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By: Anthony Berriola – MMATorch Specialist
UFC 111 is upon us, and after quite some time, Georges St. Pierre is finally defending his undisputed welterweight title against England's MMA phenom Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy. GSP is entering this fight with 19 wins to his 2 losses and defending his title for the fourth time since retaining the title from Matt Serra at UFC 83. Dan Hardy boasts a record of 24 wins to 6 losses with 12 by way of knockout.
THE MATCHUP
It is no secret to MMA fans that GSP is undoubtedly the best in the world in the welterweight division. He is arguably one of the best pound for pound fighters, but what is never argued is his incredible athleticism and conditioning. He has basically walked through the toughest welterweights that MMA has to offer and his resume proves this with victories over top fighters like: BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck .
Dan Hardy is a newcomer to the UFC, with his biggest wins coming against Mick Swick and Marcus Davis. GSP will prove to be no small task with his experience of sixteen UFC fights to Hardy's four. Although he is considered to be a striker, Hardy has been training Gracie Jiu Jitsu with former welterweight champ Matt Serra; with GSP being a notable wrestler, Hardy will need his ground game to be very sharp.
THE FIGHT
This is a fight between two very fast, well-conditioned athletes. GSP has stated that he is not happy with his knockout ratio and looks to improve that, and he has put on a solid ten pounds of muscle since his last fight and feels he is more powerful and faster than ever.
Hardy has stated that he wants to show his fans that he is more well-rounded than just a stand-up fighter. It is pretty ironic that GSP, usually a ground fighter, is wanting to strike, while Hardy, a striker, is prepping his ground game. Most fans claim GSP's latest victories to be boring and would find it refreshing to see a change in his usual stifling ground and pound game plan, but not all change turns out to be good. Lucky punches happen, and this was proven in GSP's title loss to Matt Serra, so standing up may not be the best choice against a fighter that is faster and more powerful on his feet than Serra.
The normal scenario would have Hardy punching his way inside and looking to break down GSP for a KO, but GSP is very smart and would not let this happen, and we can easily expect him to take Hardy to the mat. From here, we would see the usual wrestling skill of GSP where he completely controls the ground for points; also, if an opening for a submission arises he takes it and if not he will be the clear decision winner.
Although both fighters claim they want to show versatility and switch up their normal style, I don't expect to see it in this fight. Hardy has less risk going to the ground than GSP has standing up, as it just wouldn't be smart for him since he knows Hardy's KO capabilities. I definitely am looking forward to seeing which direction these guys are going to take this fight. For those that want to see an athletic stand-up battle I'm with you, but I am not getting my hopes up too high and I expect the usual GSP scenario stated above.
PREDICTION
GSP is just too athletic and earns himself another ground and pound victory.
I would like to send big congratulations to my good friend John "Doomsday" Howard for his incredible KO victory against Daniel Roberts and earning himself a UFC Fight of the Night bonus. I hope we all get to finally see the matchup between him and Anthony Johnson very soon.
If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at AnthonyMMATorch@gmail.com.
See a listing of previous STYLES CLASH columns by CLICKING HERE
[Georges St. Pierre art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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