By Bryan Levick (BryanLevick@mmaratings.net)
Most mixed martial arts fans can remember exactly where they were when Matt Serra shocked the world and defeated Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight championship.
It is to this day what many people, excluding Gus Johnson, claim to be the biggest upset in the history of mixed martial arts.
Now MMA fans are claiming that another miracle is necessary if No. 1 contender Dan Hardy has any chance of wrestling that belt off of the waist of St. Pierre.
The bout is scheduled for UFC 111 and the organization has done an incredible job of stacking the card.
Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin for the interim heavyweight title. A rematch between former No. 1 contenders Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch.
If the UFC truly believes that the Hardy-St. Pierre fight will be a hotly contested battle between two equal martial artists, they are truly out of their minds.
Now comes the news that the UFC is bringing back their Primetime special. You know the one they created to help promote the BJ Penn-GSP rematch at UFC 94.
The series which played out over the course of three weeks cost the company $1.7 million.
Are they really that confident that GSP-Hardy will be a match for the ages or are they trying to pull the wool over the fans eyes and get us to believe this isn’t a serious mismatch?
Why waste the money on a match-up between two guys who have no history between them?
In my mind they would have been better off producing a series on the Lyoto Machida-Mauricio Rua rematch.
Better yet, what is more intriguing than the Rashad Evans-Quinton Jackson grudge match that is currently scheduled for UFC 114 in May?
This is a clear case of the UFC trying to get the fans to believe that this bout isn’t going to be a one-sided affair.
Yes, Hardy will always have that puncher’s chance but when it comes down to it, if he couldn’t finish Akihiro Gono, Marcus Davis and Mike Swick, what is the chance he will knock St. Pierre out.
No matter how hard they try the UFC can’t fool their fans.
UFC 108 was certainly a card from top to bottom but in the end it wasn’t much better than one of their Fight Night cards.
The fans will watch Primetime, it’s free and it’s about mixed martial arts. That doesn’t mean they will all of the sudden start believing that Hardy is a worthy contender.
