Hardy, who was dominated to a decision by UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre back at UFC 110, has since seen his stock fall dramatically as the Team Rough House banger has dropped a further two fights on the bounce. At UFC 120, ‘The Outlaw’ suffered a demoralising knockout at the hands of Carlos Condit before being wrestled to another decision defeat at the hands of Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson at UFC Fight Night 24 in March.
A fourth consecutive loss would be too much for the UFC to stomach and Hardy knows that when he enters the Octagon on August 14th, it’s kill or be killed. Speaking to ESPN via their UFC Podcast, ‘The Outlaw’ said that not only has he been experimenting with the colour of his trademark Mohawk, he’s also been dropping the pounds. Hardy had the following to say on his preparations for this pivotal fight.
“In the last two fights, I haven’t done my skill set any justice. I’ve been really disappointed with my performance in the gym and inside the Octagon. Since the Georges St-Pierre fight I’ve been experimenting with weight-cutting. The Anthony Johnson fight, I didn’t want to be an undersized opponent. I gained a lot of weight ever since the GSP fight, doing things like power-training, and a lot of it has been detrimental to me. The extra weight has slowed me down so I’ve cut that down. I started training camp at 190lbs this time, and I’ve been staying between 185 and 190, and I feel awesome. I’m landing three or four times as many punches per round in sparring, I feel like I can go forever – I feel like the Duracell bunny!”
The Nottingham boy will have the U.K fans behind him for sure when he faces ‘Lights Out’ next month, but we should hope for Hardy’s sake that he’s also been brushing up on his ground game just in case Lytle decides to mix things up on the mat in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
By Steve Davies
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