The Sham that was UFC 111: Georges St. Pierre Vs. Dan Hardy, and Why it Seems so Familiar

Dana White, head honcho of the UFC, has his roots in the world of boxing. As he continues to bash the dirty promotional tricks and self-destructive nature associated with the sport out of one corner of his mouth, White, "The Worst Person in MMA", borrows those same tricks and spews the same such garbage out of the other side of his mouth. The latest such example was the main event for UFC 111, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy.

Seeing that fight made - and seeing how it predictably panned out with an utterly one-sided beat down - calls to mind, wait for the shocker, a boxing match from just a few years ago.

It was 2005, and things were different then... Floyd Mayweather was still known as Pretty Boy and Manny Pacquiao had just lost to Erik Morales in his first bout above the featherweight limit of 126 lbs.

The undefeated Mayweather, already a mainstay on pound for pound lists, had only recently moved up from 135 lbs to the junior welterweight division. He was well known in the boxing community but had not yet emerged as a mainstream star. His first big, center stage bout was to be held in June of that year, against fan favorite action brawler, the late Arturo Gatti.

Any knowledgeable boxing fan can look at an encounter like that and predict the brutal, almost hard to watch clinic that followed. Mayweather picked Gatti apart with surgical precision for 6 rounds until Gatti's corner thankfully ended the affair.

However, HBO promoted that fight for months and geared up fans for an epic encounter. The hard punching, slugging, gutsy Gatti was going to teach Mayweather a thing or two about being tough and getting into real fights with real men in the ring. Not to mention he was improving his technical skills and was a more-rounded fighter than he had ever been. Doubt his chances at your own risk, Mayweather, Gatti is coming to knock you out! Sure.

The worst part was that as soon as you shelled out your cash and the PPV telecast began, there is the crew talking about how much of a mismatch the fight was and how easy a time Mayweather should have. Geez guys, couldn't keep up the illusion until after the bout ended. At least let the suckers leave happy so you can trick them again next time out!

Well during the buildup to UFC 111 GSP vs. Hardy a very similar battle cry/promotional line/lie was being spewed out of the mouths of White and the UFC. Georges St. Pierre, pound for pound candidate, was facing the gutsy, brawling, hard hitting Dan Hardy, who was going to show him a thing or two about real fights against real fighters in the cage. Not only that, but Hardy is actually underrated in other areas of MMA and was fitter and stronger than ever.

Of course, even a moderately engaged UFC fan such as myself could see miles away that Dan Hardy was going to be picked apart. GSP controlled the bout all the way through, winning all 5 rounds, and doing so in such dominating fashion that on two of the scorecards Hardy had at least one round where he was down 10-8.

I didn't buy the card so I can't tell you if Joe Rogan's smiling mug was still pumping Hardy up or if he switched gears and began extolling the inevitability of a GSP win once the night began, but I can bet neither he nor Dana White nor anybody else with the UFC was too worried about how one of the best MMA practitioners in the world would fare against Dan Hardy.

This isn't even anything against Dan Hardy. He is an exciting fighter to watch. However his only notable win was against Dana White-favored Mike Swick, one of the homegrown fighters from the UFC reality television show that White continues to showcase and push at all costs (See: Florian, Kenny; Leben, Chris; Bisbing, Michael, etc). There were plenty of other fighters in the division who deserved a shot more than Hardy did, excitement level or not.

I thought in the UFC it was all about the best fighting the best... not predictable matches getting made with undeserving participants because the fight could be sold to the masses. Well, that's exactly what GSP vs. Hardy was at UFC 111, and it was a move essentially scripted from Mayweather vs. Gatti five years ago.

If you're going to bash the way one sport runs itself - and hey, often it's bashing with justification - go ahead. But maybe you should stop stealing pages from the playbook and trying them out for yourself to see how well they work for you.