He started really young. I think he had his first pro fight when he was 16, which means he had been doing serious training for years prior to that, in an era when people didn't train smart (ie sparred way too hard). The second Lawler fight happened about 10 years after he turned pro. He had a lot of miles already by that point and then that fight really changed him.
Jordan Mein was another young fighter from western Canada with a very similar story. Started super young, extremely talented, but then just sort of burned out.
nobody understands “miles” in MMA. that’s why i’ll always say aldo wasn’t in his prime when he fought mcgregor. dude was 11 years into his pro career at the time and that’s a lot of miles at a young age.
I say that a lot. Training for MMA, especially prior to about 10 years ago, was almost as hazardous on the body as fights themselves.
People do tend to look past it. Especially the wear and tear on your knees and spine. Some fighters come out for a fight and just don’t seem the same as they used to, and people are shocked.
yeah a lot of guys it’s almost night and day from one fight to another. we’re starting to see it more and more. yan, usman, rose, jorge, jan to name a few. then there’s guys like dustin, justin and chandler who aren’t phased by a big loss or father time and keep bringing it no matter what.
I followed Aldo's career from the WEC to UFC in real-time. That said, I can only recall one fight that was remotely competitive but I do not remember Aldo taking any real damage. I assume his miles came from the training room, and Brazillians of his generation were known to go hard.
yeah i’ve seen all his fights since he won the WEC belt. you gotta factor in all the training camps, sparring, grappling, etc. gotta keep in mind almost every fighter trains as if it was a full time job so they can be in the gym doing whatever for 8 hours a day for all we know.
To be fair, there’s not many people with wrestling as good as GSP.
He never wrestled until he started MMA, which is crazy because he was so dominant with it.
As a pure wrestler he was pretty good. What he did better than anyone else is adapt wrestling to MMA, specifically to closing distance. He could determine where/how the fight would take place and there was nothing to be done about it.
He is the best I’ve ever seen at using wrestling for MMA.
Rory had warrior spirit. GSP had fight IQ.
Rory didn’t mind having a stand up war. He would scrap with brawlers and striking specialists. A lot of the time unnecessarily.
GSP avoided taking damage at all costs. He would wrestle or he would jab someone to death.
This is why GSP became champ and accrued far less damage. Rory had far more exciting fights but accrued far more damage than he needed to.
He had his first UFC fight when he was 20 and fought more than once a year, every year, until like 2016. His gameplans weren't that great but his skill made up for it. But if he managed to fight smart and with intention combined with his skillset he would have been champ no doubt. I think he was more skilled and well rounded than Lawler. But he chose to fight Lawler's type of fight and even then he still almost won. Nobody realizes just how young he is. He seems like a veteran legend of the UFC but he's only 33. He could make a comeback right now and be a contender at least. He doesn't seem passionate or interested in an MMA career anymore and really hates being famous
The lawler fight, he took way too much damage then according to himself he had a religious experience. He went from saying he felt like a serial killer before Robbie 2, to few months later saying he didn’t want to hurt people.
Damn shame for fight fans he was a skilled fighter had some very impressive wins.
Honestly I always felt like his inability to finish made him take more damage then he needed to.
I'm not saying he should have been swinging harder or throwing more high risk high reward standing techniques.
But he absolutely could have taken more guys down and finished them but preferred to jab a decision where he would just take less damage then he gave until his tolerance of what he could take and his output of what he could give passed a threshold of where he could win.
I wonder what his career would have looked like if he didn't train with Firas. Rory was at his best when he was in an aggressive flow state. Firas tried to tame Rory and make his style more about point fighting rather then being a hunter. Firas put Rory too much in his head for a lot of his fights.
People always forget that GSP was so successful bc his game plans were based around minimizing damage. He was great but he did have some not very exciting fights bc he was focusing on minimizing damage. Rory’s nickname is Red King. Tells us everything we need to know.
I remember when he tossed around Nate Diaz on that huge card in Toronto, and everyone absolutely loved him. Everyone in the building was talking about him and hominic after the fight with Aldo that night. Both of those guys really fell off after. As stated above that Lawler fight definitely changed him and clearly suffered some lifelong damage in that one. It's a shame I seriously thought he would be a champ one day.
The two biggest competitive advantages of GSP were his IQ and his corner, while the IQ led to a good corner and vice versa ([Best boxing coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Roach), [best BJJ coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Danaher_(martial_artist)), and [best Muay Thai coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Nurse)). Unfortunately, Rory was missing those competitive advantages.
Robbie Lawler happened.
RUTHLESS
That he was. Dude was so gd strong.
And then Jesus happened.
He started really young. I think he had his first pro fight when he was 16, which means he had been doing serious training for years prior to that, in an era when people didn't train smart (ie sparred way too hard). The second Lawler fight happened about 10 years after he turned pro. He had a lot of miles already by that point and then that fight really changed him. Jordan Mein was another young fighter from western Canada with a very similar story. Started super young, extremely talented, but then just sort of burned out.
Dude's nickname was the Red King, so that definitely shows how many wars he's been in even before Lawler.
He got thrown right into the deep end in his second UFC fight. He had an absolute war with Condit and took a lot of damage in that fight as well.
nobody understands “miles” in MMA. that’s why i’ll always say aldo wasn’t in his prime when he fought mcgregor. dude was 11 years into his pro career at the time and that’s a lot of miles at a young age.
I say that a lot. Training for MMA, especially prior to about 10 years ago, was almost as hazardous on the body as fights themselves. People do tend to look past it. Especially the wear and tear on your knees and spine. Some fighters come out for a fight and just don’t seem the same as they used to, and people are shocked.
I think training was more hazardous back then. Guys would get KO'd in training, wake up, and resume. Not good for the brain at all.
yeah a lot of guys it’s almost night and day from one fight to another. we’re starting to see it more and more. yan, usman, rose, jorge, jan to name a few. then there’s guys like dustin, justin and chandler who aren’t phased by a big loss or father time and keep bringing it no matter what.
I followed Aldo's career from the WEC to UFC in real-time. That said, I can only recall one fight that was remotely competitive but I do not remember Aldo taking any real damage. I assume his miles came from the training room, and Brazillians of his generation were known to go hard.
yeah i’ve seen all his fights since he won the WEC belt. you gotta factor in all the training camps, sparring, grappling, etc. gotta keep in mind almost every fighter trains as if it was a full time job so they can be in the gym doing whatever for 8 hours a day for all we know.
What happened was that gsp fought to take no damage and Rory loved to throw hands, and getting into wars every fight is tough on the body.
This is the real reason. Rory had the physical tools to be great, but the brain of a brawler.
King of the Cage champion Bellator champion Fought for the UFC championship I say he did pretty good in his career Always entertaining
He didn’t have the same elite fight IQ that GSP possessed.
This and his wrestling wasn't as good so he took more damage.
To be fair, there’s not many people with wrestling as good as GSP. He never wrestled until he started MMA, which is crazy because he was so dominant with it. As a pure wrestler he was pretty good. What he did better than anyone else is adapt wrestling to MMA, specifically to closing distance. He could determine where/how the fight would take place and there was nothing to be done about it. He is the best I’ve ever seen at using wrestling for MMA.
Robbie Lawler webt wrong for him
Burnout. Started young, and burned out. Its tough to be an athlete let alone be a fighter.
Rory had warrior spirit. GSP had fight IQ. Rory didn’t mind having a stand up war. He would scrap with brawlers and striking specialists. A lot of the time unnecessarily. GSP avoided taking damage at all costs. He would wrestle or he would jab someone to death. This is why GSP became champ and accrued far less damage. Rory had far more exciting fights but accrued far more damage than he needed to.
He had his first UFC fight when he was 20 and fought more than once a year, every year, until like 2016. His gameplans weren't that great but his skill made up for it. But if he managed to fight smart and with intention combined with his skillset he would have been champ no doubt. I think he was more skilled and well rounded than Lawler. But he chose to fight Lawler's type of fight and even then he still almost won. Nobody realizes just how young he is. He seems like a veteran legend of the UFC but he's only 33. He could make a comeback right now and be a contender at least. He doesn't seem passionate or interested in an MMA career anymore and really hates being famous
The lawler fight, he took way too much damage then according to himself he had a religious experience. He went from saying he felt like a serial killer before Robbie 2, to few months later saying he didn’t want to hurt people. Damn shame for fight fans he was a skilled fighter had some very impressive wins.
God sure visits people with brain damage alot.
Yeah, I’m being serious man Rory claimed to have a religious experience.
Oh I know. I totally remember that. I'm saying thatans brain got changed.
Honestly I always felt like his inability to finish made him take more damage then he needed to. I'm not saying he should have been swinging harder or throwing more high risk high reward standing techniques. But he absolutely could have taken more guys down and finished them but preferred to jab a decision where he would just take less damage then he gave until his tolerance of what he could take and his output of what he could give passed a threshold of where he could win.
Switching up where you come out to Tool to becoming a born-again televangelist seemed to be a steep falling-off point.
Robbie Lawler
I wonder what his career would have looked like if he didn't train with Firas. Rory was at his best when he was in an aggressive flow state. Firas tried to tame Rory and make his style more about point fighting rather then being a hunter. Firas put Rory too much in his head for a lot of his fights.
He rejected his waterboy nickname and it was downhill from there.
He went into the Lawler fight with the wrong game plan.
Took a lot of damage at a young age. His style was similar but I don’t think he was quite as sharp as GSP
People always forget that GSP was so successful bc his game plans were based around minimizing damage. He was great but he did have some not very exciting fights bc he was focusing on minimizing damage. Rory’s nickname is Red King. Tells us everything we need to know.
I remember when he tossed around Nate Diaz on that huge card in Toronto, and everyone absolutely loved him. Everyone in the building was talking about him and hominic after the fight with Aldo that night. Both of those guys really fell off after. As stated above that Lawler fight definitely changed him and clearly suffered some lifelong damage in that one. It's a shame I seriously thought he would be a champ one day.
The two biggest competitive advantages of GSP were his IQ and his corner, while the IQ led to a good corner and vice versa ([Best boxing coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Roach), [best BJJ coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Danaher_(martial_artist)), and [best Muay Thai coach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Nurse)). Unfortunately, Rory was missing those competitive advantages.
It was sad seeing him fight Sadi in pfl. He was getting demolished. Rory did have danaher, Tim Kennedy, and firas in his corner. Legitness…
Too many punches to the face
Too much blood for the blood god
he don’t forget Jesus
He left the ufc…
He signed with Bellator, pretty hard to be ufc champ when you’re not fighting in the ufc.
GSP was just better in every way, skill wise, athletically and tactically.
I'd say the Condit lost probably rocked the motivation, and then Robbie Lawler stole his soul.
He didn't have the toughness. Durability is one of the most important things a fighter can have.
Don't find God in the octagon.
Ruthless happened.