Greg Hardy is out to prove himself inside the UFC Octagon.
He got off to a great start picking up his first UFC victory over the weekend (Sat. April 27, 2019). Hardy finished Dmitrii Smoliakov in the first round via TKO. In his first UFC fight this past January, Hardy suffered a disqualification loss to Allen Crowder.
Both of Hardy’s UFC fights have taken place in the co-main event. However, other fighters have been critical of Hardy’s opportunity, believing it’s solely off the back of his NFL experience. Many of the heavyweight elite – such as title contenders Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis – share those sentiments.
Speaking to TMZ recently, Hardy said he has all of the heavyweight elite, Miocic and Lewis included, in his sights (via MMA Mania):
“They’re not in my mind, they’re in my sights,” Hardy said. “They’re locked in. With all due time. I want to earn this, for one. So that these loudmouths that run their mouth talking about ‘Oh, Greg doesn’t deserve like blah, blah, blah.’ Yeah, I do. Because I earned it. I worked my way up to here.”
Fighters such as Derrick Lewis, who comes from a home in which he witnessed his mother being abused, want to fight Hardy due to the former NFL star’s history of domestic abuse.
Knowing the likes of Lewis would like to share the Octagon with him, Hardy says that will all come in due time, as he currently isn’t ready to face opponents of that caliber quite yet:
“I’m not ready,” Hardy said. “It’s like throwing a cub in there with some lions, man. It just doesn’t make sense. So when I go there, when I do fight these guys, hopefully, soon enough when I do elevate and graduate, it’s gonna be Goliath vs. Goliath. A war to be witnessed and loved and cherished forever and on through time.”
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