UFC 111

March 26, 2010/Dan DiLoreto

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Tomorrow night is UFC 111 and I couldn’t be more pumped to see Georges St. Pierre back in action. Honestly, I would pay for a GSP Shadow Boxing event on Pay Per View if it was available. He is just a freak athlete. Although his path isn’t a cake walk, I would be surprised if this goes all 5 rounds. Also on a card littered with potentially awesome fights is the Interim Heavyweight Title fight between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. Carwin has yet to lose and Mir obviously wants his rubber match with Brock Lesner, current heavyweight champion.

GSP (19-2) is putting his UFC Welterweight Championship on the line against Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy (23-6-1). Both athletes are in supreme shape going into this bout. St. Pierre has added muscle to his already freak-like frame and claims that he is bigger, faster and more explosive than in previous fights. I don’t know about you, but in seeing his previous fights I would have thought that to be impossible. His camp is making sure that St. Pierre stays focused and does not take this fight lightly like so many other people are doing.

“I think people are really overlooking Hardy, and that’s a big mistake. I’m making sure nobody in our camp is doing that.” Said coach Firas Zahabi.

Others, though, think that this is a no brainer. Up and coming lightweight fighter Jon “Bones” Jones doesn’t think this is going to be much of a challenge for the Welterweight Champ.

“I think Georges is going to annihilate Dan Hardy. He’s hungry, he’s focused, he’s a great champion for a reason. Dan Hardy, he has lot of experience and everything but I just don’t think he’s ready for Georges St-Pierre. I don’t think anyone in the world at 170 (pounds) is ready for Georges St-Pierre.”

No matter how well Hardy has trained for this fight, and trained hard he has, it is nearly impossible to go against GSP. He has shown that he can step in the ring with the best of them, the hardest hitters and still come out on top. Hardy may be hungry for that title but I don’t think he can be hungrier than St. Pierre. GSP has shown he is a perfectionist with his training regimen and the fact that I could hit him in the stomach with a baseball bat shows that. It’s going to be rather hard for Hardy to come out with the belt from this one but, like Frank Mir has said, “Anything can happen when you get punched hard”.

Prediction: St. Pierre, Round 5, Decision

Before we watch the GSP/Hardy bout, we will be entertained with the Mir vs. Carwin fight for the interim heavyweight championship. This one will definitely not be as easy to predict. The winner of this bout will get a shot at the current heavyweight champ Brock Lesner. Frank Mir is chomping at the bit to get another shot at Lesner and I am sure that Lesner wants a sizable piece of Frank Mir after his controversial comments about Lesner from a radio interview. He has since apologized but I believe the damage is done. I would like to see Frank Mir win this fight just so I could see Brock Lesner literally twist his head off on national television, but I’m not sure Mir will have what it takes to get past Carwin. Shane Carwin is one bad motherf*@#er. He is 11-0 and has yet to take a fight past the first round. His longest fight was his first one against Carlton Jones back in 2005 and that only last 2:11. Carwin also wants a piece of Lesner because he was set to have a shot at the belt against him in November before Lesner got ill. Both guys want a shot at the champ, lets just hope that neither over look each other because the one that does will be on his back in no time.

Prediction: Carwin, Round 2, TKO (Punch)

I would urge everyone to tune in early because the undercard for this event should also provide some great fights. Below, I have listed the rest of the main card as well as the undercards, both the Spike TV and PPV.

Main Card: