UFC 111

UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ presents two potentially great fights as the co-main events.

A welterweight title fight featuring the great UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy, a hard hitting up and comer from the UK. GSP is the heavy favorite and with good reason. GSP has no evident weaknesses in his MMA skill set. He can fight very well on his feet or on the ground and is always in tremendous condition. Hardy has an extensive martial arts background, but we haven’t seen much beside boxing in his UFC fights. Hardy has a puncher’s chance of winning this fight, but I don’t think he will prevail. I think GSP ends this 5 round fight by round 3, with a KO or TKO.

The other main event is a Heavyweight bout between former HW Champ Frank Mir and the undefeated Shane Carwin. Both men weighed in at the HW limit of 265 pounds. Mir was somewhat earlier in his career, but has built up his muscle mass in order to take on behemoths such as Carwin and current UFC HW Champ Brock Lesnar. Of course, Lesnar demolished Mir in when they last met in the Octagon and at that time Mir was 20 to 25 pounds lighter. Lesnar was able to throw Mir around and smother him in that fight. We’ll see if the added bulk helps Mir. This fight is a tough call because both fighters are very capable of ending the fight in round 1. Mir is a very skilled master of submitting opponents. Carwin is built like a tank and has KO power. I’ll go with the more experienced Mir to win, but I won’t be shocked if Carwin puts Mir to sleep.

Another interesting fight on this card pits Welterweights Jon Fitch against Ben Saunders. I’ll take the always formidable Fitch in this fight. If he wins he may get a rematch against GSP, who he lost to when they last fought.