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Greg Hardy's UFC career was a trial by fire that ended with Hardy leaving the organization on a three fight losing skid. Now he's signed with Bare Knuckle FC and looking forward to the smaller number of skillsets he'll need to succeed in his new combat sport.
In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Hardy discussed his time in the UFC and how he wasn't able to master all the martial arts quickly enough to compete against the top heavyweights in the division. Now that wrestling and grappling is off the table, he's feeling confident in his abilities. He said:
"I honestly think this is where the prince becomes the king. Where people actually get to see my ability to put on a showcase. Like before, I'm running around trying to figure out how not to get taken down. I hadn't really gotten to focus on the science of striking, what I enjoy doing. So it's going to be great."
Asked who he wants to fight in BKFC, Greg Hardy replied:
"Everybody, bro. My style is always to start at the bottom, because I hate hate hate when people come in and act like a big dog and try to get a big fight without actually proving anything and doing the work. So I'm going to come in, do the work, fight whoever they present to me at first to prove myself. And then I want to clean out the top of the division. That was my goal in the MMA, still is, down the road I might go back."
"But right now I'm in a passion place and I want to clean out the whole top of the division. I want that gold, baby. My first opportunity to go get a belt and knock out all those UFC guys that are coming over, showing them I'm the original O.G. of switching over, and take the whole division, brother."
Watch the full interview with Greg Hardy below:
The current BKFC heavyweight champion is Arnold Adams, who is 7-1 in bare knuckle boxing and took the belt off former UFC fighter Joey Beltran in November 2021. He only weighs 206 pounds, though, which is significantly smaller than the 320 pound Hardy.
Greg Hardy says he may return to the UFC one day after he improves his wrestling
While Greg Hardy left the UFC with a mediocre 4-5 record, he says the promotion left the door open for a return if he fixed his ground game. He said:
"They hit me up, told me 'If you get some wrestling going in another promotion, we'd be glad to sign you back. Love having you. Appreciate you.' And I sent them my thank yous and love, went looking for where I can throw these hands, and found BFKC. It was actually a really good parting and I look forward to going back one day and putting on a show for you guys and maybe body slamming somebody for about three rounds once I learn some wrestling."
For now, Greg Hardy will get to concentrate solely on his striking skills with Bare Knuckle FC.
