Staff Columnists
ROWLAND: Dan Hardy presents a new challenge to GSP's throne
Nov 20, 2009 - 7:51:46 PM ROWLAND: Dan Hardy presents a new challenge to GSP's throne

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By: Greg Rowland, MMATorch Columnist

Welterweight is the division of wrestlers. It has been since November 2nd of 2001 when Matt Hughes slammed Carlos Newton into the ground. As we all know, Hughes began his run as one of the most dominant champions in MMA history that day, finishing 4 of his next 5 opponents before losing to BJ Penn, then winning the title again later that year and rattling off a few more title defenses until his championship days came to an end. Hughes was the wrestler among wrestlers. His greatest challengers were wrestlers, and the man who crushed him in the end was the man who he couldn't take down, and who in their third and final match put Hughes on his back.

That man is Georges St. Pierre, one of the most impressive men in Mixed Martial Arts. Here is a guy who came into the sport as a Karate Kid and became the most dominant wrestler the sport has seen. GSP has made a career feasting on wrestlers who cannot take him down and in turn get put on their back, which is a big no no for any wrestler. The list of fighters GSP has beaten in the last 4 years is probably the most impressive run ever in the sport. Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes (x2), Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, BJ Penn (x2) and Thiago Alves. Not an easy fight in there.

Reading through that list you probably noticed that many of the people on it are famous for ground and pounding their opponents, and most of the rest of them are famous for their amazing takedown defense. Georges doesn't care about that, though. Koscheck couldn't take down Alves? Not a problem for GSP, who did it consistently for 25 minutes. Georges is so well rounded it makes everything easier. When he has his takedowns for you to worry about he can hit you easier, and when you're worried about getting kicked in the face, your sprawl isn't as good as it might otherwise be. In other words, if you fight Georges for long enough, you'll end up on your back whether you like it or not.

Matt Serra found a little chink in GSP's armor, though. Its hard to say if Georges took Matt lightly or if Matt just got lucky, but a man who was never really known for his punching power before, and has never been much known for his power since (remembering that his near KO of Hughes was from an incidental headbutt) threw the punch of his life and hit GSP right in the sweet spot and put him away. Georges can be knocked out.

This is conventional wisdom of course though. Anyone CAN be knocked out by the right punch thrown at the right time by the right person. Mark Hunt has been KOed relatively recently, as was Nogueira, who got put away by Frank Mir of all people. Cabbage got knocked out by Tank Abbott. Everyone's chin has a limit. Now I am not saying that GSP has a weak chin, only that if you throw hard and hit, you can put him away. Georges knows this too. His whole game has changed since the Serra fight. Georges looks for the takedown almost immediately now, probably feeling safer on the ground with most then standing up.

This is where Mr. Dan Hardy comes in. What was originally supposed to be a number one contender match between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann turned into a tournament of sorts, then both Swick and Kampmann managed to lose the fights they got placed in, and Dan Hardy ended up the number one contender somehow. The only problem is that nobody considers him a legit threat to the throne. I said at first that it reminded me of when Patrick Cote beat Ricardo Almeida for the right to get slaughtered by Anderson Silva.

I thought about it for a bit however and changed my mind. I would never place money on Hardy (unless the odds were great), but he certainly presents a new challenge to Georges. Riding a 7 fight win streak (12 if you don't count his DQ loss two years ago) Dan Hardy has just exploded onto the scene recently. Admittedly I didn't even really know who he was until this last summer when he beat up on Marcus Davis, but this kid has shown he can take a punch, he can hit like a son of a bitch, and he is stepping up his game big time.

I don't expect Dan to stop GSP's takedowns. I don't expect him to win a decision. I don't even really expect him to win, but we've seen GSP's weakness, and if there is any man who can exploit that before the takedown I think it may be Dan. Look for Dan to come out swinging and get taken down and beaten up in the first. Repeat this scenario until the fight ends. I cant say, but I dont see anyone else more likely to do it them him right now. I don't know if Hardy has the ground game to survive the onslaught that GSP will bring on the ground, but I know that I find this match far more intriguing then a rematch with Jon Fitch, who may be ranked higher, but matches up horribly to St. Pierre, and will just find himself stuffed and beaten on for 5 rounds again.

The only thing that bothers me really about Hardy right now is what looked like a lack of aggression on his part against Swick. I think Hardy played to the judges and took Swick down in the third round when he probably could have put him away. Swick was getting beaten up and down the cage and Dan never really pounced when he had him hurt. When Serra landed his punch on GSP he was like a shark that smelled blood, and if Dan rocks GSP and backs off or shots for a double leg, I may throw something

Anyway, I look forward to the fight more after thinking about this. Hopefully my train of thought helped get you a little excited too

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[Dan Hardy art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]