UFC 111: What We Learned

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1. Georges St. Pierre has become two things: The best wrestler in MMA, and boring.

Yes, I admit it. I don't like watching 1-0 pitching duels, basketball games where the winning team has double-digit points at the end of the game, or football games that don't break single digits. Give me home runs, fast breaks, touchdowns... and finishes.

You listening GSP?

There can be no doubt about St. Pierre's grappling prowess in the wake of his utter domination over the U.K.'s Dan Hardy Saturday.

And I don't think it's going too far to say that there isn't a better grappler in all of MMA. St. Pierre's ground game is so good that people have forgotten how electrifying the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belts' striking can be.

In his first 15 fights, St. Pierre had only three go to decision. He finished the rest with a mix of slick submissions and devastating knockouts.

But in his past four contests, as St. Pierre has steadily changed his style to a more controlling ground style to take advantage of his new-found world class wrestling skills, the welterweight champion has gone to decision three times and the other fight went four rounds.

Gone are the days of the big St. Pierre finish.

This champion doesn't have to take chances in order to dominate when there isn't anyone in his division to match his vast grappling skill.

And maybe that's okay.

Wrestling and controlling your opponent is part of the sport, and so is winning at all costs. Until someone comes along to match St. Pierre's wrestling, the smart thing for him to do is to keep pounding out decision victories five rounds at a time.

Pitchers' duel fanatics rejoice.

2. Dan Hardy is tough as nails, and solidified himself in the welterweight top ten rankings.

If you watched his fight with St. Pierre then there's no need to explain the above statement. Anyone questioning Hardy's resolve need only look at his fight Saturday night.

Hardy, hardly did enough to win any part of any round of the fight, but earned a ton of respect for getting out of two fight-ending submissions: a fully extended armbar in the first round, and a tight kimura in the forth.

The powerful striker never landed so much as one flush shot on St. Pierre, but he did earn top position at one point in the fight, defended very well from the ground and was able to get out of numerous bad positions during the course of the fight. 

Hardy proved that with his mix of striking, strength, ground game, and resolve he's a handful for any other fighter in the division.

3. Frank Mir is stuck between a Brock and a hard hitter.

Okay, I formally apologize to the Stones, but I couldn't help myself.

Try as he may, Mir will never be able to grapple with either Lesnar or the hard-punching Shane Carwin. Both are collegiate wrestling champions, and neither gave any ground to Mir at any point when they locked horns.

Mir was clearly the better striker when he stood with Lesnar, and actually looked to have the colossus hurt at one point in their last match-up after landing a multitude of strikes, but Mir couldn't stop the takedown or help but be controlled on the ground by the much larger Lesnar.

To counter this, Mir gained nearly 15 pounds of muscle and now weighs in at a legit 265 pounds.

He looked to test his new-found physique against Carwin, but instead of getting the fight to the ground where he could employ his world-class jiu-jitsu skills, Mir chose instead to take a chance that his chin would hold up better than every other fighter Carwin has faced in his 12 professional fights.

Bad choice.

Carwin promptly collapsed the former UFC heavyweight champion with a mix of powerful uppercuts and hooks, and ended the fight just as he has every other during his undefeated pro carrier—with a first round stoppage.

So where does Mir go from here?

There's no question that Mir is still an elite fighter. He's put on weight which will help in his quest to avoid being completely dominated on the ground by Lesnar or the other elite wrestlers at the top of the UFC's heavyweight division.

He's also a very underrated striker and could stand and trade with anyone in the division not named Shane Carwin.

A rematch with either Lesnar or Carwin would be interesting provided he could keep the fight standing or work his ground game against Lesnar, and he could get the fight to the ground at all costs against Carwin.

4. Shane Carwin can beat Brock Lesnar .

Yeah, I said it.

Though Carwin is an enormous human being, he's still a good 15 to 20 pounds lighter than Lesnar who typically enters the Octagon around 280 pounds.

Carwin is, however, a collegiate wrestling champion, and is no slouch when it comes to defending the takedown. If he can stuff Lesnar's shot and keep the fight standing for more than a few minutes during any point in their upcoming fight, he will knock Lesnar out.

Lesnar has proven that he is likely the best wrestler in the heavyweight division and his Brazilian jiu-jitsu defense is absolutely outstanding, but his weakness is his stand-up, which is Carwin's strength.

There isn't a man in the UFC's heavyweight division that can stand and trade with Carwin's 5x fists.

If Lesnar can take Carwin down, then Carwin will absolutely be in trouble, but if Carwin's elite wrestling can give him a substantial window of opportunity to stand and trade with Lesnar, then we'll have a new heavyweight champion after the two square off at UFC 116 .

5. Nate Diaz belongs at welterweight.

Employing his patented Diaz brother's, pitter-patter boxing style on Saturday night against Rory Markham , Diaz looked like a clone of his brother Nick, one of the world's best welterweights.

He deftly shifted angles, changed levels, and kept his fists flying at every opportunity; eventually wearing Markham down with a barrage of shots, crumbling the former boxer to the floor where Diaz finished him, earning his first UFC knockout in ten fights with the organization.

Diaz looked visibly healthier at welterweight (170 pounds) than at lightweight (155 pounds) where he'd fought over the course of his career until Saturday.

His punches seemed to pack much more damage than they had in the past as well, adding a new dimension to the accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner's arsenal.

There are some interesting days ahead for Diaz at this weight.