Dan Hardy entertains move to Rizin, Bellator, or ONE FC after UFC split

His last bout took place in 2012, a decision win for Hardy against Amir Sadollah in Nottingham. Unfortunately, his fighting career was put on hold as Hardy was diagnosed with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome, which means there is an extra pathway running between the chambers of the heart, which results in a faster heartbeat. 

With his fighting career on hold, some pundits believing forever, Hardy turned his energy into presenting and commentating. He has done great work cageside for the UFC, Cage Warriors, and BT Sport. 

Dan Hardy’s hunger returns

The Englishman was then cleared to compete again in 2018, but he never entered USADA’s testing pool.

Recently, he has been more vocal about stepping back into the Octagon and has expressed great interest in fighting Nick Diaz or Matt Brown, even suggesting that Nick be released so they can fight in Rizin. 

With no fight in sight for the Outlaw, he requested a release form the UFC and as of the 13th of May 2021 his request was granted. This parting was due to the disagreements that Hardy had had with a UFC employee on fight island that resulted in him being taken off the broadcast team. 

There was some confusion among journalists, and the water cooler talk was that Hardy had been cut from the UFC, but he was only relieved of his broadcasting duties after the argument.  

Free Agency

Hardy still wished to kickstart his fight career once again under the UFC banner but after multiple attempts at getting a fight on the books he asked for his release.

He discussed this in further detail on Submission Radio: 

“The only thing that’s happened is, I’ve asked two different people for my release from the UFC. Obviously, with one contract coming to an end, it makes sense for me to leave with my fight contract, as well. So, I’m currently trying to get my release from the UFC so I can start looking at other places.”

Now his request has been granted and he has entered free agency and has his sights set on other premier MMA promotions and a boxing match as well. He has not provided any names, and he is unsure of which organization he wants to go to but Dan Hardy is still very much lookin’ for a fight.

But the more RIZIN and ONE and Bellator I watch, we’ll see what happens. I know that people are aware and have been in contact. But at the moment I’m not really thinking about it too much, and until someone comes to me and says, ‘What about this date and this person,’ then I’ll kind of stay out of it and let my manager deal with it.”

Is there a particular opponent you would like to see Dan Hardy face, in the cage or the ring?