After defeating Thiago Alves last July at UFC 100, George ‘Rush’ St. Pierre (19-2) has been waiting to see which welterweight would be the next to challenge his title.

St. Pierre’s answer came after British sensation Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy (23-6-2) handily defeated Mike Swick last November at UFC 105. Despite only four fights in the UFC, Hardy was given the golden opportunity to stand toe-to-toe with the most decorated 170-pounder in UFC history.

St. Pierre and Hardy will enter the octagon with the welterweight title up for grabs (at stake) on March 27 in the main event of UFC 111. The fight is receiving additional hype due to the Spike TV series UFC Primetime, which follows champ St. Pierre and challenger Hardy during their training leading up to the bout.

The fight breaks down like this;

Striking:

St. Pierre- is one of the most athletic fighters to ever step foot in the octagon. He has phenomenal balance mixed with punches and a cornucopia of dynamic leg kicks and knees, compliments of his Muay Thai training with Phil Nurse. Having never knocked out an opponent in the UFC, St. Pierre mainly uses his hands and kicks to set up eventual takedowns.

Hardy- has shown solid striking and the ability to finish opponents with punches; he has solid kicks and will use his stand up to try to neutralize St. Pierre’s takedown attempts. However, doing this for five rounds is a tall task.

Advantage: GSP has a slight advantage in the striking category mainly due to having top-notch training partners and coaches.

BJJ:

St. Pierre- proved to everybody in the MMA world that he could compete with the best jiu-jitsu that the UFC has to offer after completely dominating BJ Penn back at UFC 94. ‘Rush’ passed the impressive guard of Penn time after time, eventually finishing and sending Penn back to the lightweight division with his tail between his legs.

St. Pierre out grappling Penn was impressive to the highest degree and he’s also been sharpening his BJJ with Renzo Gracie leading up to the fight with Hardy.

Hardy- will have to be on his game if this fight ends up on the ground. Although Hardy does have a purple belt in BJJ from trainer Eddie Bravo, he has not faced a fighter with the impressive Jiu-Jitsu background that St. Pierre possesses. Hardy could find himself on the wrong end of St. Pierre’s superior body control and punches that could lead to a Penn-like beating.

ADVANTAGE: GSP

Wrestling:

St. Pierre- there is a chance that GSP will try out for the 2012 Canadian Olympic wrestling team, which is a good indication of the talent and athleticism he possesses in this discipline. He is at the top of the heap in the 170-pound division when it comes to wrestling and proved it against fighters with wrestling pedigrees like Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck.  St. Pierre also sprawls with the best of them, and is rarely taken down.

Hardy- will no doubt want to keep this fight as far away from the ground as possible. St. Pierre could put Hardy in a significant hole on the scorecards using takedowns to score points. Hardy will do his best to keep this fight standing at all cost, and try to scramble back to his feet quickly if and when he gets taken to the mat.

ADVANTAGE: GSP, and it isn’t close.

Cardio:

St. Pierre- is always in great shape.  UFC fans have seen him go into deep waters in his last three fights. He went all five rounds against a grinder in Jon Fitch.

He was headed to the fifth round against BJ Penn before Penn’s corner stopped the fight, and against Thiago Alves, St. Pierre went all five rounds again, despite having an injured groin for most of the fight.  It should be no problem for GSP to motivate himself to get into great shape against a fighter that he will want to control on the ground for most of the fight.

Hardy- is another fighter that doesn’t wilt in his fights. Three of his last four fights have gone to a decision. That being said, these fights were only three round, non-title fights. So headed to the fourth and fifth rounds against the champ could prove once and for all whether Hardy has great cardio.

ADVANTAGE: Slight advantage to GSP.

Prediction:

The outcome of this fight seems cut and dry after breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of each fighter. The only problem is, St. Pierre seems to have no weaknesses.

Hardy is experienced, but with the exception of Swick and Davis, has never really been tested. Going from fighting Swick to St. Pierre would be similar to the difference between fighting a house cat and a lion.

St. Pierre isn’t considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world for nothing. That being said, there is always a chance that a dangerous, aggressive, striker like Hardy could stun and swarm St. Pierre much like Matt Serra did when he upset the champ back at UFC 69. I give all the advantages to St. Pierre and expect him to prove once again that he’s the best 170-pounder in the world today.

George St. Pierre def. Dan Hardy by unanimous decision.