Trainer: St. Pierre Not Sleeping on Hardy

When you’re as good as Georges St. Pierre, largely seen as the world’s best welterweight and a regular pound-for-pound candidate, finding worthy challengers who also intrigue the fans can be quite a task. Dan Hardy will be the next man to meet the French-Canadian champion at UFC 111 on March 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. St. Pierre's trainer, Greg Jackson, isn't sleeping on Hardy's chances.

“I do believe it because he has a lot of skills,” Jackson told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show” on Wednesday. “He's got really good power. The problem with guys like Dan Hardy is that he's young, he's hungry, he's got very good skills and if he catches you the wrong way, you zig when you should have zagged and that might be it.”

Jackson was also quick to remind everyone of the last time St. Pierre was in a bout with a fighter he was “supposed” to beat.

“Remember that Matt Serra was never considered a real threat to Georges,” said Jackson. “Everyone was laughing it off, then all of a sudden Georges was in a lot of trouble. So if you go into any fight thinking this guy is going to be easy, this guy is going to be a walkover, this isn't a legitimate threat, it puts you in a place mentally where you aren't going to train as hard, you're not going to be as hungry and Hardy is a legitimate serious threat and needs to be treated as such.”

The bout will mark the first time Hardy has fought in the U.S., though Jackson isn’t convinced that will be an issue for the Brit.

“I'm not sure (it will be a factor) because Hardy trains so much in the United States anyway,” Jackson said. “It’s not like America is any kind of new culture shock for him, I don't think. He's a really tough guy. I think he's mentally tough guy, physically tough. So I don't think there will be a huge disadvantage. I'm certainly not counting on that.”

Jackson is set to meet with St. Pierre next week to start game-planning for the March bout. Jackson said he wasn’t sure if St. Pierre will travel to New Mexico for his camp or stay in Canada.

“That's the nice thing about having everyone in Denver, in Montreal, in New York, we have so many people constantly moving around that we'll always have good training partners for you no matter where you are,” said Jackson. “If you don't feel like traveling to that camp, we'll come to you.”

And while fans might be looking past the Hardy bout, they continue to clamor for St. Pierre to face middleweight king Anderson Silva. Nothing's impossible, according to Jackson.

“I'm not actually sure what the plans are there,” Jackson said. “I don't see it out of the realm of possibility, that's for sure. It's definitely something that's possible. We'd have to put on weight I'll tell you that because Anderson walks around quite a bit heavier than Georges, so we'd have to put on some real good weight and have a real good game plan. So it would take time if we want to do it.”