He didn't need to, though, because Nick had nothing for him.
I thought heading into the fight that Diaz would be a tough challenger to GSP. I thought he would be able to do more. I never thought heading into the fight that GSP would be able to get the finish, but as I watched I kept thinking that GSP could get the finish if he tried. GSP fights very safe, and it's served him very well. He's amassed numerous victories and title defenses, and earned a lot of money along the way. It's hard to argue with his fighting style.
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Johny Hendricks got the decision win over Carlos Condit, making him the number one contender for the UFC Welterweight Title, and he will meet GSP soon. Hendricks poses an interesting challenge to GSP; he's got a string of impressive wins under his belt and looks to be one of the strongest tests for GSP yet. Hendricks just might be the guy to beat GSP. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me that much if Hendricks does beat GSP. We've all been spoiled by Anderson Silva and his unstoppable badassness. MMA is a sport that changes on a dime, things happen quick and a fight can be lost in a moment. Fighters aren't supposed to go undefeated for such long periods. All it takes is one mistake and the fight is lost.
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Speaking of Anderson Silva, he's scheduled to face Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in July. Weidman is finally getting the title shot he's been complaining about, and he's been talking a big game. We just saw another guy spend months campaigning for a title shot and who was also talking a big game with Nick Diaz as he was preparing to fight GSP. That didn't turn out so well for Diaz, and I think this repeats with Weidman.
I just can't see a realistic way that Weidman beats SIlva. I don't think that Weidman is anywhere close to being as good as he thinks he is. I think Silva will end this fight when he wants to end it, probably around the second round. The only way that Weidman might make it close is to try to replicate what Chael Sonnen did in his first fight with Silva, get juiced up bigtime and hope that Silva has an injury heading into the fight.
Quite honestly, Weidman is undeserving of this title shot and is only getting it because other potential challengers lost and fell by the wayside. The only names that Weidman has beaten is Demian Maia, a short notice fight and Mark Munoz, who was largely overrated at the time. After defeating Munoz, Weidman even said himself that he would like to fight Anderson Silva but that he was undeserving of it because of his lack of big wins. Suddenly now, that's changed and Weidman earned those big wins by accruing exactly zero wins.
We all know that Weidman is just trying to generate interest in this fight by falsely proclaiming himself as the toughest matchup Silva has ever faced. This is the kind of thing that the UFC should be trying to eliminate, though. A big talker handing out false promises and fake guarantees. Stuff like this is how we end up with Dana White saying that Chael Sonnen is a top-5 draw in the UFC and then giving him a title shot in a division he hasn't fought at in years.
People will flock to see this fight, but it will be because of Anderson Silva and nothing else. You could have Silva fight a broom and it will do roughly the same numbers as this pay-per-view will. It's nothing against Weidman, it's not his fault that other guys lost and this title shot fell into his lap. I just hope that Weidman lives up to even a fraction of the things he's been saying.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/hydenstake/article_16250.shtml
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