Mike Swick is rumored to face Dan Hardy.
Mike Swick was supposed to fight Martin Kampmann at UFC 104 to determing Georges St. Pierre’s next opponent.
But Swick suffered an injury, and had to pull out of it, leaving the door open for Paul Daley to upset of the Hitman.
Swick will get another opportunity to become the No. 1 contender to GSP’s belt, as AOL Fan House and MMA Junkie, reported that that Swick will take on the U.K.’s Dan Hardy in a title eliminator set for UFC 105.
Since moving down to welterweight, Swick is 4-0.
Hardy is probably the biggest name outside of Michael Bisping in terms of popularity in the United Kingdom. He is riding a six-fight win streak, and is coming off of a victory against Marcus Davis.
Hardy also confirmed the fight on his Web site, citing an injury to his original Dong Hyun Kim.
Man, any of those two fighters for GSP will be an easy win for him. Hope his rehabilitation is going good for him and that he’ll come back 100% in shape.
swick deserves it,hardy is a fast rising star and with so many wins under his belt already,if he can finish swick then he is a good contender.theres alot of faces in that division that you dont know who is number 1 contender.i think serra could sub both these guys.
lp dea i have to agree with you but these guys can bang and serra dropped gsp and these guys throw faster and harder than serra.
Should be a tough battle between a hungry up n comer in hardy and swick who is finally getting the credit he deserves. I say a split decision for swick
As far as these fighters strikes…Alves is twice the Striker either one of these guys are and he was dominated by an almost 1-legged GSP. The bottom line is like BJ Penn & Anderson Silva…the only fighter that can beat Georges St. Pierre is Georges St. Pierre. With the Serra fight and Sports phycology along with a new diet and unmatched training heights…GSP is truly in a class all by himself, period. No one on the current roster can beat him…Jake Sheilds may be the only intriging fight at welterweight and he’s in Strikeforce. I hope that there are swome fighters out there to challenge Georges at welterweight…i personally do not want to see him fight at Middleweight. He has nothing to prove there. I see Swick finally getting his due by decision then challenging Georges in March or April…
GSP would britalize Shields, plan and simple. Also, SHields has moved up to Middleweight, he’s fighting Mayhem for the Strikeforce belt. As far as Swick and Hardy as potential number one contenders goes, what the hell happened? Swick and Hardy? No offense to either of them, they work hard and deserve to be treated well, but come on. As far as being welterweights is concerned, both of them made their name on unconvincing, even questionable decisions over Marcus Davis. Swick is now coming off a win over Ben Saunders. Wait…who? The guy that didn’t even win TUF? Oh yeah, that guy. Really? It just goes to show, a little over a year ago, people couldn’t believe the depth of the UFC’s welterweight division. Now GSP has become so cimpletely dominant, that 170 just looks barren. I mean, even world-wide 170 is one of the weakest divisions.
I hear ya on that one kimura, but it’s seems to be the case at lw,ww, & mw. They all have such dominant champs that it seems that no matter who they throw at them they’ll just get dismantled & it makes it seem like there is no talent. In reality there’s so much talent, but these champs are just too damn good. Even at lhw, as much as I hate to say it, it looks like Machidas going to be holdingbon to that strap for a bit. Only the heavies are up in the air and Lesnar has the power/skill(wrestling) combo for it to be possible for him to hold that strap for a while as well!
I don’t see Swick or Hardy as #1 contenders either, but who else you gonna throw at him? The same guys over and over? Let him empty out the division, what the hell. At least it’ll be entertaining!
We really have no choice at this point. GSP is that damn good. Shields was a name I threw out there just for entertainment fact…I know and agree with the above by K-fan. Maybe a Koschek fight would be good and a Fitch re-match would intrique me 2.
I thought Alves was gonna give him a hard time and he made him look like an amatuer! Same thing with BJ & Kenny, I was actually a little worried & he schooled his ass. Anderson, do I really need to say anything?
Yo Cisco, I love how Rogan was all over Kenny’s dick that whole fight. All Kenny did was ty and take BJ down and just stood there like that the whole fight. Rogan was like “uh oh, Kenny’s controlling the pace here, hes got BJ up against the cage!”, I was like come on dude. BJ was just standing there until he could break free, and everytime he did he caught Kenny with a hook-uppercut two-piece on the way out it was ridiculous.
And Cisco, I agree with you on the situation at LW and WW, but at least at LW there’s great fighters outside of the UFC who may at some point end up in the Octagon. IMO, the UFC needs to start bringing in those guys because there’s only a handful of guys left who have convincingly earned a shot at Penn, whether or not there is any way they can win. Guys like Joachim Hansen are more credible opponents, Hellboy is an animal. I’m not saying he can beat BJ, but he’s certainly a more interesting opponent that Gray Maynard I would think, no offense to Gray. Same thing with LHW, Machida is pretty damn good, possibly even a step or two above everybody else at 205, but at least there are plenty of credible guys left for him to fight there. Look at 170, then look at 205. 205 has always been the UFC’s best division, and it’s better than ever right now. Rampage will be back, let’s be honest, and you still have the Shogun fight, along with guys like Evans and Thuiago Silva who may have already lost, but they’re both really bad dudes that can whip ass any day of the week. Then you have mainstays like Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine, and Brandon Vera (if he ever decides to actually fight). Then you have the young guns on their way up like Luiz Cane and Jon Jones. Not to mention Lil Nog comin in, along with the returns of Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman.
yes, very true on all accounts Kimurafan. There is a lot more competitive fighters at these weight classes. GSP is starting to diet for the first time in his life , he says…to pack on quality muscle. Something may be in the works but I again would lilke 2 see him stay at weltereight.
if swick gets through hardy i think he deserves it,hardy i dont but you have to remember that the ufc goes on records prior to the ufc aswell.jakes sheilds i would put ahead of these two but he is in another organisation.maybe down the road when his strikeforce contract is up.
K-fan: was a little surprised at your characterization of Rogan in the BJ/Florian fight (not that what Joe has to say really means anything, BJ was clearly superior in every way) but I just watched it again just to see how those comments came off. Rogan did mention it about five times that Kenny was pushing BJ up against the fence, but it seemed to me more like he was just recognizing Florian’s apparent strategy, and not necessarily approving or saying it was a good strategy. In fact, when BJ went for the crushing and ultimately final takedown in round four, Rogan even said something like “All that pushing up against the fence just went right out the window,”, and we all saw what happened after that…
Personally, I think Kenny’s people let him down in that fight, as they were screaming at him to do this and do that, while he was in there fighting for his life. Kind of a pet peeve of mine in modern MMA; I know boxing trainers have always made their suggestions from the corner as the fight goes on, but these days you hear these MMA trainers screaming orders from the sidelines, like the fighter should just forget their instincts and follow their orders. Kenny’s guys (was it Mark Delagrotte or Florian’s brother?) kept telling him between rounds “Do what we tell you when we tell you to do it,” and I think that’s rediculous, aside from the fact that on that night in that fight, Florian was clearly outgunned in every aspect: whatever they told him to do, it was almost pre-ordained that it wasn’t going to help..,
On Swick/Hardy, thought the Hardy/Davis fight was a good brawl and a strong win for Hardy, putting him in line for a step up the ladder. Swick is one of those guys that always seems to be improving, and has that athletic strength that will serve him well. Should be a good fight, but I agree with just about eveyone else, I don’t see a major threat to George St. Pierre coming out of this fight. I would say Swick seems a bit more well rounded versus Hardy, but GSP is just that much over and above everyone else at 170 right now that I think he’d take Hardy or Swick in a five rounder for the title pretty definitively.
Agreed Mu SHin, GSP could definately hang with either of them on the feet, if not pick them apart. Then, as soon as GSP puts either of them on their back, it’s the beginning of the end. Obviously GSP has a wrestling ability like no other, but it’s his vicious GnP that makes him so dangerous. He absolutely slaughtered Sean Sherk, and Matt Highes in their second fight. He beat the piss out of BJ, and might have finished him in the 5th round if BJ hadn’t quite. He thrashed Alves too, credit for Alves for hanging in there, although it might have been different had St. Pierre not torn his groin muscle. I think he could pound either of these guys to bloody mush within two rounds to be quite honest.
Also Mu Shin, you could be right about the Rogan commentary, I was kind of just calling how I remembered it, so I could easily be exagerrating. However, I thought that towards the beginning of the fight, Kenny definately should have listened to his corner more, he wasn’t doing anything they told him to do, but you’re defintately right aobut the end, they were yelling things at him when BJ had his back, and he obviously couldn’t do anything unless he escaped first, which clearly didn’t happen. And of course, after the fight Keith Florian talked all sorts of smack and made up various excuses like he usually does, even when Kenny wins.
Baby Jay need’s to move back to WW after he smashes Sanchez.. I think he would smash Swick, Daley, Kos, and Hardy.. Then GSP vs BJ 3!!!! No grease no glory!!!!! haha
To the death!!! ….. Or he gasses, which ever comes first!! J/k
GSP wins against everyone at 170
Yo Red, as much as I’d love to see BJ get back to his winning ways at 170, I don’t think there would be a point unless he was gonna make a run at the title, and it doesn’t look like the UFC is gonna give him another fight with GSP. I agree though, there are plenty of WWs he could beat. I think he would definately beat Dan Hardy and Mike Swick, he’s wayyy too tachnical for those guys I think. Then again, Swick trains under Dave Camarillo, a former teammate of BJ’s when they were together under Ralph Gracie. That mught come into play, seeing how often fighters are refusing to face each other these days, especially the A.K.A. guys.