Dan Hardy: Outlaw or Outlawed?

Dan Hardy has an endless array of insults for his opponents, a bright red Mohawk and sports a bandana worthy of his nickname "Outlaw."  Having been recently awarded his purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Eddie Bravo, and holding an impressive 3-0 record inside the Octagon, Hardy may be poised for a bright future.

From Nottingham, England training out of Rough House Gym, Hardy has a fine Kickboxing and Muay-Thai pedigree, training with the likes of recent UFC acquisition Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley, as well as TUF 9 finalist Andre Winner. 

Hardy holds a record of 22-6 with half those wins coming by knockout.  Hardy is yet to be knocked out in his professional career.  As is becoming the trend with many fighters, Hardy spends a lot of time travelling to different gyms to develop his game and add to his skill set.  This has seen him in Vegas at Xtreme Couture as well as spending time with boxing guru Freddie Roach at the Wildcard Boxing Gym.  It is known that he spent two months in China living and training with Shaolin monks in 2002 before he began competing.

His last win came via a controversial split decision against Marcus Davis at UFC 99.  There was a lot of bad blood between the two due to Hardy’s pre-fight antics, which included questioning Davis’s Irish heritage and posting some not-so-pleasant photos of "The Irish Hand Grenade" on the Internet.

However, inside the Octagon, it was a mixed fight. 

Davis controlled most of the ground work, but Hardy busted Davis wide open with an elbow in the third.  The judges gave the decision to Hardy, but questions soon arose to whether this was a legitimate scoring, or a UFC provoked decision to protect the reputation and record of a potential UK poster boy, reminiscent of the Hamill-Bisping fight at UFC 75. 

Davis displayed his anger by refusing to make peace with Hardy after the fight and demanding a rematch in Boston or Ireland.  Hardy claimed that the pre-fight tension was to build a little doubt in the mind of Davis and to throw him off his game plan.  In all fairness, Hardy acted professionally after the fight by praising both Davis and his fans.

Despite his success and popularity in the UK, Hardy remains relatively unknown and it is clear that he is not yet ready to take on the likes of Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves or any of the other top tier welterweight contenders.  However, Hardy does possess knockout power in both hands and boasts an iron chin, making him a force to be reckoned with.  His next fight, perhaps with the likes of Karo Parisyan or even Matt Serra would answer a lot of questions about the "Outlaw."