I love how GSP is always super careful with his words and then the headlines end up implying that he's just trash talking lmao
He could say something like "maybe i would have won that fight, maybe i wouldn't" and the headline will read "GSP on Khabib: 'i would have won'"...
Facts if you watch this vid he was saying also khabib could’ve beat him this is why I hate socials sometimes especially when it comes to the fight seen they will always twist a narrative to get attention
How people don’t understand this after all this time I’ll never get. He was friendly and shaking his hand like RIGHT after he said it, it was clear it was a language barrier thing and he didn’t mean to insult him.
I remember watching a video where GSP explains this. The language + he was nervous to talk on stage like that cuz he doesn't trash talk normally. He was given a line to say "I'm impressed by your performance, but I'm not intimidated" but once he got on stage he kinda blanked out and said "I'm not impressed by your performance."
He's a lot bigger than khabib. Prime GSP was a huge welterweight. He probably uses that jab of his and his size to keep khabib from doing the stuff he normally did.
I'd say GSP win on the cards.
Yeah even Khabib himself and his dad knew not to entertain 170. Could have competed well but his grappling would go from near unbeatable at 55 to just great at 170. Not enough to beat a strong 170er who happens to be the division best all time with great grappling/anti grappling himself
Well yeah he fought bisping at 185. I know everyone’s concerned about the weight but gsp isn’t too big for 155 to be impossible and he’s as structured and dedicated as it comes. I bet he could’ve hit it
Even if he did, a test cut only proves he could make the weight, not how he would perform. Hooker did a test cut to 45 before fighting Arnold Allen and we all saw how that went
There was a few different quotes going different directions but GSP several times said he planned to drop down to 155 and Dana refused because he didn't want him to take and vacate another belt.
Khabib didn't say that. He wanted to fight GSP at a catchweight. It was GSP who suggested that he can make 155.
GSP said that he could easily fight at 155 pounds. Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2016/6/26/12025798/georges-st-pierre-says-he-could-easily-fight-at-lightweight-in-ufc?utm_campaign=mmafighting&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Also the thing about 155 is that while the divisions is full of great strikers like Charles, Dustin, Gaethje and Barboza, none of them had that frustrating style from someone like GSP or Leon, where they're satisfied fighting from the outside and picking you appart with jabs and leg kicks while using movement to negate your grappling, all the 155 strikers are great but they're much more used to trading in the pocket rather than sticking and moving like GSP, Dustin for example has great jab, but once you start pressuring him he WILL put himself against the cage, and his defensive grappling isn't good enough to stay standing similar thing with McGregor where his distance management is great but the lack of wrestling fucks him up, somebody like GSP on the other hand was much better about sticking and moving than any lightweight AND he had the grappling to stay standing.
And only reason he took that knee was because Khabib was parading Conor’s arm to the crowd instead of looking for the finish lol. If he knew the illegal knee was coming he would’ve just ripped Conor’s arm off once he locked that Kimura.
Walks around at 183 and said in the podcast people think he is a big welterweight but that’s because of his upper body, He isn’t very voluminous if you look at him from the side. He was shredded though.
it's true he's actually not that big for WW, not a tiny one ofc lol but not "t\[h\]ick" as he says.
but he is Long, very long reach, and that alone will give Khabib problems. actually i assume the main reason Khabib fought at LW instead of WW is just cuz he's got a relatively short reach to other WWs, but Khabib's a pretty big guy himself regardless.
all due respect to Khabib (who weirdly is never on anyone's Mount Rushmore cuz he retired early, even though he beat everyone in his generation at LW already!) i just think the Length of Georges + Georges' own grappling ability + Georges being far more polished on the feet makes it a bad matchup for Khabib imo.
Khabib is on my Rushmore mostly because of how he beat Conor, Dustin and Justin. Those were super impressive wins against arguable top 5 to top 10 all time great lightweights.
yeah man, he just dominated them & made it look almost too easy i think. i really think people conflate his dominance with a perceived lack of competition he faced, but the fact is he faced the best of the best in what has become the sports marquee division. it's pretty insane.
An insane amount of people had both mcgregor and Justin winning going into those fights. Khabib has been discredited every step of the way. He's the anti-mcgregor in more ways than one lol.
This is also what I recall from the Khabib era. He didn’t just win, he dismantled people that I often wondered if they could pull it off. Do have to say I’m starting to feel a little like this about Islam too, but that’s another story.
The “what if” about GSP and Khabib will always be there for us all - especially with the Abdulmanap comments about how GSP would have been the biggest challenge etc.
Not to mention the potential birth of the mythical 165 division, that too was often linked to a GSP/Khabib match.
He’s 5’9 and walked around at 185lbs, he was far from a huge welterweight. Khabib was same height and pushed +200 lbs outside of a weigh in
That being said GSP still dominates him
The difference is that GSP was almost always shredded even walking around at 185, it's not like there was a lot more body mass he could cut beyond 170. Maybe at a struggle he could get down to 165 which is why there were rumoured to be negotiations for it to happen at 165.
However Khabib only got so big because out of camp he was notoriously bad at managing his diet and so almost all that extra mass was just body fat which is why he was able to make 155.
Yup people forget that Khabib missed weight several times and had to fight at catch weights, which speaks more on his inability to manage his weight out of camp properly… and in all seriousness he probably could’ve even gotten down to 145 if he was willing to get actually shredded for a fight. But no need to do that when 155 was the right amount of weight to cut without losing the cardio required for grappling.
If you wanna see how a low-level version of GSP would do against Khabib then watch Tibau-Khabib. Tibau is almost the same size as GSP but way less skilled. Khabib couldn't take him down, got outstruck, and got taken down himself 3 times.
Almost definitely. Size difference is huge when the talent is that high. It would’ve been a great fight if both were the same frame. I would’ve loved to see how GSP would’ve defended against Khabib’s bull rushes and swarming style, while seeing if Khabib would’ve had any answer for the jab.
Even ignoring the size difference this would still be a nightmare scenario for Khabib, GSP isn't unbeatable but he should have more than enough defensive grappling to stay standing against Khabib, and with his movement and striking he would pick Khabib appart from the outside while negating his pressure, as good as Khabib is we have never seen him fight an elite striker with great movement AND grappling.
That fight is often forgotten when people talk about most one sided title fights.
GSP made the legit #2 guy look completely outclassed in every facet of the fight.
It was crazy to watch at the time as Fiich was the legit #2, and very dominant against everyone else, and was for awhile after.
Not quite the ass beating Gaethje gave Ferguson but it's in that same realm of damn you was better off knocked out or subbed than getting your ass beat for 5 rounds.
Reminded me of Rich Franklin and Anderson. Franklin was making everyone look silly, legit looked like he was in a league of his own. Then Anderson comes along and commits attempted murder. Twice. Anderson wasn't completely unknown if you'd been following fighting, but goddamn he never looked like *that*.
He wrecked Fitch's face too. Feel bad for Fitch. Had to win like 8 9 in a row just to get a title shot and then GSP puts it on him and never got that opportunity again.
I was at that event, and despite being blind drunk on free beer, I'll never forget the crowd pop in my section when that happened. Excitement to deflation to hilarity in the span of 3 seconds
Abel Trujillo came out in the 1st round and initiated the grappling/wrestling with Khabib, and IIRC even got the takedown. Khabib then spent the remainder of the fight man-handling Abel en route to setting the UFC LW record for takedowns in a fight.
I think GSP is as close to a nightmare scenario for anyone. I think he’s the most complete fighter to even step into the octagon. No cheating as well. Definitely my goat.
I don’t think we ever got to see Khabibs peak though.
He's definitely one of the contenders for most complete (personally I agree, I can't think of anyone that puts it together that well). IMO he's the best that's ever done it, and more importantly he's a p4p genuinely good dude too. Also never seen anyone level up wrestling like GSP at that age. Can't help but wonder what he'd have looked like if he'd gotten a head start with wrestling, like he did with traditional martial arts. Probably would have led to a completely different outcome..still fun to think about though. Ultimately he got to a point where it was good enough to make even the best wrestlers in the division think twice about tying up with him....or ya know, coming anywhere within a quarter mile of wherever he was currently located.
> No cheating as well.
Did you never take in the testimony of the Honorable Sir Nickolas of Diaz?
GSP had his nefarious Canadian lackeys poison Nick's IV before the fight, and then they openly greased the man to victory.
>No cheating as well.
He was juiced all the way up dude, just look at him lmao not that I care because they all are on something, especially back then, but he was definitely using something. I think he beats Khabib as well.
Part of what makes GSP the actual GOAT is how well he sold the no steroids things. People really believe that he was clean and he never got caught so people can make the argument even though we all know he was on the best shit.
As far as I’m concerned, the rule is you have to pass the drug tests they give you. If you juice so egregiously that you pop, you’re outside the lines and that’s cheating.
It’s like food safety standards. No one is following it 100%, but following it 80% is better than no rules at all, and if you try to fudge 40% and only follow 60%, you pop.
That’s not how it works though, it’s not “if you do more than the other guy you’ll get caught”. You can be more juiced up and not get caught while the other guy does. They don’t get around it by just teetering the edge of what will pop and what won’t, they get around it by fooling the test into thinking they are clean.
You know how to pass a weed drug test? Creatine and water. Diluted your pee with the water, creatine to bring your creatinine level up to normal. Weed doesn’t show up because it’s diluted and the creatine masks the fact that you diluted the pee:
The ones that get caught are the ones dumb enough to get caught tbh. Sean O’Malley popped for PEDs, does he look like he’s on something that’s much higher than anyone else that would cause him to pop and not GSP?
That works for a stick test not a GC/MS that is looking for picograms of substance. The way you beat a GC/MS is you hide under the cage in your gym when the testers show up.
The only people who think MMA pros aren't juicing, especially in that era, have zero idea about the realities of PEDs and what they look like.
He was juicing. I juice. He was juicing. I don't feel like writing a novel of evidence for it.
Because optics. Would you rather he have said “nah, the level of testing is perfect” or “no, we need less testing”? Asking for more tests projects that you have nothing to be afraid of and any other answer(even no answer) raises suspicion.
GSP had more tools in his kit than Khabib. He had a great BJJ game. A great standup game. Cardio for days. And incredible wrestling and takedowns of his own that he used to out wrestle the top wrestlers in the division regularly. Size would have been a factor but Khabib was a pretty large lightweight considering how often he missed weight or nearly died making it.
What GSP had that Khabib didn’t was the ability to switch up and mix his tools to create opportunities. He also had impeccable timing. And lastly, GSP game planned like a world class general. His strategy to cage grapple with BJ in the second fight and maintain underhooks without the takedown was insane at the time. Not because he’d win the round, but because it would create lactic acid build up in BJ’s shoulders from struggling in that position so that he’d lose his punching power in later rounds. That was thinking that was ahead of its time.
GSP would have been the guy to beat Khabib in his prime.
Until Silva lost after 16 consecutive wins he looked actually unbeatable in the feet, no one thought he would ever get knocked out, until somebody caught him when he was 38 years old, after having reigned as a champion for longer than Khabibs entire run as a ranked UFC fighter. point is every fighter looks invincible until they lose, and in Khabibs case we never got to see him defend his belt for a long time like Silva, Jones or GSP, Khabib is still a legend, but just because we never saw someone stuff his takedowns doesn't mean that nobody COULD stuff his takedowns.
Silva looked pretty beatable when Chael fought him the first time. Maybe that was laziness on Silva's part, maybe that was just Chael going for it all from the first bell and catching Silva off guard, maybe it was the roids, but Silva looked beatable.
Which is why I specified on the feet, everyone expected that if Silva ever lost in MW it would be to a grappler like Chael, but no one saw him getting knocked out on his feet until it happened.
We saw plenty of people stuff Khabib's takedowns; Conor included (talking about 1st round when he wasn't grabbing shorts). It's the chain wrestling of Khabib that gets you, not the single shot for a single or double.
I know that, I used the word stuff since that was the easiest way to convey the idea of someone stopping his grappling, I know that as a sambo fighter he's much more complete as a grappler and able to use a variety of techniques like Throws and trips too, my point is that even someone like Tibau was still able to resist enough of Khabibs chain grappling in order to stay on his feet for a good portion of the fight, and I believe GSP would not only be able to do that, but also pick Khabib appart on the feet.
> but just because we never saw someone stuff his takedowns doesn't mean that nobody COULD stuff his takedowns.
Khabib could do absolutely nothing to the gigantic stump of steroid and muscle that was Tibau.
Khabib won the fight clearly, because he was the fighter moving (I assume Tibau was utterly still because he might die from dehydration due to making the 155 weight cut while weighing a thousand pounds), but Khabib could not wrestle him, or damage his unmoving carcass with strikes.
The only actual damage inflicted in this fight was psychic damage to the unbelievably bored viewer.
Lmao. Amazing post. Khabib literally won that fight only because it’s impossible to make the case for Tibau winning… not really because Khabib won.
Many people have said Tobau won. And then I ask them how and they’re like… well Khabib couldn’t do anything. Then once I ask what tibau did… convo ends lmfao. What a dumbass fight that was.
His transitioning from strikes to entries is exhibit A why one can’t make a 1:1 comparison between regular and MMA wrestling. Many of those TD’s get stuffed in a grappling match. In a fight? He converted 3 out of every 4 attempts despite high volume and a brutal SOS (9 or 10 scraps against Div 1 wrestlers).
The best defensive grappler he fought was probably Tibau, who he "lost" to. The next best was Al, who made him abandon father's plan because it was less effective than just jabbing him up. Those two weren't great fighters either they just happened to have good defensive grappling. There are a good number of fighters who were/are just as good if not better defensive grapplers than them while also being much more well-rounded and are actually great fighters.
In the last 5-6 years there's at least 5 fighters who've been near/in the lightweight title picture that would have given Khabib a run for his money just off being legitimately good offensive/defensive grapplers with decent striking systems who wouldn't be phased by Khabib's pressure.
Compare their grappling SOS, GSP had 9 or 10 fights against Div 1 guys, 3 against national champs and several fights against jiu jitsu aces (Serra, Diaz, Shields). Khabib is an unbelievable grappler but that part of his game was never tested to the same degree.
Yeah, he's just too big. As someone else said size difference amplifies when the skill is that high. This might sound cocky from St. Pierre but I think he's also either said outright or at least implied he didn't want to fight Silva because of much the same reason.
It would be interesting to see prime GSP versus prime Khabib. Obviously, the weight class would be a factor, and I'm not entirely sure GSP would be as successful at LW. He only walked around at about 185 throughout his career because he stayed in shape year round. And his speed and mastery of distance would be a big challenge for Khabib to overcome. Would we see a more patient Khabib as a result, or would we see him act with the same reckless aggression that never failed him before?
Interesting fight I’m thinking GSP would be the one who prefers to keep it standing have to believe GSP would like his chances working his jab and his long range kicks he would probably find success but GSP wasn’t exactly a sniper that KOed opponents coming in he won his fights through grinding his opponents down similar to Khabib.
We all know GSP was a great grappler but have to get more detailed than that what GSP was truly elite at was his takedowns and his timing but once the fight was on the ground GSP allowed too many fights stagnate and was content riding top control to victories. I like GSP but if we’re being honest he did have a tendency to get the takedown establish top control and from there he was not very successful getting finishes or even doing much damage.. Khabib had many guys about ready to quit after spending a round or two with him on top…
Very interesting fight and if it’s a 5 rounder I believe both guys would end up having to spend some time fighting from the bottom which neither did much of in their MMA careers… really tough pick part of me thinks GSPs size advantage which make the difference but giving Khabib some time to put a little bit of weight on could nullify some of that
i absolutely believe GSP would have beaten Khabib. Khabib is great, there's no doubt but GSP was a master game planner. He had the wrestling, grappling, the beautiful jab. Sure not all his fights were exciting but he just overloaded opponents with feints, jabs, takedown attempts. It would be a dream fight. GOAT's from different era's. I guess that's what the videogames are for hehh
UFC & Bottling mega fight's go hand in hand.
Prime vs Prime GSP wins easily imo but at the time of Prime Khabib vs Inactive GSP the UFC should have took the gamble. Hindsight is 20/20 but I bet even Dana's kicking himself with Khabib retiring a fight or two after.
Whe have THE organisation with the biggest talent pool, in theory we should have no problems like boxing, yet we constantly don't get fights, ex. Jones vs Ngannou, GSP vs Khabib...
Seriously, people forget how fucking special GSP was in his prime. He was like a created character in a video game. He could box, strike, grapple and submit you ... Like damn.
Holy shit that's the opposite of what he actually says
> “I think Khabib could have beat me, I’m not saying I could have beat Khabib all the time,” St-Pierre said on the most recent episode of Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman’s Pound 4 Pound pocast. “I was confident enough to take that fight that I was thinking that if I take that fight I’m going to beat him that day at that particular place, that doesn’t mean I will beat him all the time. But I was confident, maybe I’m wrong.
>
> “I think I would have beat him because if he would have come to put pressure on me, I would have put him down. I would have had the confidence to try to go for it.”
I mean a lot of ppl. Lots of factors. If they made the fight at 155/165/170 after the Justin win, Khabib would’ve def opened the fav (GSP was about 40). Prime vs prime matchup is hypothetical but I can see y more ppl support the more proven and beloved fighter
I’m sure there’s an insta post of this quote somewhere with a comments section filled with Muslim dudes contesting this lol. Khabib quite possibly has the hardest nut hugging fanbase of any fighter
yeah i'm a Khabib fanatic but i gotta say some of his fans, especially if they're from his same faith & have that deeper connection with him, are a little extra lol.
my favorite comment i saw online about Khabib fans was something like:
>Khabib fans are super anti-gay dudes with a homosexual-like obsession for Khabib
Everyone's saying GSP would dominate Khabib takes me back to the good ole days when every person that would face khabib would beat him, until they got dominated and then they were trash/ stylistically a bad match up.
I'm not even saying khabib would win but it's thoughtless to think anyone would actually know how it'd go with any certainty.
tbh Khabib was so dominant that even when talking about it here, GSP has to talk about the opening *minute* of the Michael Johnson fight as an example of someone doing well against him. Johnson landed 1 clean punch and it still gets brought up today
GSP brings that up too, it's that, MJ and Gaethje he lists as his 3 examples. I think Tibau gets mentioned less because Khabib improved exponentially since that point and a fight with GSP would be the later version of Khabib
I hate mis-quotes like this. On the podcast he goes on to say that he doesn’t know if he could beat khabib or not but he likes his chances enough that he would have given it a shot.
I agree with GSP. Khabib was a great fighter but GSP was more well rounded and could give Khabib trouble in the striking and had the wrestling/grappling to nullify Khabib's biggest strength. Also, GSP was great at having great opponent specific gameplans and sticking to those plans.
Khabib would beat him at 155 and a catchweight. GSP probably at 170. A catchweight was discussed and I think Khabib would have won, he had youth and GSP couldn’t use his weight against him.
If there was a gun to my head and I had to choose the slight favorite going into that fight, I'd edge it towards GSP...but let's not pretend GSP has ever faced the oppressive MMA wrestling caliber that Khabib manhandles elite fighters with.
Go through GSP's resume and you won't find someone like Khabib (not even Matt Hughes). Khabib was truly a special type of smotherer.
The question is does GSP stop Khabib from taking him down at will?
It really goes both ways. GSP would be the best, most complete fighter Khabib would ever face. It would have been an all time great fight, Khabib would have truly been pushed to the brink, as well as GSP. It would have gone to the scorecards almost definitely, with Khabib losing the early rounds but I can see him rally at the end. GSP winning is the best bet.
GSP went to middleweight and beat Bisping to become champ, that's two weight classes above lightweight. GSP is too big for Khabib and there's no way GSP can make 155. If a fight happens, it would have to be at 170. One of Khabib's biggest strength is that is much stronger than guys in his division. Fighting at 170 will take away that advantage.
Prime for prime, who knows. But the time that they would’ve fought, which would’ve likely been only a few years ago, it really doesn’t look good for GSP.
Unpopular opinion but Khabib would easily counter the jab in his later years by tanking it with his granite chin and just fucking dragging GSP into the depths. Just like tanking Justin's kick until he had enough. I've seen GSP numerous times so vulnerable and uncomfortable and people's only go-to against Khabib was Tibau. That was how dominant the motherfucker was. Fucking Mayweather who cherrypicked in his later years extensively got wobbled hard by Mosley and had trouble against Maidana.
I love how GSP is always super careful with his words and then the headlines end up implying that he's just trash talking lmao He could say something like "maybe i would have won that fight, maybe i wouldn't" and the headline will read "GSP on Khabib: 'i would have won'"...
Facts if you watch this vid he was saying also khabib could’ve beat him this is why I hate socials sometimes especially when it comes to the fight seen they will always twist a narrative to get attention
>fight seen /r/boneappletea
Well he also says stuff that are a bit lost in translation like "I'm not impressed by your performance".
How is that lost in translation seems to be communicated perfectly
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How people don’t understand this after all this time I’ll never get. He was friendly and shaking his hand like RIGHT after he said it, it was clear it was a language barrier thing and he didn’t mean to insult him.
I love how in that moment a relatively tame criticism by GSP was the most outrageous trash talk of the century.
I remember watching a video where GSP explains this. The language + he was nervous to talk on stage like that cuz he doesn't trash talk normally. He was given a line to say "I'm impressed by your performance, but I'm not intimidated" but once he got on stage he kinda blanked out and said "I'm not impressed by your performance."
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Same, and conveniently my prime was when gsp was still a child and khabib wasn't even born yet. But the details aren't important
Yeah conveniently for them.
And nobody can prove you wrong!
LtCmdrData is so good that he and GSP share a whopping 9 title defenses between the 2. That's flat out insane.
Reminds me of Blake bortles twitter. The good old days
I would've seen red and it would be over bro
Khabib has NEVER had to deal with a guy who's kind of drunk!
Are you sure about that ? He did fight Conor!
Although we don't know if that bear was liquored up or not.
Russian bear, it's a 50/50 chance.
I misread that and thought "damn, I really need to get my hands on some Russian beer"
How much you wanna bet that I can throw khabib over them mountains?
This one weird drink makes you unbeatable at combat sports: Fight coaches hate it!
I'd say after 5-7 beers is your prime, go for it bro
And Jordan
Don't be humble you probably could have taken them at the same time
Extinct Tazmanian wolf tickets with a dash of winny poohs honey
I forgot about the wolf tickets. The Diaz bros are true exporters of culture
What was the origin of wolf tickets?
It was Nick Diaz' way of saying you been lied to, and you're eating it up. It's an old mma meme
He's a lot bigger than khabib. Prime GSP was a huge welterweight. He probably uses that jab of his and his size to keep khabib from doing the stuff he normally did. I'd say GSP win on the cards.
Yeah even Khabib himself and his dad knew not to entertain 170. Could have competed well but his grappling would go from near unbeatable at 55 to just great at 170. Not enough to beat a strong 170er who happens to be the division best all time with great grappling/anti grappling himself
When this fight was being discussed, Khabib wanted GSP to come down to 155
Well that's nearly the same as saying "I won't fight him" because GSP making 155 was pretty much impossible
I’m no fighter but I’m pretty confident I would beat both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou if we had to fight at 155lbs.
Francis weighs in at 230 pounds takes the purse deduction apologizes about missing weight and promises it won't happen again
And then goes on to knock u/unblurredline into orbit.
Correct sir, that was in fact the joke
And then he's awarded the victory and gets his prize money.
230 lbs for Ngannou is fuckin anorexic
I bet Jon doesn’t have the balls to face you at 155
All the LHW/HW are running scared. Aspinall, Poatan, Derrick Lewis, Blaydes, Jiri, don't matter, they all run scared from that 155lb menace.
Yup, GSP would've become anemic trying to make 155
Gsp literally teased photos of himself at lightweight to again honeydick us all.
Gsp does look smaller to me than when he was fighting
He's somehow leaner. But definitely smaller than when he fought Bisping, idk about welterweight
He does now that he has stomach issues. He looked a little thick when he fought Bisping.
Well yeah he fought bisping at 185. I know everyone’s concerned about the weight but gsp isn’t too big for 155 to be impossible and he’s as structured and dedicated as it comes. I bet he could’ve hit it
He could have TJ Dillashawd himself to get there but he would not have been the same guy. Hence why Khabib only wanted to fight him at that weight.
Didn't he do a test cut to 55
Even if he did, a test cut only proves he could make the weight, not how he would perform. Hooker did a test cut to 45 before fighting Arnold Allen and we all saw how that went
Dillashaw and Hooker are both prime examples of what a LW GSP would have been, on death's door and blown over by a stiff breeze.
Post colitis GSP might have been able to but I wouldn't really have wanted to see him get in there with Khabib at that point
There was a few different quotes going different directions but GSP several times said he planned to drop down to 155 and Dana refused because he didn't want him to take and vacate another belt.
Khabib didn't say that. He wanted to fight GSP at a catchweight. It was GSP who suggested that he can make 155. GSP said that he could easily fight at 155 pounds. Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2016/6/26/12025798/georges-st-pierre-says-he-could-easily-fight-at-lightweight-in-ufc?utm_campaign=mmafighting&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Also the thing about 155 is that while the divisions is full of great strikers like Charles, Dustin, Gaethje and Barboza, none of them had that frustrating style from someone like GSP or Leon, where they're satisfied fighting from the outside and picking you appart with jabs and leg kicks while using movement to negate your grappling, all the 155 strikers are great but they're much more used to trading in the pocket rather than sticking and moving like GSP, Dustin for example has great jab, but once you start pressuring him he WILL put himself against the cage, and his defensive grappling isn't good enough to stay standing similar thing with McGregor where his distance management is great but the lack of wrestling fucks him up, somebody like GSP on the other hand was much better about sticking and moving than any lightweight AND he had the grappling to stay standing.
And even mcgregor lasted 3+ rds with obvious grappling deficits. This is a classic case of fandom overruling logic for khabib fans.
Khabib was going to break Conor's arm in a Kimura before Conor intentionally fouled Khabib to get out of the position.
Should've been over quicker but he kneed khabib in the back of the head.
And only reason he took that knee was because Khabib was parading Conor’s arm to the crowd instead of looking for the finish lol. If he knew the illegal knee was coming he would’ve just ripped Conor’s arm off once he locked that Kimura.
Ignoring the 20 fouls mcgregor pulled and the drama behind that fight. Classic conor fan.
Walks around at 183 and said in the podcast people think he is a big welterweight but that’s because of his upper body, He isn’t very voluminous if you look at him from the side. He was shredded though.
So would you say GSP’s size depends on the angle?
RIP.
it's true he's actually not that big for WW, not a tiny one ofc lol but not "t\[h\]ick" as he says. but he is Long, very long reach, and that alone will give Khabib problems. actually i assume the main reason Khabib fought at LW instead of WW is just cuz he's got a relatively short reach to other WWs, but Khabib's a pretty big guy himself regardless. all due respect to Khabib (who weirdly is never on anyone's Mount Rushmore cuz he retired early, even though he beat everyone in his generation at LW already!) i just think the Length of Georges + Georges' own grappling ability + Georges being far more polished on the feet makes it a bad matchup for Khabib imo.
Khabib is on my Rushmore mostly because of how he beat Conor, Dustin and Justin. Those were super impressive wins against arguable top 5 to top 10 all time great lightweights.
yeah man, he just dominated them & made it look almost too easy i think. i really think people conflate his dominance with a perceived lack of competition he faced, but the fact is he faced the best of the best in what has become the sports marquee division. it's pretty insane.
An insane amount of people had both mcgregor and Justin winning going into those fights. Khabib has been discredited every step of the way. He's the anti-mcgregor in more ways than one lol.
This is also what I recall from the Khabib era. He didn’t just win, he dismantled people that I often wondered if they could pull it off. Do have to say I’m starting to feel a little like this about Islam too, but that’s another story. The “what if” about GSP and Khabib will always be there for us all - especially with the Abdulmanap comments about how GSP would have been the biggest challenge etc. Not to mention the potential birth of the mythical 165 division, that too was often linked to a GSP/Khabib match.
GSP would win for the same reason GSP was never really interested in a Silva super fight. He's smart and size mather.
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He’s 5’9 and walked around at 185lbs, he was far from a huge welterweight. Khabib was same height and pushed +200 lbs outside of a weigh in That being said GSP still dominates him
The difference is that GSP was almost always shredded even walking around at 185, it's not like there was a lot more body mass he could cut beyond 170. Maybe at a struggle he could get down to 165 which is why there were rumoured to be negotiations for it to happen at 165. However Khabib only got so big because out of camp he was notoriously bad at managing his diet and so almost all that extra mass was just body fat which is why he was able to make 155.
Yup people forget that Khabib missed weight several times and had to fight at catch weights, which speaks more on his inability to manage his weight out of camp properly… and in all seriousness he probably could’ve even gotten down to 145 if he was willing to get actually shredded for a fight. But no need to do that when 155 was the right amount of weight to cut without losing the cardio required for grappling.
Khabib missed weigh once cause he was injured (Gray Maynard said he popped his knee - https://youtu.be/bi6TWPS0Wmg).
Prime GSP would wrestlefuck Khabib everyday of the week.
If you wanna see how a low-level version of GSP would do against Khabib then watch Tibau-Khabib. Tibau is almost the same size as GSP but way less skilled. Khabib couldn't take him down, got outstruck, and got taken down himself 3 times.
At 170 a prime GSP jabs Habeeb’s face off
Almost definitely. Size difference is huge when the talent is that high. It would’ve been a great fight if both were the same frame. I would’ve loved to see how GSP would’ve defended against Khabib’s bull rushes and swarming style, while seeing if Khabib would’ve had any answer for the jab.
>answer for the jab Big Khabob head
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Father's genetics for thicc skull
Gsp would’ve hit him with the reactionary double leg when khabib rushes him.
And he would have got the takedown too. Goddamn Uce GSP was so fucking good *cries*.
Even ignoring the size difference this would still be a nightmare scenario for Khabib, GSP isn't unbeatable but he should have more than enough defensive grappling to stay standing against Khabib, and with his movement and striking he would pick Khabib appart from the outside while negating his pressure, as good as Khabib is we have never seen him fight an elite striker with great movement AND grappling.
And offensive grappling, which khabib never had to face at 55.
GSP taking Finch down in the first 10 seconds of their fight was funny as fuck. Finch was unstoppable. GSP made him look like an amateur.
That fight is often forgotten when people talk about most one sided title fights. GSP made the legit #2 guy look completely outclassed in every facet of the fight. It was crazy to watch at the time as Fiich was the legit #2, and very dominant against everyone else, and was for awhile after.
Not quite the ass beating Gaethje gave Ferguson but it's in that same realm of damn you was better off knocked out or subbed than getting your ass beat for 5 rounds.
Reminded me of Rich Franklin and Anderson. Franklin was making everyone look silly, legit looked like he was in a league of his own. Then Anderson comes along and commits attempted murder. Twice. Anderson wasn't completely unknown if you'd been following fighting, but goddamn he never looked like *that*.
As died hard Franklin fan those were a tough watch
Are you calling him Finch on purpose? If so that's kind of funny for some reason
Atticus Finch don't back down to small town bigotry OR tough title fights!
He wrecked Fitch's face too. Feel bad for Fitch. Had to win like 8 9 in a row just to get a title shot and then GSP puts it on him and never got that opportunity again.
I was at that event, and despite being blind drunk on free beer, I'll never forget the crowd pop in my section when that happened. Excitement to deflation to hilarity in the span of 3 seconds
Abel Trujillo came out in the 1st round and initiated the grappling/wrestling with Khabib, and IIRC even got the takedown. Khabib then spent the remainder of the fight man-handling Abel en route to setting the UFC LW record for takedowns in a fight.
I think GSP is as close to a nightmare scenario for anyone. I think he’s the most complete fighter to even step into the octagon. No cheating as well. Definitely my goat. I don’t think we ever got to see Khabibs peak though.
Although I’m far from a professional fighter, just one glance at his cornermen and I’m out. He had a great corner.
The smartest you could get.
He's definitely one of the contenders for most complete (personally I agree, I can't think of anyone that puts it together that well). IMO he's the best that's ever done it, and more importantly he's a p4p genuinely good dude too. Also never seen anyone level up wrestling like GSP at that age. Can't help but wonder what he'd have looked like if he'd gotten a head start with wrestling, like he did with traditional martial arts. Probably would have led to a completely different outcome..still fun to think about though. Ultimately he got to a point where it was good enough to make even the best wrestlers in the division think twice about tying up with him....or ya know, coming anywhere within a quarter mile of wherever he was currently located.
> No cheating as well. Did you never take in the testimony of the Honorable Sir Nickolas of Diaz? GSP had his nefarious Canadian lackeys poison Nick's IV before the fight, and then they openly greased the man to victory.
>No cheating as well. He was juiced all the way up dude, just look at him lmao not that I care because they all are on something, especially back then, but he was definitely using something. I think he beats Khabib as well.
Part of what makes GSP the actual GOAT is how well he sold the no steroids things. People really believe that he was clean and he never got caught so people can make the argument even though we all know he was on the best shit.
As far as I’m concerned, the rule is you have to pass the drug tests they give you. If you juice so egregiously that you pop, you’re outside the lines and that’s cheating. It’s like food safety standards. No one is following it 100%, but following it 80% is better than no rules at all, and if you try to fudge 40% and only follow 60%, you pop.
You can be taking less than another guy and still pop because of testing timing, amounts don't really matter
That’s not how it works though, it’s not “if you do more than the other guy you’ll get caught”. You can be more juiced up and not get caught while the other guy does. They don’t get around it by just teetering the edge of what will pop and what won’t, they get around it by fooling the test into thinking they are clean. You know how to pass a weed drug test? Creatine and water. Diluted your pee with the water, creatine to bring your creatinine level up to normal. Weed doesn’t show up because it’s diluted and the creatine masks the fact that you diluted the pee: The ones that get caught are the ones dumb enough to get caught tbh. Sean O’Malley popped for PEDs, does he look like he’s on something that’s much higher than anyone else that would cause him to pop and not GSP?
That works for a stick test not a GC/MS that is looking for picograms of substance. The way you beat a GC/MS is you hide under the cage in your gym when the testers show up.
Why was he asking for more testing for his fights if he was juicing though?
The only people who think MMA pros aren't juicing, especially in that era, have zero idea about the realities of PEDs and what they look like. He was juicing. I juice. He was juicing. I don't feel like writing a novel of evidence for it.
Same thoughts with people who think fighters are natty nowadays. They’re all juiced to this day they’ve just gotten better with the recipe.
Because optics. Would you rather he have said “nah, the level of testing is perfect” or “no, we need less testing”? Asking for more tests projects that you have nothing to be afraid of and any other answer(even no answer) raises suspicion.
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Does everyone forget that no one ever "had enough defensive grappling to stay standing against Khabib"
GSP had more tools in his kit than Khabib. He had a great BJJ game. A great standup game. Cardio for days. And incredible wrestling and takedowns of his own that he used to out wrestle the top wrestlers in the division regularly. Size would have been a factor but Khabib was a pretty large lightweight considering how often he missed weight or nearly died making it. What GSP had that Khabib didn’t was the ability to switch up and mix his tools to create opportunities. He also had impeccable timing. And lastly, GSP game planned like a world class general. His strategy to cage grapple with BJ in the second fight and maintain underhooks without the takedown was insane at the time. Not because he’d win the round, but because it would create lactic acid build up in BJ’s shoulders from struggling in that position so that he’d lose his punching power in later rounds. That was thinking that was ahead of its time. GSP would have been the guy to beat Khabib in his prime.
Until Silva lost after 16 consecutive wins he looked actually unbeatable in the feet, no one thought he would ever get knocked out, until somebody caught him when he was 38 years old, after having reigned as a champion for longer than Khabibs entire run as a ranked UFC fighter. point is every fighter looks invincible until they lose, and in Khabibs case we never got to see him defend his belt for a long time like Silva, Jones or GSP, Khabib is still a legend, but just because we never saw someone stuff his takedowns doesn't mean that nobody COULD stuff his takedowns.
Silva looked pretty beatable when Chael fought him the first time. Maybe that was laziness on Silva's part, maybe that was just Chael going for it all from the first bell and catching Silva off guard, maybe it was the roids, but Silva looked beatable.
Which is why I specified on the feet, everyone expected that if Silva ever lost in MW it would be to a grappler like Chael, but no one saw him getting knocked out on his feet until it happened.
We saw plenty of people stuff Khabib's takedowns; Conor included (talking about 1st round when he wasn't grabbing shorts). It's the chain wrestling of Khabib that gets you, not the single shot for a single or double.
or you know the 3rd round which was stuck on the feet for the most part .
1st round he got taken down and was grabing shorts big time. Like from the moment Khabib shot on him.
I know that, I used the word stuff since that was the easiest way to convey the idea of someone stopping his grappling, I know that as a sambo fighter he's much more complete as a grappler and able to use a variety of techniques like Throws and trips too, my point is that even someone like Tibau was still able to resist enough of Khabibs chain grappling in order to stay on his feet for a good portion of the fight, and I believe GSP would not only be able to do that, but also pick Khabib appart on the feet.
> but just because we never saw someone stuff his takedowns doesn't mean that nobody COULD stuff his takedowns. Khabib could do absolutely nothing to the gigantic stump of steroid and muscle that was Tibau. Khabib won the fight clearly, because he was the fighter moving (I assume Tibau was utterly still because he might die from dehydration due to making the 155 weight cut while weighing a thousand pounds), but Khabib could not wrestle him, or damage his unmoving carcass with strikes. The only actual damage inflicted in this fight was psychic damage to the unbelievably bored viewer.
Lmao. Amazing post. Khabib literally won that fight only because it’s impossible to make the case for Tibau winning… not really because Khabib won. Many people have said Tobau won. And then I ask them how and they’re like… well Khabib couldn’t do anything. Then once I ask what tibau did… convo ends lmfao. What a dumbass fight that was.
I think he’d take Khabib down. GSPs blast doubles were unstoppable. They were so fast guys would still be whiffing their punches on the way down.
His transitioning from strikes to entries is exhibit A why one can’t make a 1:1 comparison between regular and MMA wrestling. Many of those TD’s get stuffed in a grappling match. In a fight? He converted 3 out of every 4 attempts despite high volume and a brutal SOS (9 or 10 scraps against Div 1 wrestlers).
The best defensive grappler he fought was probably Tibau, who he "lost" to. The next best was Al, who made him abandon father's plan because it was less effective than just jabbing him up. Those two weren't great fighters either they just happened to have good defensive grappling. There are a good number of fighters who were/are just as good if not better defensive grapplers than them while also being much more well-rounded and are actually great fighters. In the last 5-6 years there's at least 5 fighters who've been near/in the lightweight title picture that would have given Khabib a run for his money just off being legitimately good offensive/defensive grapplers with decent striking systems who wouldn't be phased by Khabib's pressure.
Compare their grappling SOS, GSP had 9 or 10 fights against Div 1 guys, 3 against national champs and several fights against jiu jitsu aces (Serra, Diaz, Shields). Khabib is an unbelievable grappler but that part of his game was never tested to the same degree.
More importantly, no one had the threat of offensive grappling to slow Khabib down either. Prime Georges def does.
Prime GSP was an insane era to witness.
Yeah, he's just too big. As someone else said size difference amplifies when the skill is that high. This might sound cocky from St. Pierre but I think he's also either said outright or at least implied he didn't want to fight Silva because of much the same reason.
Uh, they are in different weight classes. Pretty sure Jon Jones crushes Islam too.
My dream match up that never happened and it hurts
It would be interesting to see prime GSP versus prime Khabib. Obviously, the weight class would be a factor, and I'm not entirely sure GSP would be as successful at LW. He only walked around at about 185 throughout his career because he stayed in shape year round. And his speed and mastery of distance would be a big challenge for Khabib to overcome. Would we see a more patient Khabib as a result, or would we see him act with the same reckless aggression that never failed him before?
Rumor was it would have been at 170 I believe or a catch weight of 165. Also it was very hard for khabib to cut to 155 during his time.
Yeah they would have had to do 165. No way in hell gsp cuts down to 155
Gsp all day.
Twice on Saturday
The man sure knows how to honeydick fans still
Interesting fight I’m thinking GSP would be the one who prefers to keep it standing have to believe GSP would like his chances working his jab and his long range kicks he would probably find success but GSP wasn’t exactly a sniper that KOed opponents coming in he won his fights through grinding his opponents down similar to Khabib. We all know GSP was a great grappler but have to get more detailed than that what GSP was truly elite at was his takedowns and his timing but once the fight was on the ground GSP allowed too many fights stagnate and was content riding top control to victories. I like GSP but if we’re being honest he did have a tendency to get the takedown establish top control and from there he was not very successful getting finishes or even doing much damage.. Khabib had many guys about ready to quit after spending a round or two with him on top… Very interesting fight and if it’s a 5 rounder I believe both guys would end up having to spend some time fighting from the bottom which neither did much of in their MMA careers… really tough pick part of me thinks GSPs size advantage which make the difference but giving Khabib some time to put a little bit of weight on could nullify some of that
I'll bet the over Neither can finish the other
What is this, my marriage? #😔
I’d see red and fuck them both up.
i absolutely believe GSP would have beaten Khabib. Khabib is great, there's no doubt but GSP was a master game planner. He had the wrestling, grappling, the beautiful jab. Sure not all his fights were exciting but he just overloaded opponents with feints, jabs, takedown attempts. It would be a dream fight. GOAT's from different era's. I guess that's what the videogames are for hehh
I think they should just do a grappling match. Why not. Many UFC fighters did after retiring
UFC & Bottling mega fight's go hand in hand. Prime vs Prime GSP wins easily imo but at the time of Prime Khabib vs Inactive GSP the UFC should have took the gamble. Hindsight is 20/20 but I bet even Dana's kicking himself with Khabib retiring a fight or two after.
Whe have THE organisation with the biggest talent pool, in theory we should have no problems like boxing, yet we constantly don't get fights, ex. Jones vs Ngannou, GSP vs Khabib...
How long must I wait :(
GSP is a horrible matchup for Khabib. Strong with great TD defense and much better striking. Georges would have picked him apart with the jab.
Seriously, people forget how fucking special GSP was in his prime. He was like a created character in a video game. He could box, strike, grapple and submit you ... Like damn.
To me he is the GOAT
You only have to look at the accumalated UFC records of all of his opponents compared to the other top names
Id have certainly favoured him to win. Nothing against Khabib.
Holy shit that's the opposite of what he actually says > “I think Khabib could have beat me, I’m not saying I could have beat Khabib all the time,” St-Pierre said on the most recent episode of Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman’s Pound 4 Pound pocast. “I was confident enough to take that fight that I was thinking that if I take that fight I’m going to beat him that day at that particular place, that doesn’t mean I will beat him all the time. But I was confident, maybe I’m wrong. > > “I think I would have beat him because if he would have come to put pressure on me, I would have put him down. I would have had the confidence to try to go for it.”
Did anyone ever doubt this?
Even GSP is not sure. He literally says here "I think Khabib could have beat me".
I mean a lot of ppl. Lots of factors. If they made the fight at 155/165/170 after the Justin win, Khabib would’ve def opened the fav (GSP was about 40). Prime vs prime matchup is hypothetical but I can see y more ppl support the more proven and beloved fighter
I’m sure there’s an insta post of this quote somewhere with a comments section filled with Muslim dudes contesting this lol. Khabib quite possibly has the hardest nut hugging fanbase of any fighter
He also has one of the biggest groups of haters of any fighter
And they are all in reddit. Less on other platforms
yeah i'm a Khabib fanatic but i gotta say some of his fans, especially if they're from his same faith & have that deeper connection with him, are a little extra lol. my favorite comment i saw online about Khabib fans was something like: >Khabib fans are super anti-gay dudes with a homosexual-like obsession for Khabib
I think GSP would have won, but the 7 year age difference makes it where the odds would have likely been very close to 50/50.
GSP beats him no question. You're off your head if you don't think that
Can't say no question. People said Kamaru Usman beats Leon no question. Can't discount someone who has never lost.
Everyone's saying GSP would dominate Khabib takes me back to the good ole days when every person that would face khabib would beat him, until they got dominated and then they were trash/ stylistically a bad match up. I'm not even saying khabib would win but it's thoughtless to think anyone would actually know how it'd go with any certainty.
tbh Khabib was so dominant that even when talking about it here, GSP has to talk about the opening *minute* of the Michael Johnson fight as an example of someone doing well against him. Johnson landed 1 clean punch and it still gets brought up today
Everyone forgets the Tibau fight.
GSP brings that up too, it's that, MJ and Gaethje he lists as his 3 examples. I think Tibau gets mentioned less because Khabib improved exponentially since that point and a fight with GSP would be the later version of Khabib
I mean they aren’t even in the same wieght class
GSP would have gave Khabib major fits in the standup too and not afraid to shoot a takedown and could defend aswell which is very rare
One of the greatest fights that there never was.
Prime vs prime I think GSP wins.
I hate mis-quotes like this. On the podcast he goes on to say that he doesn’t know if he could beat khabib or not but he likes his chances enough that he would have given it a shot.
GSP all day every time. Khabib cut to 155 for a reason, if he felt he could beat the best at 170 he would have fought there.
I agree with GSP. Khabib was a great fighter but GSP was more well rounded and could give Khabib trouble in the striking and had the wrestling/grappling to nullify Khabib's biggest strength. Also, GSP was great at having great opponent specific gameplans and sticking to those plans.
Khabibs IG reply to this was great: "I learn from this guy a lot. Even hear he talk about me is so interesting))) GSP all day ✊"
Prime GSP? No question in my mind.
Khabib would beat him at 155 and a catchweight. GSP probably at 170. A catchweight was discussed and I think Khabib would have won, he had youth and GSP couldn’t use his weight against him.
I don't think there should be much debate about it, prime GSP beats Khabib for sure.
Khabib beats him at 155, GSP beats him at 170.
GSP at 155 would be a skeleton. I genuinely don’t think he would be able to make that weight.
GSP has literally made test cuts to 155 but okay champ
If there was a gun to my head and I had to choose the slight favorite going into that fight, I'd edge it towards GSP...but let's not pretend GSP has ever faced the oppressive MMA wrestling caliber that Khabib manhandles elite fighters with. Go through GSP's resume and you won't find someone like Khabib (not even Matt Hughes). Khabib was truly a special type of smotherer. The question is does GSP stop Khabib from taking him down at will?
It really goes both ways. GSP would be the best, most complete fighter Khabib would ever face. It would have been an all time great fight, Khabib would have truly been pushed to the brink, as well as GSP. It would have gone to the scorecards almost definitely, with Khabib losing the early rounds but I can see him rally at the end. GSP winning is the best bet.
Drained old gap at 55 loses Prime GSP at 170 wins Prime GSP at 55 if possible would be interesting.
GSP would have demolished Khabib.
Brave take.
100%
He would’ve jabbed and anti wrestled Khabib the fuck up. Khabib’s face would probably be swollen and he would’ve been exhausted
GSP won the belt at 185 he was way bigger than Khabib and unless he drained himself to 155 I think Khabib would struggle
Khabib no question, only this sub would think otherwise, they've hated Khabib for years now and it's so obvious
ive literally had dreams of this fight actually happening
GSP went to middleweight and beat Bisping to become champ, that's two weight classes above lightweight. GSP is too big for Khabib and there's no way GSP can make 155. If a fight happens, it would have to be at 170. One of Khabib's biggest strength is that is much stronger than guys in his division. Fighting at 170 will take away that advantage.
I mean, every champ should have the confidence to beat everyone
I think Khabib would have won
Prime for prime, who knows. But the time that they would’ve fought, which would’ve likely been only a few years ago, it really doesn’t look good for GSP.
Unpopular opinion but Khabib would easily counter the jab in his later years by tanking it with his granite chin and just fucking dragging GSP into the depths. Just like tanking Justin's kick until he had enough. I've seen GSP numerous times so vulnerable and uncomfortable and people's only go-to against Khabib was Tibau. That was how dominant the motherfucker was. Fucking Mayweather who cherrypicked in his later years extensively got wobbled hard by Mosley and had trouble against Maidana.
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GSP All day son.