Hardy: Why GSP chose Bisping and who will win

Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy is a lifelong martial artist, former and conceivably future UFC welterweight, and UFC analyst and color commentator. He’s one of the best minds in the sport, and appeared recently on Submission Radio. Given that Submission Radio is one of the greatest podcasts in the sport, the pairing is a natural and long overdue.

‘The Outlaw’ discussed Saturday’s middleweight champion Michael Bisping vs. welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre main event. He has unique insight into the fight because he’s brilliant and because he has fought GSP and trained with Bisping.

Hardy began by discussing why the welterweight G.O.A.T. came back at middleweight.

If he was determined in making a comeback and being the Georges St-Pierre of old, I think he would have come back at welterweight,” said Hardy. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why he chose Michael Bisping as an opponent instead of Tyron Woodley or anybody else at welterweight. It would have made sense for him really in my eyes to have come back against someone like Demian Maia – a respected name, someone that’s got a fairly predictable game, someone that GSP could have shut down with his wrestling.

“But Tyron Woodley’s a banana skin for anybody because of the way he fights and the power that he has in his hands, and GSP knows that Woodley would back up against the fence and defend his takedowns and try to knock him out with one punch, and that’s not the kind of fight that GSP wants to come back for.

“And the other thing as well is Tyron Woodley’s been talking about how he’s the greatest welterweight of all time, and if Georges St-Pierre comes back and loses to Tyron Woodley it does affect his legacy at welterweight. Whereas, losing to Bisping at middleweight doesn’t have any effect on the record books or his campaign at welterweight. He’s still the greatest welterweight of all time, even if he does come back and lose to Bisping.

“But if he comes back and wins and he doesn’t have to force himself down to 170 with a weight cut as well. A lot’s changed including USADA, no IV bags anymore and that kind of thing. So I kind of feel like he’s chosen Bisping because he knows he’s gonna get a high-pressure fighter and he’s going to be easier to take down than Woodley, that’s not necessarily got the knockout power that Woodley’s got, and if he loses to him, well, he’s lost to the middleweight champion and he’s still the greatest welterweight. I think it’s a very strategic decision, but I’m sure there’s a lot of thought that’s gone into it.

With the why detailed, Hardy detailed what will happen.

I think the safe money’s on Bisping by decision,” said Hardy. “I think with the grind that he’s got, it wouldn’t surprise me if he loses a round or two in the beginning. I certainly think GSP is going to come out and have a strong showing early on, certainly the first couple of rounds, but Bisping’s tenacity and conditioning will get him through that and I feel even if he loses a couple of the early rounds he’ll do enough in the later rounds to make a decision win for himself.

“The weight and the size is the main thing I’m thinking about; obviously the work rate of Michael Bisping – he’s got such a good gas tank and he’s so good at scrambling back to his feet. I don’t think that GSP is gonna struggle taking Bisping down at least a couple of times in the first round, I think the issue is holding Bisping down and having the gas tank to support that kind of game plan. You know, trying to control Michael over 25 minutes is going to be incredibly difficult and I think Michael is going to be a bit more intelligent about his footwork as well.

“I was moving straight forward and onto his [GSP’s] takedowns, I think Michael will be a bit less aggressive with his attack. I think he’ll use more counter-striking and try to get GSP to come to him a little bit, because if you start rushing forward, that’s when he level-changes. And even though I think GSP will be able to get him down, it’s just, it’s that constant grind of getting back to his feet and then putting the pressure on GSP when they’re on the feet, I think that’s where GSP struggles in this one.

If GSP is going to beat Bisping on the feet I think he’s going to have to improve that part of his game. Obviously, he’s brought Freddie Roach in and we don’t know what kind of benefit that’s going to have, but I certainly think that he needs to show more than he did in the previous part of his career, because it was very much restricted to single punches, a basic one-two and then he used the superman jab, low kick quite a lot. And towards the end of his career, there was less and less variety in his attack because he fought safer and safer because he was fighting the best guys every time he fought.

“Whereas, Bisping, on the other hand, has got a real variety of striking. He’s very good at throwing long combinations and attacking various different targets with the same attack. So I think on the feet, as well as Bisping being the bigger man, I think he’s going to be able to push Georges. I think Georges is going to have to rely on his wrestling, at least to tie Bisping up and slow him down.

Hardy also discussed what might be next for GSP if he wins.

“He said himself in his contract for the title fight against Bisping that it’s in there that he defends against Whittaker immediately afterwards,” said Hardy. “I think that he would, I think that he would take a fight against Whittaker. Against someone like Rockhold, I don’t think he would. I think he would rather relinquish the belt and maybe go for Woodley. But I think alternatively, I think he may fight Bisping and if he wins and takes the belt I think he’ll challenge Tyron Woodley straight away. You know, he comes back, he fights twice, he wins two belts and then he retires. That’s a good gamble in my eyes.

Hardy does not think a GSP vs. McGregor super superfight will happen.

“I think the weight would be the issue,” he said. “Yes, Conor’s a big lightweight – I think he’s like 5’8, 5’9, but he’s got a lot reach. But then he just doesn’t have the muscle mass that GSP’s got now. If you’ve seen the recent photos of GSP, he’s much bigger than he was at welterweight. And even the old GSP was much bigger than Conor McGregor. So, I think that there are a lot of advantages that Conor gives up against GSP. And that power not transferrable really against bigger guys. I mean, obviously it would sell a lot of tickets, but I just don’t think it makes any sense. I think Conor could really solidify himself as one of the best in the world by just sticking around at lightweight and beating some of the monsters there. To fight GSP, it doesn’t really gain a great deal from it, and I don’t think GSP does either.

Michael Bisping fights Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 217 on November 4, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.