GSP: The toughest fight of my life

source: facebook.com

The toughest fight of my career was against Thomas Denny. I was really sick that day and just getting into the ring was a challenge. I even asked my corner to throw in the towel and my cornerman said: I don’t have a towel so you have to fight. That made me so angry I came back to win!

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Georges St-Pierre vs Thomas Denny
UCC 12 Adrenaline
January 25, 2003
Montreal, Quebec
Canada

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tags-: BJ Penn (detail) Thomas Denny video

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7/22/11 3:36 PM by Ansari

It annoys me that I can't stop getting sucked into these conversations... And that's why your math is all wrong. The difference in pounds shouldn't be a factor, percentages should be. Using your method, Brock Lesnar losing 20lbs is equal to Urijah Faber losing 20lbs. It's not. My understanding of dieting vs. cutting so you know where I'm coming from: A fighter goes into training camp at his walk around weight. He spends his training camp watching his diet better than usual and training harder than usual to get in his best possible shape, naturally losing weight in the process. This is what I'd call dieting down. In the last few days or so leading up to their fight, they limit their intake and sweat out what they can to make their division's weight limit. This is what I'd call weight cutting. BJ was 168 mid-camp (diet stage) and clearly implied he had already lost a lot of weight up to that point (being surprised at how fast the weight was falling off). That said, I believe BJ's walk around weight to be easily over 170. To fight at WW, he doesn't cut, but he does diet down. For the sake of this comparison, I'm going to take the halfway point of your estimate and say GSP is 192.5lbs and that BJ Penn is 170lbs, though I believe GSP to be +/- 5lbs to that on any given day, and BJ to be greater than 170, even as high as 175. For GSP to make WW, he needs to lose 22.5lbs or 11.7% of his body weight. If BJ were to lose 11.7% of his body weight, he would be 150lbs, still a LW. For BJ to make 155, he needs to lose 8.8% of his body weight. For him to make FW, he'd have to lose 14.7% of his body weight. Understanding that cutting weight gets exponentially harder with every pound you cut, that extra 5.9% is pretty significant, even going from 150 to 145 (3%) would be a significant difference, equal to GSP going from 170 to 164lbs. Not happening. Bottom line: BJ only cuts slightly less (2.9%) to make LW than GSP does to make WW, and would have to cut significantly more (5.9%) than GSP to make FW.

7/22/11 3:05 PM by armbarseverywhere

Diaz is gonna make gsp quit.Both are in my top 5. So stop the hate.

7/22/11 12:16 PM by PosterboyOwnsMe4

lol

7/22/11 12:11 PM by lionsoul

This. +1. In fact, BJ could be easily fighting at 145. Joe Rogan has discussed this many times as well. Instead he challenges himself like no other. Here is a comparison: GSPs PATH (At Light Heavyweight) GSP weighs 190-195. GSP fights at 205. GSPs weight change: 10+ pound gain GSPs PATH (At Middleweight) GSP weighs 190-195. GSP fights at 185. GSPs weight change: 5-10 pound reduction GSPs NORMAL PATH (At Welterweight - WHAT HE NORMALLY DOES) GSP weighs 190-195. GSP fights at 170. GSPs weight change: 20-25 pound reduction Here is BJ Path (WHAT HE HAS ALREADY DONE) BJs PATH (At Light Heavyweight - Technically Machida was a Heavyweight) BJ weighs 160-165. BJ fights at 205 (BJ actually weighed in much lower - but looked like Fat Albert) BJs weight change: 40-50+ pound gain (if he were to meet Machida's weight) BJs PATH (At Middleweight - BJ fought and BEAT Renzo Gracie, Rodrigo Gracie, etc.) BJ weighs 160-165. BJ fights at 185. BJs weight change: 20-25+ pound gain BJs NORMAL PATH (At Welterweight - WHAT HE NORMALLY DOES - BECAME CHAMPION) BJ weighs 160-165. BJ fights at 170 (the reality is that he usually isn't able to gain the weight to even fight at 170... typically weighs in less). BJs weight change: 5-10 pound weight GAIN BJs NORMAL PATH (At Lightweight - WHAT HE NORMALLY DOES - BECAME CHAMPION) BJ weighs 160-165. BJ fights at 155 BJs weight change: 5-10 pound reduction BJs POTENTIAL PATH (IF HE WERE TO EMULATE GSP - at 145) BJ weighs 160-165. BJ fights at 145 BJs weight change: 15-20 pound reduction What this attempts to demonstrate is how incredibly unique BJ is in this regard. If BJ wanted to do what GSP ALREADY DOES, he would be fighting at 145 and cutting 15-20 pounds in the process (note that GSP cuts 20-25 pounds). The point here is that BJ has become champion at Lightweight (one weightclass higher than he could be fighting) and at Welterweight (2 full weightclasses higher than he could be fighting). In order for GSP to accomplish what BJ has ALREADY DONE, he would have to become the Champion at Middleweight and Light Heavyweight. If he did that, he would just be matching what BJ has ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED. BJ fighting at Welterweight IS the equivalent of GSP fighting at Light Heavyweight. Just look at the weight differentials.

7/22/11 9:03 AM by jjj2121

BJ is not a natural WW, he shows up weighing in the 160s for fights meaning he's not cutting any weight at all.

7/22/11 6:55 AM by Entreri

BJ has nearly as many fights at WW as in LW, thus he is a natural in either weight class. BJ is no midget, at 5'9" at WW, unless he fights at MW. I give BJ props for stepping into MW+ weight classes on ocassion, but they will never build one's career and fighting much larger opponents may result in more severe injures. His frame is too small to be champion at the higher weight classses. GSP will need to play it smart. Fighters have very little time to earn $$$$$ and unless one has a rich family to fall back on, one would be foolish to do so.

7/20/11 11:16 PM by lionsoul

No. Was just responding to your comment. Going through my subs. Cool. Cheers.

7/20/11 10:00 PM by Ansari

Did you really have to bump this thread after nine days? Fuck, did I just bump this thread? Let's just agree to disagree.

7/20/11 2:21 PM by lionsoul

Look man - I have seen half a dozen mid camp BJ weigh-ins between 160-165. He usually puts on 3-8 pounds to compete as an underweight welterweight. If you want to up that range to 160-167, go ahead, but it doesn't make a lot of sense because that is usually what he weighs in at WW (unless he goes into fat Albert mode).

7/10/11 11:34 PM by Ansari

Except that's a video during a camp for a fight at lightweight... I think it's safe to assume that BJ came into his last welterweight title fight in shape; training camp, good diet, strength and conditioning. With all that, he was 168lbs. So how do you figure he is naturally 160-165lbs?

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