Two Promising Main Events in UFC 111: Can “The Outlaw” Hardy Slow Down “Rush” St. Pierre? Will Carwin Quiet Mir In Under 3 Minutes?
The UFC is making a rare appearance in the Northeast this weekend with a pay-per-view event on Saturday with what promises to be a stellar double main event. The seemingly unstoppable Georges “Rush” St. Pierre defends his Welterweight title against Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy. The co-main event has the undefeated Shane Carwin attempt to continue his streak against Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.
Few people remain unimpressed with Georges St. Pierre after seeing him fight. Universally praised as one of the best pound-for-pound fighter today, St. Pierre is the heavy favorite to win. A karate and boxing background mixed with a brilliant knowledge of Brazilian jiujutsu combined with a dream team of coaches and trainers that would make Ivan Drago from Rocky IV envious, has given St. Pierre the edge in his title defenses since becoming undisputed champion at UFC 87.
Despite St. Pierre’s level of success in the past couple of years, the trash talking Dan Hardy claims to be less than impressed with his opponent. In a series of interview vignettes that have aired on Spike TV the past couple of weeks, Hardy has made himself clear in his belief that St. Pierre is indeed beatable. For instance, he referred to the three time champion (one interim and two undisputed) as having a “boring” style. With his red Mohawk and boisterous persona, Hardy is definitely not boring, but that goes deeper than his public image. Having originally trained with Shaolin monks in China, Hardy is skilled in Tae Kwon Do, Muy Thai, Jiu-jitsu, and Boxing . His trash talking he admits is a psychological ploy to throw his opponents off their game plan. IT has certainly worked to his advantage thus far. It got him the distinction of being the first challenger for a UFC title from Great Britain.
The more reserved Canadian, St. Pierre doesn’t do trash talking. He is more than happy to let his fists and feet do all the talking for him. St. Pierre has thus far refused to get into a verbal sparring match with Hardy and has even been quite complimentary of his challenger. “For me he is not an underdog . . . I’m fighting the most dangerous guy that I’ve fought and I don’t look past Dan Hardy,” said St. Pierre during an interview with Spike TV. To show that he is taking Hardy seriously, St. Pierre has reportedly gained some weight. Many are expecting a bulked up St. Pierre to cement his legacy this weekend and shut-up the brash Englishman.
Shane Carwin VS Frank Mir
Don’t call Shane Carwin an underdog. He has blown spectators away with his intimidating winning streak. He has won all 11 fights in his professional career. If that wasn’t impressive enough, none of those fights have gone past the 3:00 mark.
Of course, Frank Mir is not one to scare easy. The number 3 ranked MMA fighter in the world according to Sherdog, Mir is an intense competitor who has already twice held championship gold. His mat skills are superb and many an opponent has tapped out while in his clutches. Mir has made it known that he intends to face Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar for a unification match at UFC 116. In fact, Mir predicted he would literarily kill Lesnar in the ring. Who knows if that will Carwin’s winning streak has stirred rumblings from some MMA watchers that Mir may be having his stiffest competition yet this weekend.
While Mir excels on the ground, Carwin is stand-up fighter like none other. With heavy hands and a mean streak, Carwin has decimated opponents on his feet. Mir will no doubt be aiming to take Carwin down to the mat, but if Carwin gets a dominant position he may have a fighting chance at dethroning Mir who has never been good at absorbing heavy punches.
Other matches on the pay-per-view bill include two lightweight bouts featuring Kurt Pellegrino versus Fabricio Camoes and Jim Miller versus Mark Bocek and a welterweight bout between Jon Fitch and Ben Saunders.
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