The UFC is targeting a Mike Swick-Dan Hardy matchup to determine the top contender to Georges St. Pierre's welterweight championship, company president Dana White confirmed to FanHouse in a text message.
Swick (14-2) had been scheduled to face off with Martin Kampmann at UFC 103 for the right to face St. Pierre, but suffered a concussion in training about two weeks before the fight. The UFC brought in Paul Daley to replace him, and the debuting Brit upset Kampmann with a first-round TKO, shaking up the title picture.
Hardy most recently defeated Marcus Davis at UFC 99, and was expected to follow up that outing with a UFC 105 bout against unbeaten Korean Dong Hyun Kim. That match, however, is expected to be scrapped. Hardy (22-6) has been perfect in his three forays into the octagon, besting Rory Markham and Akihiro Gono in addition to Davis.
White told FanHouse that the Swick-Hardy matchup is not yet finalized, but expects to make it official shortly. He made no indication as to which event will host the bout, but UFC 105 seems like the logical choice as both Hardy and Swick have recently spent time in training camps.
St. Pierre, meanwhile, is on the shelf until early 2010. Last month his manager Shari Spencer told FanHouse that GSP was targeting a January return from a groin injury, but a Swick-Hardy November matchup would likely give him even more time to recover before returning.
St. Pierre, the consensus top-ranked welterweight in the world, has won six in a row, winning the UFC interim title in December 2007 and capturing the undipsuted belt with an April 2008 win over Matt Serra. He is 19-2 overall.
Wow, the UFC really wants a replacement to fill the void that Bisping left after his hype got smashed, i don't see it happening here.
