After winning seven straight, four of which took place in the Octagon, British striker Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy (23-6, 1NC) was given the biggest opportunity of his career, a UFC welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre.
Hardy and GSP would meet at UFC 111, with the French-Canadian dominating the fight for 25-minutes. Despite being in several precarious positions throughout the fight, ‘The Outlaw’ refused to tap and gained the admiration of many fans.
Looking back at the loss, Hardy admits that getting the title shot was the catalyst for his current situation, losing four straight and likely having just one more shot at keeping his job with the UFC.
“Then the [Mike] Swick fight threw me into a title picture a lot sooner than I had anticipated. There were lots of pressures that came with that and they took the enjoyment out of fighting. I was the first Brit to get a title shot. I only had four fights in the UFC and no one thought I deserved a title shot. That was a lot of pressure.
“I went in there, basically hoping to show I didn’t have any quit in me. After the fight I was like, ‘That really couldn’t have gone any better.’ If I had knocked him out, they would have said it was a lucky punch. But the fact I got my a– kicked for 25 minutes and survived, people said, ‘Well, he’s not on the same level technically, but he’s game.’
“After that, my ego swelled. Because I performed better in that fight than people thought, I got respect from the fans. All of a sudden everyone wants to know what you’re doing because you’ve got a colorful Mohawk and a British accent. It was exhausting. I couldn’t focus on being a better mixed martial artist. I had to focus on being the guy everyone wanted me to be.”
Check out the rest of Hardy’s comments over at ESPN.com