Huge Difference between GSP and Fitch

[DarkEssence]

I know this has been posted many times before already, but I'm sick of seeing uneducated fans saying that Fitch does the same thing that GSP does. In order to show why that is not true, I will be using last night for an example, just as many of these "fans" have been.

Fitch vs Saunders:
All three rounds consisted of Fitch taking him down, and looking for GnP. He didn't change positions too much, tried to posture up, looked for no submissions, and did some GnP. Most of the fight however even though he was on top of Saunders, he didn't look to finish...as much as some of you will try to argue, Fitch was not trying to finish that fight whatsoever. He's a great wrestler, and fighter but as off lately he's been playing it safe too much.

GSP vs Hardy:
First I would like to say Hardy did better against GSP than Saunders did against Fitch. At the least Hardy would try to throw strikes from the bottom, get out of submissions, try to get better positions on the ground, and change the flow of control. GSP completely dominated him in every aspect. He took him down with far more impressive takedowns than Fitch did to Saunders, he constantly looked for a better position. The entire fight he was looking to improve from full guard to half guard, to side control, to mounts. He looked for numerous submission attempts. Although he only had two great attempts, a good analysist will tell you he looked for at least 6 attempts at submissions. He had more GnP on Hardy, but at least Hardy fought back. On the feet there wasn't too much going on, but when he did strike he landed a few good punches, and a couple good kicks. Especially when he punched Hardy with a three combo, and Hardy stood there smiling with his hands down. That armbar looked sick as hell, when he twisted it to the right and it looked like his elbow would snap. Hardy was screaming in pain, but kudos to him for not tapping and being able to get out of it. The kimura looked painful as well, and when he cranked it you could just see Hardy wince and scream. I really thought at a point that Hardy stopped feeling pain, because he went from a screaming agonizing look on his face to a calm demeanor.

All in all I was very impressed with GSP, even though I was expecting him to finish Hardy like the rest of you. I was also impressed with Hardy for not giving up and tapping, and for trying to work in bad positions.

I was not impressed with Fitch because he should have been able to finish Saunders no problem. Suanders did not give him a fight. He didn't throw anything from the bottom, he didn't try to reverse the position. He just lay there and took what little Fitch had to give him.

In my opinion even though Fitch is a top contender and has the most chance(what little there is anyways compared to others) in beating GSP, I would rather see the winner of Koschek vs Daley fight for the belt. At least then we would see an exciting and possibly new match up, rather than seeing GSP dominate Fitch in wrestling and striking again. GSP is ever improving, as we see every time he fights...while Fitch is getting more careful. He's not improving, he's as good as he's ever been...He's just starting to play it more safe. It won't win him a fan base, much less a title.


Just my two cents. Feedback always appreciated.

[ZuluTango]

Well said. I couldn't agree more.

[Par]

Yeah i agree, GSP had A LOT of attempts to finish, But i was still dissapointed, I mean the last 10 fights 5 decisions 1 loss 1 BJ quitting 1 sub 2 tko-

He is my fave fighter by far, but he knew himself that the fight was not all "great" even whent as far as to apologize.
I cant blame him, because the W and that belt around your waist is the only thing that matters in the end, but also like he said, he wants fights that people who know nothing about MMa can say wow and come back, I consider him the M.Jordan of mma (with all respect to Fedor) And just want to see those legacy fights as he put it.

[Vegas]

Great analysis, you totally nailed it in my opinion. That is the main difference between Fitch and GSP--GSP really attempts to finish fights where Fitch just lays on the guy for 3 rounds. Personally, I can't stand Fitch and think he's boring as hell--and I sure don't want to see Fitch vs GSP 2. The winner of Kos/Daley should get the next title shot and either one of those two would give GSP a better fight than Fitch.

[kool_dover]

completely agree ts. well said