UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy

[Built Ford Tough]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/UFC_111_Poster.jpg/417px-UFC_111_Poster.jpg

 

Main Event

 

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St. Pierre © vs. Dan Hardy

 

Co-Main Event

 

Interim Heavyweight Championship bout: Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin

 

Main Card

 

Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Jake Ellenberger

Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves

Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek

 

Free Preliminaries on Spike

 

Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham

Welterweight bout: Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown

 

Undercard

 

Lightweight bout: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio Camoes

Light Heavyweight bout: Rodney Wallace vs. Jared Hamman

Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs. Tomasz Drwal

Welterweight bout: Matthew Riddle vs. Greg Soto

 

 

 

Anybody else plan on watching this on Saturday? The UFC has been putting on some fairly lackluster cards (at least in terms of star/drawing power over the past) few months but this card is looking like it is going to be amazing. Even the free prelims on Spike look like they are going to be very interesting fights.

 

You have Nate Diaz making his debut at 170 after making the jump from 155. From the pictures that I have seen of Diaz he seems to be in the process of making a very successful jump to 170 as he is much bigger than the last time he fought against Gray Maynard.

 

Ricardo Almedia will also be making his debut at 170 against a very entertaining and dangerous Matt Brown. Almedia was a very small Middleweight (he didn't even really cut to get to 185 pound limit) so the 170 pound division certainly seems like a better suit for him.

 

On the main card you have some interesting fights as well. Mark Bocek is coming off of a highlight reel submission against Joe Brammer that earned him Submission of the Night honours at the TUF 10 Finale card. Jim Miller's only loss in the UFC was against Gray Maynard and he will be looking to try and climb the 155 ranks with a 4th consecutive win.

 

Ben Saunders was originally supposed to fight Martin Kampmann which would've been a great stand up war, but Kampmann had to pull out due to injury and Ellenberger replaced him. I don't really know much about Ellenberger other than the fact that I thought he looked great against Carlos Condit back in September, despite the fact that he lost.

 

And then you have 3 fights that are all capable of headlining their own card with Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves, Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir for the Interm Heavyweight Championship and, of course, GSP vs. Dan Hardy for the Welterweight Championship.

 

Fitch and Alves are the two best fighters in the division outside of GSP and both are looking to get back into title contention. Fitch has won 3 straight fights since losing to GSP back on the UFC 87 card. A win against Alves could very well earn him another crack at the title. Meanwhile, Alves is stepping into the Octagon for the first time since his fight with GSP at UFC 100 and is looking to avenge his loss against Fitch during the beginning stages of his career in the UFC. In between his losses to Fitch and GSP Alves went on a 7 fight win streak that included wins over Chris Lytle, Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck. A win over Fitch combined with another win or two against a top contender in the 170 pound division could give Alves another crack at the belt. Should be one hell of a fight between the two.

 

Then you have a fight that so many people have been waiting for in Mir vs. Carwin. Both of these guys have publically stated how badly they want to fight Brock Lesnar (although Carwin didn't go to nearly the same level as Mir did with his trash talking). Carwin may have the heaviest hands in all of the UFC and has yet to have a fight go any longer than 2 minutes. In his 3 fights in the UFC he managed to finish all 3 of his opponents by T/KO and it took him a combined 3:30 or so to do that. On the other side, Mir is coming off of a dominant performance against Cheick Kongo and is determined to get another shot at Lesnar. He has had 12 first round finishes of his own which gives the two a combined 23 first round finishes. This fight could end very spectacularly and very early.

 

Last, but not least, you have GSP returning to the Octagon for the first time since he was injured at UFC 100 and he will be defending his 170 pound Championship against Dan Hardy. I completely expect GSP to put on an absolute clinic and dominate Hardy from start to finish, but Hardy has very good boxing skills and some serious power in his hands, which gives him a punchers chance. The last time that GSP was so heavily favoured in a fight was his first fight against Matt Serra and all MMA fans remember how that one turned out. Hardy has been extremely focal with his trash talk and has been trying to play mind games with GSP for a while now (including going and training with Matt Serra). GSP doesn't seem to be fazed by it and will look to shut up the Brit come Saturday.

 

Well, there are my thoughts. I haven't posted anything MMA related on here for a while now and with this card having some star power on it that will attract casual fans I figured it would be worth a shot in making a thread about it.

 

Oh yeah, here are my predictions (winners in bold)

 

Georges St. Pierre © vs. Dan Hardy

Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin (I just want to see Mir vs. Lesnar 3 and Mir's reaction after losing )

Ben Saunders vs. Jake Ellenberger

Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves

Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek

Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio Camoes

Rousimar Palhares vs. Tomasz Drwal

Matthew Riddle vs. Greg Soto

Rodney Wallace vs. Jared Hamman (no prediction as I know nothing about the two).

Edited March 23, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Real Deal]

Man, screw Hardy. That dude was out of line for what he did to Marcus Davis (the homosexual incident), and he's way too cocky jumping into this fight against GSP. I hope Rush breaks his legs.

 

And while I wouldn't mind seeing Mir knocked the F out...I hope he wins, so Lesnar can force him to crawl out of the octagon in their third meeting.

 

Nate Diaz is probably going to take this fight, but I have my doubts about him adding weight. That last fight he was in wasn't that impressive, and I believe his speed kept him alive. Then again, had he had more weight behind his punches, maybe he would've come out on top.

 

Fitch and Alves is a question mark for me. I'd probably take Fitch if I was betting money on it, but if you ask me tomorrow, that would change.

[Built Ford Tough]

Man, screw Hardy. That dude was out of line for what he did to Marcus Davis (the homosexual incident), and he's way too cocky jumping into this fight against GSP. I hope Rush breaks his legs.

 

And while I wouldn't mind seeing Mir knocked the F out...I hope he wins, so Lesnar can force him to crawl out of the octagon in their third meeting.

 

Nate Diaz is probably going to take this fight, but I have my doubts about him adding weight. That last fight he was in wasn't that impressive, and I believe his speed kept him alive. Then again, had he had more weight behind his punches, maybe he would've come out on top.

 

Fitch and Alves is a question mark for me. I'd probably take Fitch if I was betting money on it, but if you ask me tomorrow, that would change.

 

I've never liked Dan Hardy and never will. To be honest, if GSP hadn't already basically cleaned out the 170 pound division Hardy wouldn't be getting a title shot. Hell, if Rumble Johnson would've beat Koscheck I bet that he would've been given a shot instead of Hardy.

 

I love the fact that he has made comments like "GSP is [expletive]ting his pants. I can smell his fear" and a bunch of other completely ridiculous crap like that. I just find it funny because what exactly has Hardy done that would make GSP "[expletive] his pants"? Hardy's only noteworthy UFC wins have come against Mike Swick and Marcus Davis (which was a very, very close split decision). Swick and Davis are good fighters, no doubt about that, but they are clearly not on the same level as guys like BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and a prime Matt Hughes. If GSP came into those fights and, for the most part, completely dominated his opponents, what exactly is Hardy going to do to him?

 

I know it is pre-fight trash talking and Hardy is playing mind games, but I just love it when a fighter has to talk himself up into believing that he actually has a shot at winning. Its not like mind games work on GSP either. They didn't work for BJ Penn. They didn't work for Matt Serra. They didn't work for Matt Hughes. And they sure as hell aren't going to work for Dan Hardy.

 

 

I actually think that Diaz was more impressive in his last fight than Gray Maynard was, and I thought that he should've won. Diaz was the aggressor in that fight and landed 25 more strikes (77-52) than Maynard did. With the way that the UFC is judged though, I understand why Maynard was the one with the decision but I definitely thought that Diaz looked better.

 

I like Diaz moving up in weight though. He was wayyyyyyy too light at 155. Whenever he fought somebody with a good wrestling background he would get tossed around (like he did against Joe Stevenson) because he couldn't afford to add any more muscle to his 6'0 frame. The 170 pound division is the ideal division for him if you ask me. I don't know how he will do in his first fight, but I think that he will show that he is a legit fighter in the division sooner or later.

 

Then again, I am a huge fan of both of the Diaz brothers, so there could be a bit of homerism whenever I talk about them.

 

I think that Fitch and Alves will play out sort of similar to how GSP-Alves did. Outside of GSP, Fitch has the best MMA wrestling in the division and he is a huge WW as well, so Thiago might not have such a significant strength advantage. Alves is a very hard guy to take down though, and he is even harder to keep down with his stocky frame. If Fitch is going to win though, it will be in typical grind it out Fitch fashion.

 

The one thing that makes me lean more towards Fitch is the fact that Alves might be a bit reluctant to utilize his vicious Muay Thai in fear of being taken down. Alves' biggest asset is his kicks and knees, but if he is worried about being taken down and controlled on the ground he might be a bit reluctant to let loose with those kicks and knees.

 

Either way it should be a fun fight though.

[Built Ford Tough]

Thiago Alves wasn't cleared to fight by the New Jersey athletic comission so Jon Fitch is now fighting Ben Saunders instead.

 

Alves said he did two MRIs and one CAT scan at home in Florida. He said doctors said they saw something they initially thought was a bleed on the brain, but later thought it was something with which he was born.

 

Alves said the New Jersey commission “is particular” and was not comfortable clearing him to fight.

 

“I was really upset and I’m not even concerned about my health,” Alves said. “I know I’m fine. I’m just sad I can’t fight

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Saunders-replaces-Alves-at-UFC-111?urn=mma,230216

 

This sucks. Outside of the GSP-Hardy fight, I was looking forward to this fight the most. I definitely thought that this fight had the potential to steal the show.

 

Jake Ellenberger isn't fighting tonight as a result of this as well, as Saunders was supposed to be his opponent.

 

Pellegrino vs. Camoes is now going to be on the main card.

[Real Deal]

Haha, man, Mir didn't stand a chance. Too bad he doesn't get that shot against Lesnar, though. Still would've been fun to see Brock break his face, then stick him in an F5, like he did guys back in the WWF.

 

And, wow...Hardy sucked. The only thing I was impressed with was his rubber arms. At one point, I actually thought I saw him tap (anyone else?), but he stuck it out...figured he was going to pass out, but he rolled out of that armbar. GSP caught his arm really, really good TWICE, and he just laid there. Had it not been for his refusal to the tap-outs, he would've looked like an amateur from the Ultimate Fighter. GSP is just too damn good.