Greg Hardy is getting a big step up in competition as he is set to take on Alexander Volkov on short-notice at UFC Moscow.
It will be the first time Hardy will be fighting a ranked opponent and he will be going to Russia to take on the Russian. Yet, even though Volkov is the former Bellator heavyweight champion and has only lost once in the UFC, the former NFL star is confident he will be able to knock the Russian out.
“I’m excited, man. There was a lot of things that played into this decision, dude,” Greg said to TMZ (via BJPENN.com). “The big one was just the opportunity. It’s the big-time fight, it’s the high-level competition. It’s what any ‘Prince of War’ or future ‘King of War’ could ever hope for,” Hardy said.
“And then second of all, somebody fell down, my teammate [dos Santos] went down, so somebody’s gotta fill in, the next man up’s gotta fill in. That’s always been my mentality, gotta hold it down for the team. The UFC always has my back. They took a gamble on me, you know what I mean? They let me in the door. So if they need somebody to fill in, then for sure, I’m about to go knock this dude out. And the last one, soft Derrick Lewis knocked this dude out. If ‘pillow hands’ Lewis can do it, for sure I feel like I can go in there and compete and knock this guy out. And he’s a monster, too.”
Alexander Volkov, of course, was knocked out by Derrick Lewis in the third round at UFC 229. Greg Hardy, meanwhile, is coming off of a no-contest at UFC Boston.
