Of course, being ‘the man’ in your division is a good thing, after all, this means that you’ve probably beaten the piss out of at least two or three decorated fighters, and as a result, people aren’t expecting you to give up your belt anytime soon. Hello Georges St. Pierre. Of course, the down side to this situation is that there’s a ton of pressure, if you win, you were supposed to, if you lose, you’re on the receiving end of a million person WTF? This is precisely what will happen Saturday night if Dan Hardy takes out GSP (hair salons may also want to stock up on red hair dye for a wave of Hardy wannabees).
It’s not like St. Pierre hasn’t been down this road before; see his shocking defeat and then follow up ‘knees and ribs don’t mix’ victory over Matt Serra. While speaking to the media, it really does sound like GSP continues to return to his first bout with Serra, as a means to motivate himself heading into another bout where he’s a massive favorite. For example, while speaking to UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi, the champion stated:
“I just have to remember what happened to me when I fought Serra the first time,” he said. “I don’t want it to happen twice.”
“I’m never overconfident, I’m always afraid of losing,” he said. “There’s no such thing as an invincible man and everybody’s beatable.”
If GSP loses to Hardy, and yes, that’s a big if, it’s going to be damn interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts as to why… To bet on the bout head here.