St-Pierre Dominates Hardy in UFC 111 By: James U. Sy Jr.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (B: 1981) of Canada successfully defended his crown against Dan Hardy (B: 1982) of England via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, and 50-45) in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 111 on March 27, 2010 in Newark, New Jersey, USA.

GSP prevented Hardy from using his notorious left hook by taking him down early on at the start of the fight and all throughout the fight. He took Hardy down at will and dominated him different submission attempts that include Americana (Figure 4 armlock), arm bars (juji gatame), Kimura (hammer lock), and leglocks. GSP applied a very tight armlock at the end of the 1st round and a Kimura in the 4th round that would have made an average fighter tap. Hardy did not tap even if his arm was stretched to the limit. GSP is now 20-2 8 KO.

GSP, inspite of hi success in the octagon, has always stayed humble, unlike many mixed martial artists who display undesirable attitude or showboating when winning. He always give respect and credit to his opponents.

Georges St-Pierre first studied Kyokushin, a style of Karate founded by the legendary Oyama Masutatsu of Japan, under his father when he was 7 and later under a master of the art. When his Karate sensei died, GSP took up Western Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Western Boxing. He trained at the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York City, earned his brown belt from Renzo Gracie on July 21, 2006 and his black belt from Bruno Fernandes iIn September 2008.

GSP at 16 fought as a pure Kyokushin Karate fighter in his amateur MMA debut against a 25 year old boxer. He threw several low leg kicks before knocking out his opponent with a kick to the head. He KOed Branden Macfadden in the first round of his pro MMA debut. St-Pierre was the Universal Combat Challenge (UCC) champion and successfully defended his crown twice before he made his UFC debut at UFC 46.

St-Pierre trained with Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine, and Donald Cerrone among others Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu school in New Mexico. Currently, he trains in Muay Thai under Phil Nurse at the Wat in New York City.

GSP is now ranked as one of the top pound for pound fighters by multiple MMA sources and as the No. 1 welterweight in the world by multiple MMA publications.

Jonathan “Jon” Parker Fitch (B: 1978) of the USA defeated Jeet Kune Do fighter Ben Saunders via unanimous decision. Fitch was supposed to fight Thiago Alves but two days before the fight Alves was excluded in the fight card because of a brain irregularity that showed up on a pre fight CAT scan. Fitch replaced Jake Ellenberger as the opponent of Saunders.

Fitch might be the next challenger for GSP. He challenged GSP for his UFC welterweight title at UFC 87 but lost. His lost to GSP lost his chance to tie Anderson Silva's UFC record winning streak of 9. Before he fought GSP his winning streak equaled that of 3 time UFC champion Royce Gracie of Brazil.

Undefeated Shane Carwin (B: 1975) of the USA lived up to his reputation of finishing all his opponents in the 1st round by knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Francisco "Frank" Santos Mir III (B: 1979) at 3:48 of the 1st round, improving his MMA record to 12-0 7 KO and claiming the UFC interim heavyweight championship title. The loss, which left Mir 13-5 2 KO, cost him the opportunity to redeem against UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar who manhandled him at1:48 of the 2nd round of their bout at UFC 100. Carwin was the Ring of Fire heavyweight champion before he signed up with the UFC.

Carwin will next go up against titleholder Brock Lesnar. During the post fight interview inside the octagon, Lesnar told Carwin that what he had was not the real belt and the real is with Lesnar. Carwin’s reply was he can’t agree less that’s why he didn’t to fight Lesnar next.

In other bouts, Matt Riddle over Greg Soto via 3rd round disqualification due to illegal upkick. Jared Hamman over Rodney Wallace via unanimous decision. Rousimar Palhares over Tomasz Drwal via 1st round submission (heel hook). Ricardo Almeida over Matt Brown via 2nd round submission (rear-naked choke). Nate Diaz over Rory Markham via 1st round TKO. Jim Miller over Mark Bocek via unanimous decision. Jon Fitch over Ben Saunders via unanimous decision. Kurt Pellegrino over Fabricio Camoes via 2nd round submission (rear-naked choke).