UFC Primetime Part 1
UFC Primetime previews the St-Pierre vs Hardy UFC 111 title fight
As the first episode of UFC Primetime begins, Georges St-Pierre is painted as “the perfect fighter” trying to prevent Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy from accomplishing a historic upset. The two welterweights will meet up March 27th in New Jersey at UFC 111 with the 170-pound title up for grabs. GSP is defending his belt for the fourth straight fight whereas Hardy comes in with a seven-fight winning streak including the last four inside the UFC’s octagon.
It’s late in the evening and GSP is doing some cardio work by taking a run down the snowy streets of Montreal. After he is completed his evening run, he talks about believing that “he is the best that he has ever been.”
A big part of the reason that he is at the top of his game is his fight team which is based in Montreal at the Tri-star Gym. Tri-star’s head coach/trainer, Firas Zahabi, claims that GSP is obsessed with perfection making it hard to find new motivation techniques. GSP agrees and says that “I can do it all.”
Across the pond in Nottingham, England, Dan Hardy is getting a light workout at the Liberty Gym when he offers his opinion on what he thinks is the key to beating George St-Pierre. Hardy believes that you can’t be afraid of GPS and not to give him too much respect.
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A rundown of the key components to Team Roughhouse is given next. Hardy says that everyone at the Roughhouse Team is willing to learn from each other, from the beginners up to the guys that are fighting in the UFC. Andre Winner, a recent participant on The Ultimate Fighter, agrees. He believes that Hardy trains too hard and his teammates will help him become the next welterweight champ. Steve Papp, the team’s striking coach, believes that Hardy is able to defeat GSP as well. He doesn’t think that St-Pierre knows how to take a punch very well either and that will benefit his fighter.
St-Pierre is back as the focus of the episode, however not in Montreal. St-Pierre is going to New York City for some specialized training with grappling expert, Renzo Gracie. Although he has worked at his gym prior, St-Pierre admits that he is honored to be finally working one on one with Gracie.
While in New York City, St-Pierre also travels downtown to train with muay-thai specialist Phil Nurse. Nurse claims that he is just covering all the bases with GSP. St-Pierre says that he will not allow another Matt Serra situation come about and that is why he is changing up his training a little bit.
As the first episode begins to come to a close, GSP continues on about how he will never take being a champion for granted. He did it once and at UFC 69, Matt Serra made him pay. A very humble GSP claims that he is at peace with the situation but he will not be defeated like that again.
Hardy is seen landing in the United States at the Newark International Airport. Upon arrival, however, he is hit with some troubling news that has him scrambling. The gym that he was to be training at for the lead-up to his fight is not available; however what is a bad situation may turn into something beneficial. As the episode ends, Hardy arrives at a different gym; one that he claims will help him with some inside information on his opponent. Hardy pulls up to Serra Jiu-Jitsu and embraces Matt Serra as the episode ends.
By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer