Inside info aids Hardy
It took one punch for Matt Serra to achieve one of the biggest upsets in Ultimate Fighting Championship history when he defeated Georges St. Pierre in April 2007.
So who better for Dan Hardy to enlist for help in his quest to take the welterweight title from the heavily favored St. Pierre in the main event of UFC 111 tonight in Newark, N.J.
Hardy has been training at Serra’s gym in New York for several weeks after leaving his camp in England to prepare for his first UFC appearance in the United States. Both are sponsored by XYIENCE.
Hardy, a 27-year-old Nottingham native, sees easy parallels between his situation as a 6-1 underdog and that of Serra, who was an 8-1 underdog when he took St. Pierre’s title with a first-round knockout.
“I think he looks at me and sees the situation I’m in as exactly the same as he was in the first time,” Hardy said. “No one gave him a snowflake’s chance in hell, and he had a lot of belief in himself.”
Hardy said he can also learn from the rematch, in which St. Pierre regained the title from Serra in April 2008 in UFC 83.
“More than anything, Matt’s been in there twice with Georges and he won one and lost one, so he’s got a lot of experience with the guy, and obviously some of the mistakes he made in his second fight he can relate to me so I don’t have to make those mistakes,” said Hardy, who is trying to become the first British champion in UFC history.
St. Pierre has won six straight bouts since losing to Serra and is considered one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters. Hardy doesn’t dispute St. Pierre’s enormous talent but says he has been underestimated in each of his four UFC appearances and has yet to lose.
“If I was looking at (this fight) from a fan perspective or a betting perspective, obviously Georges is a safe bet,” Hardy said. “But I know myself and what I’m capable of, and when people doubt me, it just gets me more excited for the fight.”
St. Pierre said he is not concerned that Serra is advising Hardy.
“I don’t think it’s going to make any difference for me. I don’t focus on what Dan Hardy (does). I focus on what I do,” St. Pierre said. “It’s a great chance to redeem myself because I’m in a little bit of that same situation as when I fought Serra the first time.”
The card also features an interim heavyweight title bout between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. The winner will probably face champion Brock Lesnar, who hasn’t fought since July, in the summer.
The card was to include a rematch between welterweight contenders Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch, but Alves was scratched Thursday after a routine prefight C-T scan turned up a brain abnormality.
Fitch will now meet Ben Saunders, who was scheduled to fight Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger will not compete.
Also on the pay-per-view portion of the card are lightweight fights with Kurt Pellegrino facing Fabricio Camoes and Jim Miller against Mark Bocek.
At least two undercard fights will air live on Spike (Cable 29).
The Spike fights will air live at 6 p.m. The pay-per-view telecast will begin at 7.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.
