Cormier on Josh Barnetts Generation

He isn't a KO puncher no, by heavy shot I mean a heavy wrestling shot and he's able to lever people down.

 

But he was taking down people whenever he wanted to, now he's facing guys with less grappling credentials

The midget was good enough to out grapple Nick Diaz, the only two guys at WW who beat him in that aspect were Hughes and GSP, 1 & 2 in the ATG terms. Karo is a WORLD CLASS Judoka trained by Gene Lebell and was only take down consistently by GSP, and Georges dominated Trigg more than Hughes could ever dream

Taking down Hardy and clinching with Alves isnt as much of a grappling achievement imo. No doubt GSP has improved as Ive already said. he didnt take Fitch, Kos, or Shields down when ever he wanted to, he chose to keep it standing. Your argument is arse backward unfortunately

 

Alves look really hard to take down coming into UFC 100, I think people forget that. GSP manhandled the poor ****er.

He didn't try and take Fitch, Kos or Shields down, that's where the evolution of his wrestling allowed him to easily keep it standing and employ the biggest disparity in skill.

I am not saying he wasn't a decent all rounder, that has never been my argument, my point is that wrestling was weaker than his stand up and he retrained that as a defective area of his game and made it his focus to the point where it is now the strongest area of his game.

Doesn't matter whether he chooses to take people down or not. There is not a person at 170 who can make GSP fight on his terms, because GSP dictates where the fight goes at all times.

 

Fair enough fella, I get you point and I do agree. Id just add the caveat that George only became a good wrestler after he got arm barred isnt exactly true. Maybe the point is that his control of a fight has gotten better

 

I would say it inspired him to become an excellent wrestler and to make that the focus of his training so much that he was able to dictate where fights went.

 

Yeah, he went from very good to the best in the business, speaks alot for his character

 

His wrestling is better than their wrestling, but they all have good wrestling. GSP is also excellent on his feet, those three are not, ergo GSP uses his superior wrestling to avoid being taken down and keep the fight where he has the bigger advantage.

 

cormier is a nobody. barnetts going to slay him if someone hasnt already lined his pockets for a flop job

 

Now it's been a while since I have seen that fight, but I don't recall this happening.

 

it was stand up for the most part but the only time I recall Nick troubling Sean was with a guillotine. Sherk worked well in the clinch and scored a few TD iirc. But it was a close fight