UFC 111 Mar 27th

I’m very excited about UFC 111 this Sat night. The main event features George St. Pierre vs Dan Hardy. I can’t wait for this fight. When I first heard about the match up I thought to myself, oh Hardy is gonna get owned (and that certainly could be the case, given that NO ONE has been able to stop GSP from taking them down, and Hardy’s main chance to pull off an upset would be to stay on his feet and knock GSP out). But after watching all the hype shows the past couple of weeks (which of course build it up as either one could win) I’ve bought in to Hardy’s chances a bit, and I hope he pulls it off. Now, logically, I know there’s a very slim chance to this happening. GSP is incredible and brings amazing people into his camp to always help him get to an even higher level (people like Nate Marquart, Kenny Florian, and Patrick Cote, etc). His strength and conditioning seems better than ever before, and he has stated that he’s never been more prepared for a fight. Hardy, in most people’s eyes is a stand up brawler, but he’s much more rounded than most give him credit for. He’s been training with Matt Serra for this fight and he’s incredibly strong for a 170 pounder (he’ll need it). So, major odds are that GSP will defend his title and keep the roll going, but hey, this is MMA, so never say never.

The co-headliner fight is Frank Mir vs Shane Carwin. I expect dynamite for this fight. Frank Mir is a very skilled heavyweight who is more focused than ever. His mission is to beat Carwin and then seek his revenge on Brock Lesnar. He’s incorporated a new, hard core strength and conditioning program and seems to be in fantastic shape. I have mixed emotions about Mir (I admire his skill but don’t care for his attitude). Carwin is one of my new heroes (along with Jon Bones Jones) in the MMA world. He’s a big wrestler with serious knock out power. I hated that his fight with Lesnar had to be cancelled due to Brock’s illness and I am so ready for him to destroy Lesnar this year. I’m picking Carwin for this one. BTW, the heavyweight division used to be the worst division in the UFC (in fact it was pretty lame), but currently it’s very exciting with several great fighters (Carwin, Mir, Dos Santos, Velasquez, and Lesnar). Expect some great heavyweight fights coming up.

No other predictions but looking forward to the rest of the fights as well. Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves should be a great one. Here’s the official card:
Main Card
• Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St. Pierre (c) vs. Dan Hardy
• Interim Heavyweight Championship bout: Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
• Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Jake Ellenberger
• Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
• Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek
Spike TV Card
• Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham
• Welterweight bout: Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
Preliminary Card
• 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