Former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Austen Lane will fight the controversial Hardy on June 12th for a shot at a UFC contract.
Dana White’s Contender Series is returning on June 12th for its second season, one that will controversially feature former NFL defensive end / domestic abuser Greg Hardy. While UFC president Dana White hasn’t relented on giving the former Dallas Cowboys player a chance to jump into the big leagues, Hardy will at least be fighting someone his own size for the occasion.
NBC Sports (who refer to Hardy as ‘one of the poster boys for the NFL’s problem with domestic violence) has revealed that fellow former NFL defensive end Austen Lane will fight Hardy. Lane played for the NFL from 2010 to 2014 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears. While his NFL career was nowhere near as promising as Hardy’s, we like the fact that he’s never gone to trial for threatening to murder his girlfriend.
As you’d expect from a defensive end, Lane is a big man at 6’6 and 265 pounds. He’s also amassed a 5-0 ammy and 4-0 pro career with all his wins coming via first round knockout. Greg Hardy is 3-0 as an amateur with all his wins also coming by first round KO.
So now it’s up to all of us to decide how we want to react to this. Will you rail against the UFC for using Hardy to try and gain attention for White’s contender series? Tune in and hope Lane cleans Hardy’s clock? Or will you ignore the fight completely in the hopes it sends a message that we aren’t interested in this kind of thing in our sport? Your move, Maniacs.