There’s a huge different between Machida and ex and current UFC champs like St. Pierre, Liddell, Rampage, Penn, Sherk, and Silva. They all have an explosive personality in the cage; something that Machida currently lacks.

You just plain could have skipped the HW division or rather just discussed the Affliction HW division. Really the UFC only has 3 HW fighters. Nog, Mir and Kongo. I don’t count Vera because I see him as a LHW, but ok, you can count him in. With Randy in limbo, Fedor, Aleks, Timmy (maybe AA) over at Affliction, that makes their division far and away the best. Throw in Rothwell whom I’ve never seen fight since I don’t get IFL in my part of the world and you’ve got the dream HW division that UFC really should have. But you were talking about UFC so….

Oh yeah, Hunt and Kharitonov too. Hope they make it to the next Affliction card.

Actually I think Mir’s stand up is so poor that I can’t imagine him hitting Nog. Nog on the other hand has great stand up so he could end the fight that way. It is interesting that the place Mir wants to take the fight to is the place where he’s finally fighting somebody better than he is.

You comment on BJ having underrated striking skills. I don’t at all think they’re underrated. They are extremely well known and well documented. Highlight reel KO over Caol Uno, out striking GSP and Hughes (not that out striking Hughes is much to talk about), he stood toe to toe with Machida. His boxing is fantastic, really fast, really accurate and his punches are really hard. I think he probably has the best boxing skills in the LW division so I’m certain nobody underrates them.

I won’t beat you up on the mental side of GSP but I agree with the other posters. GSP has never shown a mental weakness. He did succumb to an armbar from Hughes when he was young but did that shake him for the next and the next meetings with Hughes? He completely devastated Hughes in both. His comeback against (a gassed) BJ showed incredible heart. He got caught by Serra and what did he do as an encore. Dominated Kos, destroyed Hughes and destroyed Serra. Hmmm, very weak minded indeed.

Suggesting that until he comes back from a near sub or recovering from brutal hit he’s not mentally stable is silly. You can’t penalize him for not getting in those positions often, the guy is so good he destroys everybody in his path.

Ooops, I said I wouldn’t beat you up about GSP but hey, you got me started.

Just one comment on the LHW division that hasn’t been mentioned. Guys like Machida and even Thiago Silva are also very real threats to the division. Ok, more than one comment. It will be really interesting to see how Jardine does against Wand. This could really be a coming out party for Jardine, he beat Forrest but was generally losing the fight before knocking him out, he definitely got caught by Houston and did out point Liddle so he’s a bit on the fence right now as to has he really reached the upper echelons or not. Perhaps his time with Greg Jackson’s camp will help him reach it. Also, he is one big big dude. I watched a vid of him training, that guy looks seriously strong. I really think Wand isn’t going to win this one. No ropes to hold on to, no stomps, no knees on the ground, no ropes to bounce off. This has a Jardine win written all over it.

If Wanderlei does beat Keith, it will be in the clinch. Wanderlei’s open distance striking is very good, but Keith is, as you mentioned, going to use those leg kicks and that’s going to make it hard for Wanderlei to use his best attack possible.

I agree with you that Jardine will win this fight, because I’m not convinced that Wanderlei has gotten over his issues with the cage, or that his fighting style will ever allow him to do that. I talked about that in my other piece.

Still, Wanderlei is a great fighter, he’s just not suited for the cage.

You are correct, they are far different in striking styles. Do you feel that Wand will be able to pin him in a bad position in the cage and take advantage? I tend to think that Jardine will be able to use the leg kicks to keep his distance and be able to work Wand…If not he will be crushed and we can all laugh at my prediction…haha (I tend to over hype the underdog)

I will be looking for your article.

As far as Jardine vs. Rampage being similar to Jardine vs. Liddell, I think you’re overlooking how incredibly different those two strikings styles are.

Liddell is a counterpuncher and so Jardine had the opportunity to work combos and leg kicks. Rampage will push the action much more and I think that will make for a much harder fight for Jardine.

Why does GSP need to show his mental toughness?

He hasn’t buckled since the Hughes fight, if you acknowledge that Serra’s win came from a legitimate technical strategy, as I do. Even so, he’s kicked the crap out of the only two guys he’s lost too. I think we’re past his mental issues. If they come up again, then we’ll see. Still, I think there are technical ways to beat him.

You’ve given me a great idea, so my next piece is going to get written soon.

As for guys like chuck, whatever. People’s emotions get out of control when they talk about MMA, like any other sport. I’ve learned to ignore it, pick them apart and move on.

I see conversations like fights. If your opponent is calm and technical, that’s great, you’ll have a great fight. If he’s not, you pick him apart cooly, slowly and viciously, until there’s nothing left.

Anyway, he apologized. I’m over it.

GSP still needs to show that he is mentally tough before I come around. I am a huge Hughes fan, that may have something to do with it…haha

As for Jackson, I think the fight could be similar to the Jardine and Liddell fight. If so, then I think it would benefit Jardine more than Rampage. I am not completely sold on the UFC Wand. I loved him in Pride but he still has to show it in the cage. I almost put money down on Jardine this weekend…

Seriously Nog SHOULD be the beneficiary of a weak division and hold the title for awhile. I thought about Kongo, but the way he was embarrassed in his last fight it changed my mind.

Josh thanks again for the reply! I like comments like these. Maybe Chris will pay attention and understand how to respectfully criticize. Josh me and you def have different views on many MMA topics, but those are the things that makes this fun.

Obviously, people have commented on the mental capacity of Georges St. Pierre, acting as though his second loss to Serra was a mental failure. After watching that fight about twenty billion times (yes, I’m exagerrating, but not by a whole helluva lot), that fight had nothing to do with the mental warfare and everything to do with the fact that Serra showed up with a gameplan that involved counterpunching and cutting inside on St. Pierre’s striking.

Oh, and as for St. Pierre’s admittedly mental loss to Matt Hughes, it’s clear that he’s a little more mature than that now. So please, get over it. There are other weaknesses in his game, I promise. I’ll explore those another time.

As far as Anderson’s grappling being a weakness, I think that you’re just flat wrong about that. Yes, Lutter mounted him, but Anderson’s defense from that position was great. He saved face and in the next round he submitted Lutter. If he had actually been outgrappled by Lutter, then I’d be more inclined to agree with you, but the fact that he smashed Lutter on the ground in the second just shows that all of this ridiculous concern over his wrestling is flat wrong.

I originally suspected that someone would beat Anderson off of his back, but I knew Nate Marquardt wasn’t going to be the guy to do it. Honestly, I think that Nate’s back game is okay, but it’s not out of this world.

Anderson, like GSP, has weaknesses and there are alot of guys feverishly clinging to both of their sacks right now, but they do most definitely have weaknesses.

I think you’re insane to believe that we will see Rampage go to a fourth or fifth against Jardine. Maybe against Wanderlei, but that’s doubtful too since Wanderlei hasn’t really gotten the feel for the cage yet. Page is aggressive and without someone like Henderson holding him down (which neither Jardine or Wanderlei can do) Rampage will get a KO.

As for Nog, I agree that Mir has the best shot at beating Nog if he lands a big punch. The other guy in this division that I think isn’t considered a contender, but can beat Nog if he develops substantial wrestling, is Cheick Kongo. It has nothing to do with whether Cheick can hang on the ground, because he can’t, and we all know that. If he can keep the fight standing, he hits hard and quick and could very well put Nog out or win a decision.

Still, I think Nog gets a substantial benefit of the doubt when he fights and the refs don’t protect him as early, so as far as getting a bad stoppage on Nog, I don’t think that will happen. If we do see Nog get stopped, it’ll be legit, because the ref definitely doesn’t want to be the guy that f*cks Nog’s stoppageless streak unless he really has to.

GSP has only lost twice. Once by arm bar and the other by TKO. He is a devastating fighter that truly doesn’t have many flaws. It is unfortunate but the media and many fans/ haters search deep for flaws that may or may not be there.

GSP is held to a high standard but he is a champion in the best MMA organization. He is a professional athlete and gets paid well. The high expectations and scrutiny are just small things that go along with the territory. Some people deal with it very well (Brett Favre, Liddell), others don’t (Mike Tyson, Terrell Owens, Randy Johnson)