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After a gutsy effort by Dan Hardy, England may still belong to him, but Georges St-Pierre had the rest of the world wrapped up as he defended his UFC welterweight championship for the fourth time with a shutout five round decision win.
Scores were 50-43, 50-44, and 50-45.
St-Pierre was all business, taking the Nottingham native to the canvas moments into the bout. St-Pierre quickly moved to side control, then took Hardy’s back as he tried to escape. Hardy was able to elude trouble on the mat, but as he escaped and got to his feet, St-Pierre made it a brief respite as he took ‘The Outlaw’ back down. With 1:30 left, St-Pierre got into the mount position before again taking Hardy’s back. A late armbar attempt by the champion appeared to spell the end, but the challenger gamely got free.
After his first-round dominance, St-Pierre went back to what was already working in round two, taking Hardy down one minute into the second stanza and keeping him on the mat for much of the round.
St-Pierre grounded Hardy again in round three, this time posturing up to add some more muscle to his strikes. Hardy, not surprisingly, remained game – even trying to grab the Canadian’s arm for a submission attempt – but his odds of pulling off the upset victory were dwindling with each punch. With 90 seconds left, St-Pierre started working for the finish, but he was unable to break his foe.