Dan Hardy is still aiming to make a Mixed Martial Arts comeback, but it won’t be with the UFC after the promotion recently cut ties with the longtime commentator and former UFC welterweight.
The circumstances behind Hardy’s split with the UFC have been a mystery for the past few months, but his post-fight confrontation with Herb Dean while working at UFC Fight Island 3 last July is certainly the icing on the cake.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Hardy provided an insight as to what happened leading up to his release from the UFC and what could be next as he ponders a return to fighting.
“I’ve never felt like I had a bad relationship, but I’ve also never approached this job as it was a job,” Hardy said. “Sometimes, my frustrations would be people were kind of dragging their feet and doing the necessary work. My issues have been with the PR team and the office, and that was my frustration, which I’d mentioned a few times. But it seemed to me like perhaps my complaints had not gotten further up the chain. In fact, they’d actually gone back to the person that I had maybe complained about because their mood toward me had changed.”
“I think the Dean situation didn’t help either, but obviously, the UFC couldn’t terminate my contracts after that because that would look really bad, firing a commentator after commenting on fighter safety. I think that was kind of the nail in the coffin, to be honest, because of how much control they need to have over those events.”
Hardy has been a large part of UFC Fight Night events for the past few years, and most notably on an international scale. He’s been a prominent part of the UFC’s fights held in the United Kingdom, where Hardy is from, and built his name from the ground up. Hardy has long considered a fighting comeback since retiring from the UFC in 2012 following a series of health-related issues.
Hardy re-entered the USADA testing pool in mid-2019 in hopes of returning to fighting, but fans still await his return just two years later. He has reportedly been in contact with ONE Championship, Bellator and RIZIN since he cut ties with the UFC.
Regardless of whether or not Hardy ever eventually makes a return to fighting, he’s arguably one of the biggest stars in the broadcast booth and would be an incredible asset to any promotion looking for his services. It’ll be interesting to see what direction the 38-year-old goes in his MMA career and we could learn more later this year.
What do you think about Dan Hardy’s split from the UFC and a potential comeback?