Did GSP ever have an actual rival?

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Garnet_StrongerThanYou

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I think Matt Hughes is the only one. He beat a green GSP but then GSP improved and destroyed him.

Hughes also bullied GSP on the TUF 4 show about the armbar defence.

BJ Penn hated him but it was one sided. He never beat GSP, and all he did was make accusations but GSP never fired back.

Koscheck too was always trying to come at him but was never on his level.

Nick Diaz hated him and said a bunch of shit about him using steroids and missing weight but he never beat him or had him in danger.

Hendricks might have been a rival if GSP didn’t retire and had immediately rematched him without USADA. They might have gone 1-1 for a trilogy fight.


Anderson Silva kept calling him out but GSP didn’t engage with him.
 
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Hughes and Penn

everybody else was absolutely destroyed in their first matches

Kos had 2 fights but didn’t show any signs of being on his level

both Penn and Hughes were arguably the better man first time around and GSP just did GOAT level things and shut those rivalries down quick, hard to trash talk after you get dismantled.
 
In terms strictly of bad blood,n I'd sau Hughes, BJ, Koscheck, Nick Diaz...Frank Trigg called him a B-level fighter before their fight. Boy did GSP make him eat his words lol
 
Hughes was his biggest rival as you said. Hughes was on top of the world around the time he beat GSP and the TUF highlighted their rivalry.

Matt Serra to a lesser extent as they went 1-1 but there was no animosity towards each other if i recall.
 
Garnet_StrongerThanYou said:
I think Matt Hughes is the only one. He beat a green GSP but then GSP improved and destroyed him.

Hughes also bullied GSP on the TUF 4 show about the armbar defence.

BJ Penn hated him but it was one sided. He never beat GSP, and all he did was make accusations but GSP never fired back.

Nick Diaz hated him and said a bunch of shit about him using steroids and missing weight but he never beat him or had him in danger.

Hendricks might have been a rival if GSP didn’t retire and had immediately rematched him without USADA. They might have gone 1-1 for a trilogy fight.


Anderson Silva kept calling him out but GSP didn’t engage with him.
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BJ Penn and it ended with the beatdown GSP put on him in the 2nd fight. He kinda had a rivalry with Dan Hardy and Nick Diaz
 
Hughes would be the best contender since they fought 3 times and split the first two fights.

Hard to call BJ a rival when GSP edged him out in the first fight and destroyed him in the second.
 
GSP retired because he knew that Hendricks would beat him in a rematch. If significant strikes had been graded differently in the first fight, he would have lost it.
 
tymikeson said:
Hughes was his biggest rival as you said. Hughes was on top of the world around the time he beat GSP and the TUF highlighted their rivalry.

Matt Serra to a lesser extent as they went 1-1 but there was no animosity towards each other if i recall.
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Serra talked huge smack on GSP prior to the rematch.
 
Liverkick-king56 said:
Hughes and Penn

everybody else was absolutely destroyed in their first matches

Kos had 2 fights but didn’t show any signs of being on his level

both Penn and Hughes were arguably the better man first time around and GSP just did GOAT level things and shut those rivalries down quick, hard to trash talk after you get dismantled.
Click to expand...

this is the correct answer
 
Hughes is the answer.

To a much lesser extent, Serra
 
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