Report: Dan Hardy Fired By UFC Over Another ‘Fight Island’ Incident

The longtime UFC analyst and play by play commentator was released due to ‘an argument with a female employee’ in Abu Dhabi.

Longtime UFC analyst and commentator Dan Hardy has reportedly been let go by the UFC and BT Sport.

That’s the word coming from the ever-reliable Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, whose latest newsletter says the former UFC welterweight contender turned mic jockey was involved in some sort of altercation with a female employee on Fight Island. Obviously that’s very vague so we wanted to include the exact wording from Meltzer so as not to misrepresent anyone.

“Dan Hardy, 38, was fired by both the UFC and BT Sports as an announcer over an issue in Abu Dhabi where he got into an argument with a female employee,” Meltzer wrote.

Hardy was noticeably absent on BT Sports in the lead up to UFC 259 and hasn’t been seen on his ‘Inside the Octagon’ show for the past month. He’s also been much more active lately on his own YouTube channel, Full Reptile. There was also this somewhat cryptic tidbit in an interview with Submission Radio a few days ago regarding his attempts to secure a fight:

“I’m trying to get in contact with the UFC and it’s proving very difficult at the moment,” Hardy said. “So, social media is the best way of going about it.”

On the morning of UFC 259, Hardy put this message up on Twitter, which may have to do with the story relating to his firing.

“There is nothing more insulting, than to have your integrity questioned by someone with questionable integrity,” Hardy wrote.

Hardy has been a part of the commentary team and BT Sports network for years and handled play by play duties for many of the promotion’s European cards. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was a regular on Fight Island. Back in July of 2020 he got into some hot water with the promotion after he screamed at referee Herb Dean to stop a fight between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert that saw Trinaldo raining down blows on a finished Herbert.

While UFC president Dana White has never been afraid to talk about bad reffing and judging with the press, he made it clear that UFC staff were not to interact with or attempt to influence officials during fights.

“I want to make this very clear: If you work for me, and you approach a judge or a referee or any type of official, I will fire you,” he said.

While at this point it’s unclear whether the incident involved a UFC employee or commission official, it was enough for the promotion to let him go. More details on this as they come in.