UFC 111: March 27th

The UFC's return to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ is now official as UFC 111 takes place on March 27th with two title fights scheduled for the card. This will be the first UFC event with multiple title fights since UFC 100 last July. Coincidentally, two of the men who headlined that historic card will co-main event 111 as well, as Georges St. Pierre defends his welterweight title against British usptart Dan Hardy, and Frank Mir and Shane Carwin battle it out for the interim heavyweight title as current champ Brock Lesnar still is sidelined with medical issues.

Shane Carwin was expected to challenge Lesnar for the heavyweight title, but when the champ went down with serious gastrointestinal issues, Carwin was faced with the choice of sitting on the sidelines indefinitely waiting for news of Lesnar's recovery, or getting back into the Octagon to avoid the ring rust. With Frank Mir's destruction of Cheick Kongo at UFC 107 in December and his frequent calls for a rubber match with Lesnar, it became clear that the former heavyweight champ would match up well against Carwin to determine an interim champ while Lesnar's future was decided.

Although many were vocal about Dan Hardy not deserving a title shot when he was penciled in for a number-one contender's fight with Mike Swick at UFC 105, Hardy proved many of the doubters wrong and ended up as the only viable option after dominating Swick for a unanimous decision victory. Although some may argue that St. Pierre has faced stiffer competition in his UFC career, Hardy has proven to be a very dangerous striker, and if GSP-Serra 1 told us anything, one punch can change history.

Here is the expected card:
-Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy
-Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
-Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
-Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek
-Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
-Ben Saunders vs. Martin Kampmann
-Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio Camoes
-Jared Hamman vs. Rodney Wallace
-Matt Riddle vs. Ricardo Funch