None of those fighters were Anderson Silva.
Could GSP get a takedown? Sure.
Can Anderson stuff his takedowns? Sure
Will he be able to every round . Not likely
Can he hold Anderson? Not likely.
Can Anderson submit him? Sure
Can Anderson KO? definetly
Can GSP KO Anderson. no
Then there's the mental aspect. How will GSP react the first time he takes a kick to his injured leg. Last time he got in trouble during a fight he tapped to strikes. If GSP can get TKO'd by a blown up flyweight, Imagine what happens when Anderson touches his chin. Anderson will have no fear of GSP striking which means he can focus on TDD. You can always train for takedowns, you can't train your chin though. Gsp has 2(1) finishes in his last ten fights, Anderson has 8(7) finishes in his last 10, Including wrestlers like Sonnen x2, Hendo, and Marquart. In 2010 Silva's manager offered a fight with GSP at 170lb and then a catchweight of 178lb. Don't think GSP ever responded.
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**broken link removed**,
I'd show some GSP hilights, but they're like Ambien and it's kind of late.
You're right: none of those fighters "WERE" Anderson, and that's the point. Anderson is not even on the same fucking planet wrestling/takedown defense-wise as Hughes, Kos, Fitch, Sherk, Penn and Shields. So you tell me to "imagine what it would be like striking against Anderson," and my obviously fair rebuttal to you would be: "imagine what it would be like with GSP's insane and lighting fast takedowns, dry humping Anderson all night."
And actually no, the last time he was in "trouble," or fighting with adversity was in the Jake Shields fight, where Shields fucking destroyed GSP's eye with his gouge. GSP couldn't see out of that eye at all, but continued to push forward, trying his best to finish Shields. Just saying.
It's all a toss up obviously. None of us know what's going to happen if these two ever meet, but we can share our respective opinions. Regardless of ANYTHING that is said here, I continue to stand FIRMLY behind my assessment, that GSP can/will land takedowns on Anderson. Can he hold him down? Who knows? Can he handle Anderson's striking offense? Who knows?
BUT,
I "DO" know this: I think people have REALLY forgotten JUST HOW FUCKING GOOD/EFFECTIVE GSP actually is. Call him boring, safe, blah, blah, blah, the dude is a freak athletically, patient and conservative aggression, smart, fast, shit tons of work ethic, ALWAYS wanting and GETTING better. I think people have forgotten a lot of this, and GSP needs to "refresh" the collective memories.
I will also say this though, Anderson is the BEST fighter on the planet right now, and as my buddy Travis says: "He's the fucking Devil." haha, so this fight would definitely be EPIC as shit. And if Anderson won/wins, a follow-up fight with Jon Jones would be fucking insane, and if Anderson won THAT fight, it would obviously secure his place as the MMA greatest fighter ever.
-b.