Does Dan Hardy Have What It Takes?

Dan Hardy has been nothing but confident in the lead up to his fight with the golden boy of the 170lb division Georges Saint Pierre. Confidence and the fighting mindset is something that comes naturally to a fighter like Hardy and it is one of his best assets. In the "Primetime" series we see Hardy training with the king of the upset Matt Serra as he looks to do the same thing "The Terror" did in his spot against GSP. Hardy has the striking to contend with Georges on the feet and decent takedown defense to boot, but will it be enough to nullify the hands, feet, and superior wrestling of GSP? The oddsmakers are giving bettors a resounding "NO" answer to that question with the betting lines having GSP at -650 and Hardy at +450 at bodog and some Vegas spots having GSP as high as -1300 as of yesterday.

In the lead up to the fight GSP made clear that he has not taken the challenge lightly as most fans and pundits have. He learned a very hard lesson when he took Serra lightly and has not forgotten what Matt "Buster Douglas" Serra taught him. Dan Hardy may have also learned a lesson about GSP's chin in that fight. Hardy is a much more accurate and technical striker than Serra and he also, like Serra, has power to go with it. This is a moot point if GSP decides that he doesn't want to stand with Dan and takes him down. Hardy has an underrated ground game and has a chance of contending with GSP there, however unlikely that scenario may be.

In reality Hardy's best shot is in his bread and butter, his stand up. Hardy is a good fighter and I don't see this as being as uncompetitive as the odds-makers would have us believe. Hardy has a shot at derailing the GSP legacy and he intends to do everything in his power to make that happen. Until Saturday speculation is just that, and we will either see Dan Hardy come into his own as a Champion or we will see GSP continue his reign of dominance at welterweight.

The full fight card for Saturday is below:

MAIN CARD
Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy (for welterweight title)
Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir (for interim heavyweight title)
Jake Ellenberger vs. Ben Saunders
Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
Mark Bocek vs. Jim Miller
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)
Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham
Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
PRELIMINARY CARD (Un-aired)
Fabricio Camoes vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Jared Hamman vs. Rodney Wallace
Tomasz Drwal vs. Rousimar Palhares
Matthew Riddle vs. Greg Soto