from a fan standpoint, the heavyweight division is not the same without him.

like him personally or not, he truly was the man. he is the only fighter who would truly fight anyone, anywhere, anytime.

and he did this by learning on the fly.

his ufc record is tremendous. ALL of his fights were against top-tier talent. zero padding of his record.

all this was accomplished despite the fact that he started with absolutely no experience, and sandwiched it all between two life threatening bouts of diverticulitis, one with surgery, and a case of mono.

win or lose, none of his fights were boring, action start to finish. mir twice, carwin, cain, couture, herring and overreem. wow. no fighter in any division of any fighting sport can show they fought that level of competition in their entire career, let alone doing it in 3 or 4 years.

but from a reality standpoint, (this is my personal opinion of course), brock simply lost the edge because of his illness. even if he gets a clean bill of health from the doctors, i just dont think he has the desire to fight anymore.

the time off and the near-death experience seemed to steer him toward his family more and he doesnt seem to have that raging beast inside him anymore.

and in the heavyweight division, if you dont have that burning desire to be the best, then it is best to move on with your life. better to walk away relatively healthy and not end up like tim sylva or nogs.

gsp would have no chance against anderson simply because he is too small. gsp knows that going up in weight simply wont be good for his body. he has already addressed this issue. fighters going up in weight have a very hard time beating fighters who come down in weight.

it would be a great fight in a perfect world and im a gsp fan. but the law of physics are solidly stacked against gsp in this scenario.