Two weeks before the highest profile fight in his MMA career, Dan Hardy spoke to MMA Weekly Radio about his opponent, Georges St. Pierre, and his mindset going into their Welterweight title fight at UFC 111 in Newark, New Jersey.

On being perceived as a huge underdog:

“I’m being counted out by about 98 percent of people in the world. I’m going into this fight with nothing to lose at all. That’s the difference, I can go in there and take risks, and I will take risks cause that’s the way I fight. I’m not there to eek out a decision, I want to knock him out, and that’s what I’m planning on doing. I’ve got four fights in the UFC now, and every time I was supposed to get my ass kicked. It hasn’t happened yet, so the underdog situation works pretty well for me because I’m coming out on top every time.”

On St. Pierre:

“He’s a great athlete and he goes in there to win, but the difference between me and him is, he’s a great athlete, but I’m a fighter. My intention is to go in there and have a good fight, and see what happens, and part of that is taking risks. I think that’s the part that GSP’s lost; he’s not willing to take that risk anymore. He don’t want to put himself out there in case he loses his belt again.”

“He’s under a lot of pressure in this fight, way more than I am. Cause he’s fighting a British guy, who’s had four fights in the UFC, come from nowhere, and I’m stepping in there with a damn good chance of putting him to sleep, and he knows that. All the pressure is on him.”

(source: MMA Weekly)