The Las Vegas Sun has a great short clip featuring Randy Couture where he shares part of the recent conversation he had with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre regarding his rumored move to Olympic Wrestling.
Payout Perspective:
In recent days the GSP-wrestling talk has really been heating up in Canada. The feeling is that GSP would be a welcome addition to the Canadian team and the sport, but he’d have to put in years of training to prepare himself for competition on the world’s greatest athletic stage, the Olympics.
There’s probably a part of every MMA fan that wants to see GSP try it – most everyone thinks he’s capable of winning a medal given the proper training time (in either 2012 or 2016) – but he’s such a popular and valuable figure within the sport that his absence would adversely impact the UFC and MMA.
Whether it’s 2 years now or 3-4 years in preparation for 2016 in Rio – it’s a serious commitment and almost what you’d have to consider a career change. Thankfully, for MMA, it would seem as though GSP isn’t prepared to make one yet.
GSP would be an idiot to try wrestling. There is more to pure wrestling than what he does in MMA. You cant control distance with strikes. I have always said GSP is the best striker of all the wrestler. This allows him to be the better wrestler too. There are little things in wrestling that are not used in MMA. He will also be going against guys who are as big and strong as he is and some are going to be faster. He knows he cant do it or he would have done so already. I believe he has said publicly he isnt good enough which means he has been humbled by someone at some point.
I would like to see him tryout as is for the team and see how it works out. But not let it effect his MMA.
But GSP is doing what many fighters have done or tried to do and its look to self destruct. At least thats how i look at it. Some are not content with success. A champ, even the most dominant champ, will only last a few years. Even if it seems they will never lose. Everyone loses. You dont need to go looking for a loss. It will come. Rich Franklin was the only one smart enough to realize it. Everyone tried to get him to go to 205 while he was champ because he “cleaned out” the division. He said in time he will have all the comp he needs. This has always been the case. So he collected paychecks and b uilt a resume until Silva come along. Now you have Silva jumping to every other weight class and wanting to Box. Hughes was looking to move to 185 back in the day. Same with Penn. These guys need to stay at their weight class and dominate as long as possible. Build a legacy and your brand for when your career is over. One day be it age, styles, or mma evolution your days as the best or over and there is nothing you can do. Enjoy being the best.
Rediculous post above
An idiot because he wants to challenge himself on the biggest stage in the world? In one of the hardest events…
Also, Silva Hughes and Penn all have legacies as the best in the world in there division in there time…with Penn and Silva still working.
They wouldn’t be elite atheletes if they did not constantly look to challenge themselves.
Yes he would be an idiot. He spent his entire life doing MA’s with TKD/Karate and then BJJ. Clearly that is his passion. To dump it for something he didnt even start until the last few years just because he may be good at it. Add to that the money, fame and the sport would all take a hit. I would say thats not to smart.
Penn has a legacy now. But before he went back to 155 he didnt. He was champ at 155 but was never dominant long enough to be like Hughes was at 170 or GSP is now at 170. But now that he went back he has built that with solid fights at 155. Hughes never left 170. He stayed even after people said he had noone to fight. All the while building his legacy to the point i dont think GSP has surpased him as the most dominant 170 of all time. GSP will in a few years if he dont mess up. Silva recently with his poor 185 fights and 205 fights has blurred his legacy as a 185 fighter. Nothing he cant fix in a fight or two.
But guys who have ruined their legacy in the name of “challenge” are people like Dan Henderson. A top fighter for sure. But most of his best performances are at 205. If you judge him just off 185 fights he isnt top 5 maybe even top 10 all time. In his prime he never fought the best 185 Pride has because he was at 205. No fail of his own it was Prides. But he accepted because it was a challenge. He will never be seen as the fighter he really is/was because so many loses at 205 and HW. Take away those fights and hendo may be looked at like the best like a 185 Fedor.
Sakuraba is another who will never be a top 5 185 of all time because he seldom fought there and has been killed to many times.
>But guys who have ruined their legacy in the name of “challenge” are people like >Dan Henderson.
Maybe you should stop smashing your brains you Dona White asslicker.
> Yes he would be an idiot.
Coming from the mouth of a world specialist in the field folks.
How about refute what i say with an argument rather than acting like a child. Hendo never fought Saku in Pride. Never fought any of there top 185 guys. Lost to Misaki. Lost at 205 and HW to Arona, Silva, Nog, and others. Scraped by Franklin in the UFC which i felt he lost. Got beat by Silva and ducked Nate Marquardt. At 185 he and Saku have no legacy but skill wise they should be the top 3 best ever. But their body of work in that weight is not what it should be.
Almost forgot about Marilo Bustamante. He is another who hurt his career by fighting out of weight class and contract dispute. He was one of the best 185’s ever and he sit out for over a year then comeback and lost to LHWs then had very little time left to make an impact at 185 again. Its sad because i passed Rory Singer outside of UFC 88 being mobbed by fans then i look beside me and its Marilo standing there not 2 feet away in a croud of people crossing the street and noone knows who he is. Not one person.
You guys can say there is nothing wrong with challenging yourself but i feel its best to be the best you can be at what you choose to do. Dont waste your time on side projects like other weight class’ and making the olympics or Getting your red belt(Ricardo Almeida) or Acting, etc.
Sakuraba’s problem wasn’t because he stayed away from fighting 185 pounders, because weight divisions were unimportant in Japan until 2005. It’s that PRIDE’s talent pool grew significantly in 2001 when his career fell off. And Sakuraba, like a lot of fighters from his era, didn’t adapt to the new breed of fighter who was more well-rounded than the 90s MMA fighter. Because Sakuraba fought as many “technically Light Heavyweights” in ’98-’00 as he did in ’01-’05.
PW
I agree and that can be said for most all all of Prides fighters. Prides fighters have always been behind the rest of the world but they were locked in Pride with very few new fighters coming in. But the fact remains that a Saku that only focused on fighting at 185 his entire career would have a legacy few could match.