Newark, N.J. - Georges St-Pierre has set the bar high during his tenure as UFC welterweight champion and the Canadian paid for it at UFC 111.
Despite overwhelming English challenger Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy en route to a lopsided decision Saturday night, St-Pierre got some grief over a dominant performance that was scored 50-44, 50-43 and 50-45 in his favour.
"I can tell you this -- the fans were not happy with tonight's fight," said UFC president Dana White. "My Twitter was blowing up with a lot of negative stuff about the main event. People said 'If I'd wanted to watch wrestling, I'd go the nearest college,' saying all kinds of stuff like that.
"But listen, it's mixed martial arts. Dan Hardy came in to fight the best 170-pounder in the world. When you show up to fight him, you better have some takedown defence."
Hardy didn't and St-Pierre (20-2) used his wrestling skills to take him down twice each round before the soldout crowd of 17,000 at the Prudential Center. The five rounds were virtual carbon copies of each other, with the first and fourth distinguished by nasty GSP submission attempts.
"At one point, I was like 'Man I think I broke his shoulder," said St-Pierre, who also thought he had broken Hardy's arm during the other submission attempt.
The 28-year-old from Montreal would take Hardy down and improve his position until the Brit was forced to give up his back. Hardy showed good ground defence, however, and managed to survive, get up and shed St-Pierre off his back-- as if taking off a giant sweater.
The focus among welterweight contenders now switches to the bout between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley at UFC 113 in Montreal on May 8. A cagey White said he has something up his sleeve for the winner of that fight as far as the welterweight division is concerned.
That could mean getting GSP and the winner involved as coaches of "The Ultimate Fighter" or bringing in new blood like Jake Shields. But White now seems less inclined to push St-Pierre into a super-fight above his weight class.
Despite the beating, Hardy emerges with his reputation enhanced, which many doubted going into the fight.
As the first round ended, St-Pierre had an armbar locked in and was cranking it back. Hardy amazingly refused to tap with St-Pierre explaining later he had not locked in the Brit's hips so Hardy was able to move in the direction the champion was taking the limb.
More of the same followed, with St-Pierre bending Hardy's arm back in a kimura in the fourth. Again the Brit refused to tap, his face contorted in pain and his other hand flexing as if was of a different opinion than the Hardy brain as to the merits of keeping going.
"He was in an armbar and a kimura tonight that would have made a lot of guys tap," White said. "And I couldn't believe that he could still use both arms after getting out of both of those submissions. He's a tough guy."
When the fifth round was done, and Hardy had survived the takedown clinic, St-Pierre congratulated Hardy for doing better in his first title shot than he had done against Matt Hughes at UFC 50 back in October 2004. St-Pierre, who went on to beat Hughes for the title at UFC 65 in November 2006, was submitted in the first round.
"He's a lot better than I thought he was," St-Pierre said of Hardy.
St-Pierre was a 12-1 favourite in some quarters going into the fight and White said people underestimated Hardy.
"It was like Georges was going in expected to walk through this guy like nothing. But this guy was a real contender and he fought like a real contender tonight."
The card itself was a winner on the bottom line, according to White, citing pre-sales of the pay-per-view and the UFC's website traffic. St-Pierre will get a cut of that lucrative pay-per-view revenue.
The Canadian now has made four title defences, winning three by decision but totally dominating each opponent.
St-Pierre wasn't satisfied himself with his night's work, making the analogy of a champion sprinter who wins two straight races but does not improve his time.
"I won but I haven't beat my performance of last time," he said. "So I'm not happy. I wanted to finish, have a clean win. And for me, like this, it's not clean."
His boss was also not entirely pleased with the main event.
"He didn't have the best-looking fight tonight. It wasn't the most exciting fight in the world, but he showed his dominance against a kid who came to fight," said White.
St-Pierre said he believed his striking was superior to that of Hardy's. But it just made sense to take Hardy out of his comfort zone -- on his feet -- and dump him on his back "to fight him where he was the weakest."
St-Pierre (14-2 in the UFC, with seven straight wins) may also have been the victim of his own high expectations.
He says he wants to attract fans to the sport of mixed martial arts by showing off beautiful technique. And in seeking to improve his game against Hardy, he added muscle through a new diet and weightlifting regimen.
Put the two together and St-Pierre says he tried to use his new power over technique in looking for submissions against Hardy.
GSP coach Firas Zahabi acknowledged there were opportunities to finish the fight.
"But the thing is Dan Hardy's hard to kill, that's the bottom line. He's very hard to finish and I wanted Georges to do exactly what he did, turn it into a wrestling match and put the heat on him. But the thing is Georges does have to, I think, go back to a little more to his ground-and-pound style and cause more damage.
"He did very well, he stayed out of danger and I was very happy with him."
Jiu-jiitsu coach John Danaher was more positive than his student.
"Some minor technical mistakes but also some flashes of brilliance," he said.
"Overall a very convincing win, I'm happy," Danaher added.
Hardy (23-7 with one no contest) did not attend the post-fight news conference.
"I can see now why he's a champion," he said in the cage.
"There's no quit in me. I never give up . . . I don't know the meaning of tap."
In the co-main event, Shane Carwin (12-0) pounded out a decisive first-round KO over Frank Mir to win the interim heavyweight title and earned a shot at Brock Lesnar and the real championship belt.
The end began at the fence where Carwin had his way with Mir, dropping him with a half-dozen uppercuts. Mir (13-5) went down and Carwin hammered away from above until referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in at 3:48.
"That was a good fight, but he's still wearing a belt that's a make-believe belt," Lesnar said in the cage afterwards.
Carwin, who has finished all 12 of his fights in the first round, picked up the US$65,000 bonus for knockout of the night.
"I go in there to destroy guys. I don't go in there to try to eke out decisions," Carwin said.
Added White: "You're out of your mind if you don't think Shane has a chance against Brock Lesnar."
New Jersey lightweight Jim Miller won a unanimous (29-28) decision over Mark Bocek of Woodbridge, Ont., in a fight the Canadian probably thought he won.
"It was a close fight. I think I won but it wouldn't have shocked me if I heard his name (announced)," Miller said later.
"A tough fight to score," said White.
