Heading into his UFC 111 welterweight title showdown, champion Georges St. Pierre finds himself in a similar position as he was in April 2007, an overwhelming favorite.On that day, however, St. Pierre became the victim of MMA's Buster Douglas moment, as he was knocked out by huge underdog Matt Serra. So with British challenger Dan Hardy facing mountainous odds (St. Pierre's as much as an 8:1 favorite) in their upcoming March 27 bout, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that Hardy has recruited Serra into his camp.
Hardy arrived early to the east coast to settle in and begin final preparations for their Newark, N.J. bout, and in the days since, has been training with Serra. But the champ says it's not a cause for concern.
"I'm not really surprised," St. Pierre said. "I heard he was coming to New Jersey, and I think it makes sense for him. I don't think it makes any difference for me. I don't focus on what Dan Hardy does; I focus on what I do."
Hardy, who is riding a seven-fight win streak, said the pairing was a natural. He said he put out feelers to Serra, and the Long Islander eagerly opened his gym to him.
What made the partnership surprising to some is that St. Pierre spent a small portion of his UFC 111 training camp with Renzo Gracie, and Serra received his jiu-jitsu black belt under Gracie. Since St. Pierre was training with Renzo Gracie, it would seem awkward to have Hardy preparing with Gracie's protege, but he says that hasn't been the case.
"He was very welcoming," Hardy said. "I'm spending a lot of time working with him and I'm learning a hell of a lot."
St. Pierre, instead of looking at it as tactical move on Hardy's part, views it as a chance to address a shortcoming in his past. Although he decisively beat Serra in their UFC 83 rematch, he still has to answer questions regarding his mental approach and the possibility of again overlooking a heavy underdog challenger.
"For me I'm fighting the most dangerous guy I ever fought in my career," he said. "It's a chance for me to redeem myself where I failed last time in the same situation. I've never been so pumped for a fight. The loss I had against Serra, it's not really a loss against Serra because I fought him again and beat him. It was a loss against the situation. I'm in the same situation now, and I look at it like a redemption. It's a great chance to redeem myself, because I'm in a little bit of the same situation as I was when I fought Serra for the first time."
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt Serra got lucky against GSP. You can't teach that. GSP will once again dominate.
I hope so! I think he's got the ko power advantage over mir, but mir seems to have a more solid boxing game than carwin. Can't wait! I'm more pumped for the Carwin/Mir fight than the GSP/Hardy one...much more competitive.
Lucky to beat Mike Swick? Hardy dominated Swick ...
I have to disagree this is a solid card but ufc110 actually was the first good card since 100 the only fights on here anyone will be talking about with be the two main events and nothing else whereas on 110 the wandy fight was great, the cain ko was epic and satiropolis put on a clinic plus the chris lytle sub and stephan bonnar fight were exceptional
Mike Swick would beat Dan Hardy three times out of five..
and no one will beat GSP.. if he didn't have the FLUKE loss to Matt Serra.. than GSP would be going for his 13th straight Octagon win.. Thats HUGE.. bigger than Anderson Silva huge!
I don't know much about Dan Hardy as a fighter. I saw him fight once and his stand up looked pretty good. However, I don't think GSP is going to let him stay on his feet for much of their fight. He'll probably take him to the ground every chance he can get.
WHATS SO FUNNY TO ME IS PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY WRITING ABOUT HARDY TRAINING WITH SERRA THIS HAS TO BE THE BIGGEST JOKE OUT THERE , SERRA GOT A LUCKY PUNCH AGAINST GSP , LETS NOT FORGET HOW BADLY GSP BEAT SERRA TO GET THE BELT BACK SO HOW IN THE WORLD IS HE HELPING AT ALL I THINK ITS A JOKE THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY WRITE ABOUT IT HMM LETS GET THE HELP OF A GUY THAT GOT DOMINATED THAT WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE
@ LDUTHECOACH that's just coulda/woulda/shoulda talk about the steak of GSP. That's why Silva's streak is so impressive because he's never been caught looking. I don't like calling any win a fluke, if you took away every win to every fighter that won on a puncher's chance then you'd be negating a lot of fights.
@ af2009 it's hard to make the nationalist argument against Hardy when GSP is a French Canadian
If they stood up and fought the whole time (kickboxing) Hardy would knock him out with any issue. GSP has very overrated standup but what separates him at this point is his takedowns and ability to keep a guy down. His standup only looks good by proxy because the guy is usually so tired for being smothered on the ground. So, I expect this to be no different than the Silva fight and GSP will dance around for a few minutes and exchange shots, taste a little of Dan's power, take him to the mat and lay on him for 5 rounds in route to a decision. Typical GSP / ugly fight. He might actually finish this one though by attrition. But, if Hardy lands a big shot on GSP it's nigh-night for Georgie, bet that. Hardy punches as hard or harder than anyone at WW and has way more power than Serra. We already know GSP can't take a clean shot to save his life. I don't see it happening though, we'll see the careful and methodical GSP we saw against Fitch, Penn and Alves. Grinding a decision or late stoppage.
GSP has underrated standup if anything. People call it his weakness beasue his wrestling is so superior it clouds his striking ability. Hes not the Chuck Lidell type who you fear is going to knock you out at any moment but hes very crafty. He works his jab, utilizes his reach advantage, mixes in kicks high and low. He's an above average striker at worst and if he stood with Hardy the whole fight there would definately be issue.The infamous lay and pray claim rears its ugly head on every GSP article by some clueless fan...thats you. Laying on someone for 5 rounds is probably the most innaccurate way to describe what he does or will do to Hardy. He has excellent top control, passes gaurd better than anyone in the division, and is constantly working to either better his position, gnp, or find submissions. Case in point BJ Penn got abused his corner had to call it quits and BJ explained after the fight that he was "probably bordeline knocked out" before he quit. Ask Fitch, Serra, Penn, and Alves if it felt like he was laying on them. The fact that you can call his fights typically ugly is laughable when hes one of the most skilled , crafty, athletic, technical welterwegith fighters in the world. You know not of what you speak. It sounds like the only fight of his you have ever seen is against Alves whose amazing stength stopped GSP from being as dominant from the top as he normally is. Alves was able to stand up with GSP still on top of him a testament of his strenght. Probably the reason GSP added 7lbs to his frame. Hardy doesn't have the skil of BJ from his back or the power of Alves so when he goes down you can expect some really vicous "laying" as you call it. He might even lay on him so much that Hardy is rendered unconscious. That being said Hardy is a good fighter but if he doesnt plan on stopping takedowns then he shouldnt plan on winning. GSP by a masterpiece of a fight/typical.
Joe is obviously a diehard GSP fan. GSP's standup is definitely overrated. As you said, his standup only looks good after his opponent is tired and in fear of the takedown. We saw what BJ did to GSP in their first fight before GSP resorted to the takedown.
GSP is the best athlete and the best wrestler at 170 .... those are his keys to victory.
@Tigre. You are obviously a GSP hater so all your comments are strictly your bias opinion, which you are entitled to but that does not make them reality.
@Eric. You are comparing the GSP of 4 years ago to todya's GSP??? He is way better now and proved it by destroying Penn in their second fight. As far as GSP's striking, it is way above average. He stood and traded with Alves early in the fight and got the better of him. I'm not saying he is the kind of striker Anderson Silva or Wandy (in his prime) are. I also believe he is very carefull not to get caught again like he got caught by Serra. So he may not take as many chances as some other guys do but at the end of the day, GSP is top 3 pound for pound and possibly #1 p4p (depending on who you ask).
Back to Tigre. "if this was a kickboxing match" if this was a kickboxing match then if would not be called MMA it would be kickboxing. I really hate when people say that. MMA is the closest thing to an actual fight. When you fight someone on the street, you don't make it a wrestling match or a kick boxing match or a BJJ match. You fight to win and you use what ever you can to do so. So Dan Hardy might be the best kick boxer in MMA (no he isn't, i'm being sarcastic) but this is MMA and in the WW division, he is barely top 5 if at all. He has a punchers chance against GSP (the same chance Brett Rogers had agains Fedor) and that's all.
@GSPMMA
Your name is "GSPMMA" so how can I take you seriously? The point of saying if it were a kicboxing match it to illustrate the point that Hardy is the better striker not that he's the better fighter. No need for some idiotic diatribe about a street fight. Go back to licking your lips while looking at your GSP swim suit calendar.
@Joe
I've likely been watching MMA longer than you've been alive, kiddo. Again, it's called lay n pray because he doesn't go for finishes, or he doesn't have the tools to finish fights. Thats what we've seen from him lately: an inability to finish opponents from dominant positions. His striking is highly overrated and thats saying something for a guy that came into the sport as a striker but has had to evolve his game to an oversized WW wrestler to compete. I think the guy is overrated and isn't one of the 10 best WW strikers in MMA. Even Dana White said GSPs big hole in his game is his standup. The guy has no knockout power what-so-ever on the feet and is only effective because everyone is looking for the takedown. Thats why I say if there are no takedowns (hypothetically) then he would get outclassed by most fighters out there, especially Hardy.
@Tigre. Just because I'm a GSP fan does that mean I don't have the right to comment on him. Re-read my post. I give him credit where credit is due and knock him where I think he deserves it. As far as you attempting to make fun of me shows me you are just a little homo who hides behind his computer screen. Why don't you come to my gym where I train and back up that stupid mouth of yours. I promise you that you won't last more than 3 minutes. That is the difference between some who watches MMA and someone who actually is in MMA. A fan would talk smack about someone of GSP's caliber where another MMA fighter would not talk smack about any fighter (unless it is pre fight hype). If you have never been in the cage, then STFU!!!
Lets get one thing straight, GSP's standup is far from overrated(8 knockouts), may not be the best, but still far from overrated. To add on, I remember him dominating the best lightweight by far(Bj Penn) in stand-up and on the ground. The reason why GSP takes fights to the ground is because he is a well-rounded fighter, which is astonishing how he can dominate bigger and stronger welterweights on the ground(Alves) considering he has no documented wrestling experience. Not taking anything away from Hardy, but beating b-level candidates doesn't mean he can dominate the top welterwieght no matter where the fight goes. However, words don't win fights, we'll all see what happens March 27...I got 100$ on GSP though
Alves would destroy Hardy. So what does this tell us about this upcoming fight?
Tigre,
You seem to be confused by what the definition of lay and pray is. He does go for finishes, constantly advances position, and stays busy in full or half-guard. Lay and pray is when you don't do any of the aforementioned. But you've been watching MMA for a long time, haven't you, kiddo? His striking is overrated? He blends his striking better than any other welterweight you can name. Ask Fitch, Alves, Penn. "Even Dana White says..." you are aware that Dana is trying to hype a fight, right? A fight against an opponent who (on paper and given his past 4 fights) doesn't really pose much of a threat? Who has Hardy KO'd with his awesome power? The fearsome Rory Markham? They should call his ass "Decision Dan" what with all his splits in the UFC.
You're either a troll or a fool. Either way kiddo, we'll see what happens on the 27th.
If there are no takedowns (hypothetically) it's no longer MMA and it becomes kickboxing or boxing. You realize that fighters are permitted in MMA to use takedowns/BJJ, right?
You really don't understand MMA at all, do you?
I was also gonna say that like everybody keeps saying Hardy has this amazing KO power and he hasn't knocked anybody out ... who's Rory Markham ? Lost in the GSP hate is the fact that he's never fought anybody who wasn't good ... these are all tough fights and he's dominated for the most part beating every fighter he's stepped in the cage with decisively. Hardy is out of his league because as I see it the only person that can beat St. Pierre is St. Pierre. That loss to Serra is going to end up driving him from being a good/great fighter to being the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. I didn't think about it till I heard Faraz say it during Primetime but GSP has been in 9 title fights and the best guy Hardy has beaten is Mike Swick ... that should tell you everything you need to know.
Hmmmm Georges St. Pierre's stand up is overrated ? You've really got to be kidding me ... based on what ? BJ Penn won a single round in the first fight and Serra landed a punch behind the ear ... the same kinda punch that led to Couture getting TKO'd and something that is going to happen when you're using 4 oz gloves. The last time I checked St. Pierre knocked Hughes out standing , he knocked out Jay Hieron standing , he beat Jon Fitch half to death standing , and he can beat Hardy in every aspect of the game. He's an excellent technical striker and his kickboxing is at an elite level. He's just a smart fighter who is not going to take any unnecessary risks when he can easily take fighters down and pummel them without taking any damage. This talk that he's a lay and pray guy is ridiculous ... he's never had 2 consecutive fights that went the distance.
He submitted Trigg via RNC , he went the distance with Penn , he knocked Hughes out with a headkick , lost to Serra , went the distance with Kos , submitted Hughes via armbar , TKO'd Serra , beat the dog-ish outta Fitch , stopped Penn , went the distance with Alves ... hmmm this pattern suggests something about the result of this fight ... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Hardy is going to either get knocked out or submitted.