Swick vs. Hardy to decide welterweight contender

A quick glance at the UFC welterweight division reveals a dearth of contenders for Georges St. Pierre’s belt. He’s already beaten top-tenners Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck.

And he was expected to face the winner of the Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann bout until that fell through when Swick got a concussion during training and Kampmann lost to his replacement, UFC newcomer Paul Daley, at UFC 103.

Well, Swick (14-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) posted to Twitter yesterday that he’ll meet Dan Hardy (22-6 MMA, 3-0 UFC) with the winner advancing against GSP.

While no date has been announced, Hardy was already scheduled to face Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 105 on November 14 in Manchester, England, so expect Kim to be swapped out for Swick.

Swick is 4-0 since he dropped to 170 pounds in early 2008 with decision wins over Josh Burkman and Marcus Davis and TKO victories over Jonathan Goulet and Ben Saunders.

Hardy has won 11 of his last 12 fights, including a 3-0 mark in the UFC with a split-decision win over Akihiro Gono, a first-round KO win over Rory Markham and a decisive split-decision victory over Davis UFC 99.

UFC 105 currently features hometown favorite Michael Bisping vs. Canadian Pride FC standout Denis Kang and former champion Randy Couture returning to light heavyweight to battle Brandon Vera.