This past Saturday in Newark, NJ (affectionately known as the Brick City by some people I know) Georges St. Pierre, the welterweight champion, took on Englishman Dan Hardy as the main event of UFC 111. There was a whole lot of buildup to this fight and a few left disappointed by the dominant performance that St. Pierre put on to beat Hardy by a unanimous decision. However, I think things are not nearly as simple as they seem.
Like an ever increasing number of people around this country, I plucked down my $44.95 on Saturday night and sat down with some friends to enjoy an exciting night of high intensity UFC action. Sure, St. Pierre went out and dominated Hardy, pretty much as I expected him to do but the exact manner of the fight was something that I don’t think a lot of people expected. Dan Hardy showed a tremendous amount of heart and determination and I think the long term benefits of this loss are going to be tremendous for him.
Before the fight on Saturday I think it was a very safe bet to say that most people didn’t like Dan Hardy. He’s an easy guy not to like. He’s brash, arrogant, and English; that’s 3 strikes against him for most people. With his trademark red mohawk and red contact lenses he’s like the Dennis Rodman of UFC, except without the teddy bear like quality that Rodman possesses. With Hardy its either you love him, or you hate him. Its also a safe bet that a whole lot more people were on the hate side of that equation.
For his walk in Hardy goes with the song “England Belongs to Me” by the British punk band Cock Sparrer. It’s a good choice I think, but the song itself simply wasn’t enough for Mr. Hardy. He chose to have the band rerecord the song with him in it accompanying them on vocals. That just epitomizes Dan Hardy to a T, always looking for something extra. His walk in was met by loud cheers from his loyal supporters as well as a smattering of boos by his less vocal detractors.
Hardy did indeed get dominated by St. Pierre, after all St. Pierre is arguably either the best or the 2nd best pound for pound fighter going in the UFC right now. The other would have to be Anderson Silva and I of course would give my left nut to see either of them change weight classes to fight the other, that fight would be epic. Hardy though refused to give up in the fight. It looked like St. Pierre had him multiple times, yet Hardy refused to tap out. After the fight Hardy would say that the word tap isn’t even a part of his vocabulary. It looked at times that St. Pierre was about to break the Englishman’s arm, and I’m convinced that’s what it would’ve taken to stop this fight. That arm though would not break.
When people think of cocky arrogant people, the idea of heart never really comes up much in the conversation. However in Hardy’s case its all anyone was talking about after the fight. St. Pierre may have totally dominated the fight, but post fight everyone was talking about Dan Hardy’s performance.
This is going to go a long way for Hardy I think. He gained a whole lot of both respect and fans with his performance on Saturday night. The fans he gained were people that had been some of his biggest detractors before the fight. Sure Hardy’s ego may have taken an initial blow from the loss, but he’s certainly going to emerge a stronger more dedicated fighter from it. I think when we look to this fight in the future were going to see it as the turning point in Dan Hardy’s career. He gained more from this loss than the 7 consecutive wins he had going into it.
St. Pierre may have given Hardy a technical lesson out there in the octagon, but the long term benefits of this loss are going to be priceless to Mr. Hardy. Not only did he sway public opinion about him, but he also has in his mind the fact that he refused to give up when the going got tough. I don’t think there is anyone out there that’s ever going to have Dan Hardy in worse positions than he was in Saturday night. There is no way that UFC commissioner Dana White could not have been impressed.
So, keep your eye on Dan Hardy, one thing that’s for certain is that he will be back and he’ll be stronger and even more committed. That’s certainly a dangerous thing and I don’t think anyone is going to want to be the man standing in Dan Hardy’s way next time. I would not be surprised to see Dan Hardy as the welterweight champion two years from now. One things for certain, no one can question his heart.