Dan Hardy on St. Pierre: "I'm convinced I can beat him."

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Dan Hardy tried to become the first British champion in UFC history when he entered the Octagon to face welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 111. But like so many fighters before him, he left the cage frustrated at the end of the night.

Hardy spent most of the bout's 25 minutes fighting off of his back after finding no answer to St. Pierre's lightning quick takedowns, but he was able to escape two dangerous submission attempts in a fight that showed little other effective offense by either man.

Still, despite being physically dominated for almost the entire match, Hardy believes he learned some valuable lessons from the fight.

"[St-Pierre] just convinced me that he can keep me on the floor for 25 minutes," Hardy told MMAjunkie.com. "It was frustrating. I didn't feel like I had a fight. I've got no marks or injuries. But on the plus side, I know what kind of standard I'm up against on the floor, and I feel comfortable. With a little more training I can be a lot more offensive and a lot more dangerous down there."

Hardy's frustration seemed to be shared by St. Pierre as well, who apologized to the fans for being unable to finish Hardy in a fight that drew boos from the crowd as it dragged on into its later minutes. Hardy believes that St. Pierre is now fighting not to lose, rather than going in seeking to finish his opponents.

"The problem was that my gameplan was based on not stepping forward because if I stepped forward, he would change levels," Hardy said. "So I was trying to get him to commit so I could counter him. He just didn't want to play on the feet at all. I was saying this in the buildup to the fight - 'GSP' doesn't take risks in his fights anymore. He knew that my strength was striking and (within) 17 seconds of the first round, he shot in for a takedown. I think that says a lot about his approach to the fight game. He goes in there to win the fight and keep the belt and not to beat his opponent. You can only fight this way for so long before people start complaining. I think Saturday night highlighted that, and I think a lot of people have started complaining. I don't know how we're going to get around it, because as the sport is now, you can do that and win fights."

For now Hardy will take a little time off to refocus himself, but he feels that with his newly-gained insight into the champ he will be well-prepared should they meet again in the future.

"I do need a vacation, mentally, because it's been a real tough few weeks with the training camp and the 'Primetime' (TV special)," Hardy stated. "I lost my granddad during the training camp as well, which was very difficult to deal with at the time. I need to take a step away and refresh myself. When I fight him again, I'll be able to step into the Octagon with a lot more confidence. Not that I didn't go into this fight with confidence, but I'm convinced now I can beat him. With a couple more months of training and a bit of work in a couple of areas, I can get the job done. I may have lost on Saturday night, but I wasn't beaten."