Dan Hardy: Faces St. Pierre on March 27th at UFC 111In a decade’s time, our sport’s flourished from its humble grassroots into modern pop-culture phenomenon. In this time, names have come and gone. The fighters we know fade into contention irrelevance, often by way of some newcomer making his own name by dispatching them.

With an unprecedented eighteen wins in his home country of England, British countryman Dan Hardy will look to make good on becoming the first English fighter to receive a title shot in the UFC’s welterweight division. Coming off a convincing win over Mike “Quick” Swick, an impressive back-and-forth war with Marcus Davis, and a violent knock-out win over Rory Markham, Hardy is now set to face welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre at UFC 111, in the event’s main bout.

So it goes. The more established fighting athletes of today fade as they age, while those a generation younger will develop under the same pretense. This is how it goes in every sport, not just fighting. Yet, I still find myself reminding myself that “hey, some of these guys are pushing 40 now.”

Be it through progression of age, or even effort, this is the pretense under which we will find ourselves introduced to new talent, new names and new faces within our sport.

The ever-looming sense of anticipation as I look forward to what will transpire and who will step up next leaves me looking to that up-and-coming generation of martial athletes.

Even when I may not know them right away by name or face, I look forward to moments like what Brett Rodgers gave us against Fedor, and what Mike Brown offered against Uriah Faber (twice). Instances like these shape and craft our sport before our very eyes.

Sometimes, fighters are unexpectedly pushed into the spotlight. What they do with the opportunity to shine not only shapes their confidence and perspective, but also defines the direction of their ongoing career paths and respective futures.

Rarely, this push comes in a timely manner. Often, it can surprise us as fans. In some cases, it even surprises the hard-working athletes who earn these opportunities to proceed to the next level. In any event, the world watches, often times with prejudice and pessimism, but always with a sense of intrigue and an affinity for watching athletes sling punches and kicks at one-another.

It’d be hard to anticipate that any of the aforementioned will be lacking when Dan Hardy steps into the octagon to take on one of the world’s most well-known martial artists, the French-Canadian firestorm, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre.

Looking back over Hardy’s career, some interesting details reveal themselves. His last loss came against Yoshiyuki Yoshida, yet not due to any athletic betterment, but because of an illegal kick to the groin that rendered Yoshida unable to continue. Withstanding that occurrence, the last time Dan Hardy actually lost a fight was in June of 2006, when he dropped his second consecutive loss in a rematch against French fighter David Baron, who’d submitted him just one year prior.

This fight, a losing rematch effort, would be the last time that Dan Hardy met defeat at the hand of any opponent. In June, provided he beats St. Pierre, it will have been four years since anyone who’s faced Dan Hardy has had negative impact on his game plan or his ability to execute.

Stepping up to St. Pierre, it’s been twenty-seven months since his last defeat, and forty-five months since he last met an opponent who could outpace him. Of the twelve wins he’s racked up since June of 2006, seven of those have ended by way of his hands.

As impressive as these numbers are, they mean little in the thick of the action. The situation Hardy will find himself handling come the evening of March 27th is one that could inspire pressure and doubt in any opponent, yet Hardy remains focused, confident in his ability and concerned only about successful execution of his own preparatory measures for his next fight.

“The pressure will be welcome, as it will make me perform better knowing that all eyes are on me,” Hardy tells ThrowThemBows.com. His time to shine in his mind comes via the opportunity before him, and his current seven-fight streak is one he looks to extend even further with a victory over St. Pierre.

“The first Brit to get a shot at the title is soon forgotten about when we get a British UFC champ,” Hardy mentions, enlightened to the immensity of not only the chance he has in March, but his potential to go down in history. “I just want to make sure I’m remembered as the first British champ, and not forgotten as the fight Brit to get a shot.”

Hardy took his first fight in 2004, where he was choked out just as round two was ending by Lee Doski. He returned six months and five fights later to injure and thus defeat Doski. Fourteen of fifteen of Hardy’s fights have gone down in England, though in his fourth professional bout, he did travel to Florida for a fight with Pat Healy at AFC 10. Traveling stateside or intercontinental seems to be no issue for the Brit.

“I spend a lot of time in the US now, so it is my second home. I will be there weeks ahead of the fight, and will be familiar with my surroundings, so it won’t be an issue,” predicts Hardy.

In preparation for his bout, and speaking of his current training regimen, Hardy states he’s feeling healthy and energetic, nearing competitive capacity for a fight that’s still two months away.

“I’m still 9 weeks out and I’m already at 80% of what I was in my last fight. What better time to show the world the best Dan Hardy yet than a title fight. I feel awesome,” an excited, young Hardy tells me, visions of his forthcoming fight clearly bouncing around in his mind.

At only 27 years of age, Hardy comes in just 367 days younger than the current reigning champ (his birthday is literally two days apart from St. Pierre’s), having won seven straight to St. Pierre’s six straight. This will be Dan Hardy’s first true world-class challenge, though he’s fought many notable MMA names up to this point. While St. Pierre has made a career of outlasting fighters such as BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and Matt Serra, this will be Hardy’s first shot at facing any such level of competition.

With four consecutive wins since his UFC debut in October of 2008, Hardy has done well to earn his shot against St. Pierre.

Now, what can he do with it?