Mike Swick says Hardy Deserves Title Shot, Likes his Chances with GSP at UFC 111

Published on: 10th March, 2010

Mike Swick says Hardy Deserves Title Shot, Likes his Chances with GSP at UFC 111  | read this item

With all the hype that is about to surround the UFC 111 main event welterweight title bout between champion Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy there have also been pevious reports of the British number one contender not being worthy of a shot at the title from the likes of Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Nate Marquardt and Mike Swick.

But, when speaking with Fighters Only Swick has retracted his previous statement on ‘The Outlaw’ not deserving such a fight and now thinks otherwise.

“Dan Hardy definitely deserves his title shot in Newark. I said in a few interviews he didn’t but – I want to clear the air – when I said that I was still upset I’d got beat by him at UFC 105. I made that mistake of talking when I was feeling emotional, when I was feeling down and was disappointed in my performance. But it wasn’t my true opinion; at least not one I’d actually thought about,” Swick revealed today.“I’m a little embarrassed I said that, and want to say publicly Hardy deserves his shot and has a good chance of winning. He’s a top fighter. I said on my Twitter I hope Dan does well and good luck to him, that he deserves shot. But obviously no-one picked up on that while the other stuff I said before was everywhere.”Hardy earned his shot at the welterweight championship in his last fight at UFC 105 last November which came against Swick who also added that Hardy has “a great chance” against Georges St-Pierre despite knowing that overall the current champ is very favored to win once again.

“Overall, GSP has the better chances to win, of course, but Hardy is getting better and better and, honestly, I am more excited to see this GSP fight v Hardy than pretty much anyone else you could put GSP in with. I am super excited about the fight; I can’t wait to see what happens as a MMA fan. Dan can definitely win this if he takes his chances with his strikes,” said Swick.

Swick in fact shows his respect to Hardy and that his previous take on him was just emotional and has put it in the past, but would like a rematch down the road if he were to become champion.

“Behind all the talk, I know Dan’s a very good guy. We didn’t have problem before or after our own fight, so there’s no need to talk all this stuff now. I wish him the best. It would be very exciting for the division to have him as champion. Obviously I’d love a rematch for myself but anytime a division is shaken up its great for the sport.”

Anybody else in American Kickboxing Academy would like to make an apology to Dan Hardy? Maybe not, but Hardy does have that potential to shock the world with a win over Georges St-Pierre. What’s your take?

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

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