I say non-heavyweight because obviously the strength difference between Brock Lesnar and most other heavyweights is going to be massive, not least because Brock has so much more bulk and size than them. So, outside of the heavyweight division, has any fighter been stronger in their favoured division than GSP is at welter? GSP looked like the stronger man vs decorated wrestlers Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg and Josh Koscheck, and huge guys like Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch weren't able to outmuscle him either. He completely manhandled BJ Penn and Matt Serra. Thoughts? Dan Henderson looked really strong at middleweight in the UFC, thinking back to the 1st round vs Anderson Silva.
I agree. He has an unreal blend of strength and athleticism. There maybe someone with more pure strength in bench press but in practical application his strength is unreal. Coupled with his speed, explosiveness, co-ordination etc then you are up in the air and on your back.
GSP is a beast, but I think Alves is stronger than Pierre. That fight showed how much of a technical skill gap there is between those two. Pierre was just taking him down at will, but Alves was able to keep muscling his way back up.
That's true actually, good point. Though would Alves have done any better at keeping GSP down if he had scored a takedown?
I really don't know the answer to that. Strength aside, I don't know how good GSP is off his back. I know he is a BJJ black belt. I don't think Pierre looked comfortable on his back during the Alves fight, but he had a torn groin muscle. That is a valid excuse. What I was getting at in that fight is that on the occasion that it looked like strength vs strength, rather than skill vs skill, I believe Alves won. I won't be picking Alves over GSP any time soon in a fight, but I'll take him to do slightly better in a world's strongest man contest.
Hard to imagine although id say 2002-2005 Hughes is close he has that farmer boy strength the man just recovered from being kicked in the balls and nearly choked out by Trigg before lifting him off the ground easily, running across the octagon and slamming him down like a ragdoll.
Yeah, even though Alves was getting bitched, his natural strength is unreal. However, his weight is insane. He cuts from 200 pounds of muscle and probably dies to make weight.
I've never really thought of GSP as a "pure strength" guy. More of a "leverage, position, technique explosiveness" guy. People like Hughes and old Coleman come to mind when I think "monster strong". And I seem to remember GSP being on his back with Alves on top (when he tore his groin) and GSP getting back up relatively easily.
