Did the UFC Bungle the Promotion of Georges St Pierre vs Dan Hardy at UFC 111?

Sakara=Excitement · 03-29-2010, 07:10 PM

Did the UFC Bungle the Promotion of Georges St Pierre vs Dan Hardy at UFC 111? - Bloody Elbow

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Zak Woods thinks so:

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...the real culprit in the negative fan reaction--bad promoting.

It is hard to find fault in the UFC for trying to sell the fight as "Can Dan Hardy channel Matt Serra?". But Zuffa failed to educate their fans on what to expect. Trying to hoodwink them into thinking that Hardy stood a chance on the ground with a last minute jiu-jitsu session with Matt Serra was folly (Serra called the training a "solid" for Dana White). It created the false expectation of a brawl, which was certainly expedited by Hardy's mouth.

Going forward, WKR would argue that the worse thing Zuffa can do is to play up the "Serra did it, could generic welterweight do it too?" story. That creates a ripe media environment for fans to believe that St. Pierre is avoiding standing out of fear of being knocked out . Rather it is better to focus on how St. Pierre is so well rounded he can exploit whatever his opponent's weakness is.

Besides, Hardy was never a legitimate contender for St. Pierre. While some might bemoan that as bad matchmaking the reality at 170lbs. is that there are few challengers available and all are imperfect contenders.

I have to agree with Zak here. There was nothing whatsoever wrong with GSP's performance. He utterly dominated Hardy both standing and on the ground. He repeatedly worked for submissions and twice nearly finished the fight. It's true, as Luke Thomas pointed out, that he didn't inflict the kind of damaging ground and pound that we saw him unleash on Matt Serra and Jon Fitch. But I utterly reject the notion that GSP did anything wrong in utterly dominating a dangerous opponent for five rounds.

Kimbo> Rampage · 03-29-2010, 07:13 PM

Very smart gameplan, you cannot knock GSP for that. Was it the most exciting fight, no. It is what you can expect from gsp. I wish he would go after fights more, but i wouldnt boo him for it. Its mma and you will see those kinds of fights.

goodtimes · 03-29-2010, 07:32 PM

I don't think you can really hold it against Zuffa for trying to hype the fight, and if someone had any understanding of the sport they would know Hardy was coming in as a heavy underdog. Hardy did the best he could with the skill set he had, and GSP completely nullified him. I think for a fighter like GSP, he really needs a tough opponent to shine, since he is not the kind of guy that takes risks to put on a show for the fans.

tinkerskippy · 03-29-2010, 07:42 PM

I think they made what they could with the material they had - bottom line is that no-one really thought hardy had a chance hence there wasn't much interest.

But then again it's their own fault for creating a fight that shouldn't have happened at this time anyway.

Fedorlei Gomipierre · 03-29-2010, 08:00 PM

Joe Silva and Dana bungled the fight by booking a challenger, who irregardless of his skill level and technical worth in competition against GSP, wasn't a big enough/developed name akin to your Koschecks, Fitches etc. for fans to take his challenge seriously, since alot of people simply didn't know who he was. I myself honestly still considered him an undercard, midcard guy until UFC 99 against Davis and within 12 PPVs, he's then challenging for the title against the greatest in the world, which I think was just a stetch.

I think they should've had him fight one or two more comainevents for casual fans to be more familiar with him, his style and his personality. Akin to the way they're bringing along Daley in main card fights, I feel that they should've handled Daley prior to pushing him into the main event spot, because fan familiarity is key to buys IMO.

You could seriously chock this up to GSP's complete destruction of the 170 division and there being nobody left to really throw at him, so ZUFFA just tossed in the first guy with a bunch of wins, but this fight felt like Anderson vs. Leites in that, it was just too one sided and the challenger wasn't really a wellknown name to draw in his fanbase, and since that the mainstream really didn't respect or heed as a threat, the result was very blah.

The_Mab69 · 03-29-2010, 09:08 PM

I honestly think Amir Sadollah in a year or so could be a contender, he's looked amazing in his past couple fights.

Yeah I did not enjoy the fight but it was smart on GSP's part. I do not really think that GSP has cleaned out the division like Silva and Penn have.

I think their are about 2-3 fights left for him at welterweight, I dunno welterweight is relatively a shallow division, well no, its a very young division. Rumble, Semtex, Kos, Thiago, Fitch, GSP, these guys are babies. I dunno maybe this Renzo Gracie guy can raise some eyebrows.

Fedorlei Gomipierre · 03-29-2010, 09:18 PM

I have zero doubt that if Wand beats Akiyama and maybe even if he doesn't, they'll be holding a GSP/Akiyama WW title fight in Korea within a year orso to massive boxoffice.

Kimbo> Rampage · 03-29-2010, 09:21 PM

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Originally Posted by The_Mab69

I honestly think Amir Sadollah in a year or so could be a contender, he's looked amazing in his past couple fights.

Reminds me of Kenny Florian. He has good technique but not much power.

Qball1974 · 03-30-2010, 06:33 AM

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Originally Posted by The_Mab69

I honestly think Amir Sadollah in a year or so could be a contender, he's looked amazing in his past couple fights.

Yeah I did not enjoy the fight but it was smart on GSP's part. I do not really think that GSP has cleaned out the division like Silva and Penn have.

I think their are about 2-3 fights left for him at welterweight, I dunno welterweight is relatively a shallow division, well no, its a very young division. Rumble, Semtex, Kos, Thiago, Fitch, GSP, these guys are babies. I dunno maybe this Renzo Gracie guy can raise some eyebrows.

HAHA I stoped reading after "I honestly think Amir Sadollah in a year or so could be a contender"

Death Beast · 03-30-2010, 06:55 AM

Anyone else want to see GSP vs. Maia? (after Silva's done with him)

Demian can make that cut easily I'd bet and I don't think GSP would want to roll around and get all shwetty with him, so we might actually see the return of his standup.

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