Top coaches predict Bisping vs. GSP
Henri Hooft: “GSP is not very mentally strong. He’s just more athletic than a lot of people.”
ESPN staff writer Brett Okamoto reached out to a number of the top trainers in mixed martial arts for their prediction on the UFC 217 main event. The oddsmakers have middleweight champion Michael Bisping vs. returning welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre as dead even.
This is how the top coaching talent has it:
Duke Roufus (Roufusport) – Bisping
Din Thomas (American Top Team) – GSP
John Crouch (MMA Lab) – Bisping
Henri Hooft (HKickboxing) – Bisping
Izzy Martinez (Izzy Style Wrestling): GSP ish
Justin Buchholz (Team Alpha Male) – GSP
Mark Henry (New Jersey striking) – Bisping
Trevor Wittman (Grudge MMA) – GSP
Duane Ludwig (Ludwig Martial Arts) – GSP
Total: 4.5 to 4 for St-Pierre.
While the coaches mirror the odds, the most definitive prediction came from Henri Hooft.
I think Bisping is going to be the better fighter. The fighting style of GSP — we all know what he did before — it’s outdated. People are much better at defending the wrestling and his striking, for me, was never special. He did good stuff to get a takedown.
Bisping’s coach has done really good work with him, and you can see they work together. As a trainer, you recognize what a fighter needs and for them to react to that in a fight — and see it work — there is nothing better for a trainer. And Bisping is a good student.
That’s an advantage over a guy who is not really strong mentally. And GSP isn’t. He wins the fight, but he’s not very mentally strong. He’s just more athletic than a lot of people.
That’s just the way I see him. A couple times, I was in the locker room with him and he would say things like, ‘I don’t really want to fight at this moment.’ He would joke about it. I was a fighter myself and I know how it is before a fight. Nobody really wants to fight right before a fight. But with him it was different, and I’ve kept that feeling about him.
Also, if you train with everybody in the world, that means you’re not really confident in your own stuff. It doesn’t make sense to train with 20 people — boxing coach, gymnastics coach, kickboxing coach, karate coach, fitness coach. It’s too much information. That’s my opinion.
It’s a fight. Anything can happen. I just think Bisping will outwork him. It will be a decision or a stoppage in later rounds.
Agree or disagree, the truest thing Hooft said, the truest thing you can say before a fight, is “It’s a fight, anything can happen.”
That’s why we watch.
