UFC President Dana White has sent a clear message to former NFL player Greg Hardy regarding his aspirations in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Hardy, White says, has some serious work to do before he can target a career in the world’s premier MMA promotion. The UFC President told TMZ Sports that Hardy would need to “win some serious fights” to show up on the franchise’s radar.
The controversial former football star spoke with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani to confirm that he had been seriously focusing on a future career in MMA, and had initialized his jump into the sport with months of intensive training:
“I’m very focused and excited to start my MMA career,” Hardy said in a statement to Helwani. “I’m going to do this the right way, I can assure you of that.”
Hardy appeared on a recent episode of Helwani’s MMA Hour, and said that MMA training was contributing towards becoming a better person:
“I have a lot of problems as a human being. It’s not something that you do, just walking around saying ‘I’m perfect’ or ‘I’m good’ said hardy.
“Man, I have a lot of different issues that I’m definitely working through and working on. I would say this helps me channel everything. It helps me just come back down to Earth, be humble, because these are machines that I see everyday. I get choked out, punched in the face, and laid out on the mat daily, and that’s not something that a guy my size and my stature with my history has every come across”.
While the former Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys’ star continues to make inroads towards a career in MMA, these latest comments from UFC President Dana White should hopefully be received more as a challenge to Hardy rather than a rejection of sorts.
