Dan Hardy had a dominant fight over Mike Swick, taking the number one challenger position with relative ease. For some reason, he kept shooting for a takedown, even though he was dominating the stand-up and clinch game. I can only imagine that he felt he had something to prove by taking the fight to the ground. I think Swick has a significant advantage on the ground, so it wasn't surprising when Swick shot in for takedowns. Still, Hardy delivered a good performance, and will rightfully be taking on GSP for the title in the near future. I don't see Hardy winning, but he might be the one to upset the Canadian's unquestioned reign at 170.
Couture and Vera had an interesting fight. Vera dominated most of the fight with great kickboxing, but the two were pretty even in terms of the clinch. Couture worked his dirty boxing game, but I think it evened out as Vera worked his Muay Thai clinch game. I suppose I might give the edge in the clinch to Couture, but they still didn't spend enough time there to tip the fight in Randy's favor. I don't agree with the judging of this fight, but it doesn't speak for both of the fighters that Vera couldn't finish Couture off, and vice-versa. While both are still good fighters, I don't think either of them are in the same league as Machida, Evans, or Rua to contend for the title.
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