In MMA, this weekend finds top pound for pounder George "Rush" St. Pierre defending his UFC welterweight belt (170 lbs) against Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy at UFC 111 in Newark, NJ. Brit Hardy (23-6-1) will be looking to emulate his training partner Matt Serra's stunning upset of St. Pierre (19-2) three years ago at UFC 69. While the hard hitting Hardy says he is up to the task, do not expect St. Pierre to make the same mistake again. Instead, St. Pierre should continue his recent streak of dominance with a win and further his case as the best P4P in the world.
Also at UFC 111, Frank Mir takes on Shane Carwin for the interim heavyweight belt. Mir (13-4) claims that given Carwin's size and style, this will be a good tune-up fight for the champion Brock Lesner. If the fighters stay on their feet, the hard-hitting Carwin 11-0 will have the advantage as Mir has proven adverse to getting hit in the face. If they go to the ground, Mir's jiu-jitsu will carry him to a victory.
In the square circle, the most intriguing fight will be the next chapter of Showtime's excellent Super Six World Boxing Classic. "King" Arthur Abraham takes on Andre Dirrell in the second round of this super middleweight (168 lbs) tournament. In his first round fight, Abraham (31-0) knocked out and possibly retired former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor. Dirrell (18-1) lost an ugly split decision to Carl Froch in his first round fight. Dirrell won an Olympic bronze medal as a middleweight for the U.S. in Athens in 2004. German Abraham held the IBF middleweight belt for several years before moving up in weight for this tournament. His vicious knockouts of Edison Miranda and Taylor should concern Dirrell, especially given that his first defeat of Miranda came after surviving several rounds with a severely broken jaw. Dirrell slick southpaw style and sometimes ugly clutching and spoiling tactics could frustrate Abraham's normal conservative approach. Dirrell's grabbing in particular caused issues with the judges in the last fight, but his style was effective in slowing down Froch. Abraham should be prepared to up his punch output and work the body rather than staying behind his normal hands up, peek a boo defense, waiting to land the big punches. This fight will be determined by his game plan for Dirrell.
Enjoy the fights.
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