St. Pierre on Hardy: "I want to take him out as fast as I can and go home."
by Giada Esposito on March 04, 2010

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will be looking to secure his fourth consecutive title defense when he faces dangerous British striker Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on March 27.

St. Pierre comes into the fight a heavy favorite, but he is not taking his opponent lightly. In fact, St. Pierre wants to defeat Hardy as quickly as he can for a reason that should sound familiar to fans of the classy Canadian champ: respect.

"The longer a fight is, the more you can get hurt," St-Pierre recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "I want to take him out as fast as I can and go home."

Even though some questioned Hardy's worthiness of a title shot after his victory over Mike Swick at UFC 105, his forth consecutive UFC win pushed him into top-10 welterweight status, and justified his shot at the title according to St. Pierre.

"He deserves it," St. Pierre stated. "He's undefeated in the UFC, and he's a great challenge for me. He's a top-10 guy, and we haven't fought yet. Most of the contenders at 170-pounds are guys I've already fought. It's a mathematics problem. It's a new problem that I'm going to solve. It's going to make me a better fighter. I'm going to grow from that."

St. Pierre believes in being as well-prepared as possible, and is always anticipating the next big challenge. At this point in his career, he is only looking for big fights.

"I'm the kind of guy that, the reason why I fight mostly three times a year - I don't fight anymore five times a year - is that every time I fight, it's a big fight," St. Pierre explained. "I prefer it like this, because I want to get the big fish. I want to get the best fighter. At the same time, it gives me the opportunity to improve more between fights, because I have more time to train. I become a better version all the time than the guy that I was in my last fight. That's why I like it that way. I always want to fight the best guys, because I want to be the best. By fighting the best guy, you improve more. I don't want to fight too often, but when I fight, I want to fight the best guy. I don't want to fight guys that don't deserve shots. I want to fight guys that are on top of the food chain, and when I fight, I want it to be worth it."

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 111 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!

 |  (49) Comments Mickey knox: Ok, I've been hiding in the dark about this, but.................I want to see Hardy get a TKO on GSP. It's not that I'm a huge Hardy fan, although he is a pretty cool dude, I just don't really like GSP. He's a phenomenal athlete and a great fighter, I just think he's a total tool and smug as hell and would like to see him lose his belt. Call me a hater if you want, I just don't like the guy and have secretly been wanting to see an upset in this fight for a while now. *Braces for backlash* HappyHamer: I would like to see Hardy win this fight, and the title. I have no problem with GSP, and think he is a great ambassador for the sport, but it would mean a lot to UK MMA to have a champion in the UFC, and I think Hardy is a charismatic, intelligent, witty and skilled enough fighter to be the torch bearer for British MMA. Little_Kang: GSP rules anyone that disagrees is a retard THAT IS ALL Mtx: Can't really understand why someone can't like GSP, But everyone has its tastes. At least you are not that much into hateration to say anything stupid. But IMO GSP is one of the best, if no the best fighter in the UFC right now. MMA_4_LIFE: Note to Dan Hardy "Eat, Sleep and Breath .....Takedown Defence" GSP is too smart a fighter to go for the quick finish , especially against a dangerous striker like Hardy. I like the matchup and was very impressed with Hardy's win over Swick. As for wanting to see an upset, GSP along with Anderson Silva, and Fedor are probably some of the most respected and adored fighters of all time. I do like to cheer for the underdogg here and there but not when it comes down to one of the truly Elite fighters of our time. It would be such a shame for one of them to lose their belt because the aura of perfection is such a thing of beauty to watch. For one of them to lose to a Matt Serra (good fighter but nowhere near GSP level) KO , or to be bailed out by a flying scissor heel hook or a controversial stoppage or DQ would honestly be hard to accept. GSP ALL THE WAY..........who knows maybe it'll take a GSP vs SPIDER superfight to dethrone a P4P legend like GSP. IwishIwasMMA: lol GSP is going to embarrass Hardy in the stand up. He is then going to crush his face on the ground and possibly submit him moments later or decapitate him. People all around the world seem to forget that at UFC 100... GSP made a joke out of Alves in the stand up... the guy who was SUPPOSEDLY the best stand up guy in the division. Well if he is the best, then GSP I guess is in another division. GSP IS going to kill Hardy, and that is all there is too it. Five Knuckle Shuffle: I smell an upset, there's no way Hardy's gonna come to this fight unprepared. Okay, I'm probably kidding myself - he'll get grounded and pounded by round 2...maybe. GSP's recent quote "I'm fighting for my legacy," not so humble after all, are we? It's that kind of pompous attitude that really irks me - although you GSP fanatics will reassure me it's just his self-belief; give it a name, it's still cringing. Although I can't be critical about his physical talents, he's certainly on his own level - one could point out though is he has been playing it safe of late; You know what I'm talking about. Hardy still has a chance though, I'm pretty sure he hits harder than Serra, correct? HappyHamer: The biggest problem for anybody facing GSP is that it's easy to say "I know what his gameplans going to be", but Fitch, Alves and BJ failed to find a way to counter that plan. 99.9% of MMA fans could accurately predict GSP's plan, but 0.00% could stop it. Hardy will provide as much of a challenge as anybody in the division, but it still won't be enough. D_V: I don't like Hardy's odds. He is a good boxer but Georges is still a better striker and because Hardy has to worry aboutthe constant knee tap threat I think he gets the same treatment as kongo got with Mir, the old fake takedown with the overhand. GSP is going to own him standing for a little while and then tak him down and i think he subs Hardy. I think he gets a hugheslike armbar here. He'll be looking to finish. Little_Kang: I have yet to watch a boring gsp but because your jealous of gsp your bias opinion thinks they are boring. George has had WAY more exciting fights then Dan Hardy. Hell his swick fight consisted of a hug fest for the majority of his fight. So don't George because he's not as flashy as say Anderson Silva but at least George isn't hand picking his opponents, he always wants the toughest fights Wandering_Minstrel: I'm not a mod or anything, so you can ignore me if you want, but lets just make sure this doesn't get out of hand guys. Thanks. JujitsWho: Mmmmmmmmmm...........I love a Big Kahuna burger The Hitman: hardy will get smashed. there is no aspect of the game that he is better than GSP than besides maby his chin and one punch power. Little_Kang: This will look pretty close to the Thiago Alves fight. GSP will stay standing long enough to bait Hardy into over committing to a punch and GSP will shoot in, take him down and pound the living shit out of him. Thiago is much better on the ground then Hardy is, which will give GSP free reign to cave his face in. Then if Hardy is able to make it out of the first two round he won't have any power left in his hands to do major damage then GSP just dictates where the fight goes
HOW WILL THE NICK DIAZ VS. CARLOS CONDIT FIGHT END AT UFC 143
Diaz def. Condit via TKO/KO
Diaz def. Condit via submission
Diaz def. Condit via decision
Condit def. Diaz via TKO/KO
Condit def. Diaz via submission
Condit def. Diaz via decision
TAKE ANOTHER POLL!