Fighters have told Lenne Hardt that they knew they had “made it” in the fight game when they heard her call their name.
Hardt, who started her run in the world of martial arts under the Pride FC banner, still works events—namely with GLORY World Series and One FC. But it now takes much less than years of dedicated training to have your name called by Hardt in her distinct style, which she says has developed organically over the course of the past decade and a half.
Via her website, which includes unique “Warhol-inspired” merchandise like shirts and mugs, fans may order a personalized message from the famed announcer—with “a little bit o’ my soul one piece at a time,” the Alaska-born Hardt says.
Getting to Know Lenne Hardt
Lenne Hardt was born in Alaska but spent her early childhood as the youngest of six children of an Air Force pilot on a farm in northern Idaho, with “lots of dogs, horses, skiing and dreaming.”
Hardt, who wanted to be either an actress or an archaeologist in her youth, began her announcing career at Pride FC’s first grand prix in Tokyo in 2000. Since Hardt’s first event, where she says she was “simply gobsmacked” by the spectacle of it all, she estimates that she has worked more than 100 martial arts events en route to being known in the mixed martial arts world.
Hardt, a veteran voice actress, has also worked on video games (with the Tekken and Silent Hill franchises) and anime productions and has been the announcer for several Japanese music groups.
Ed Kapp is a Regina, Saskatchewan-based freelance journalist. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations were obtained firsthand.
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