Hardy: I'm a legitimate title challenger
by Ben Blackmore, 07 October 2008
Not very often does one of Europe’s top MMA stars land in The UFC with little or no reputation, but that is what will happen when Dan Hardy hits the big stage against Akihiro Gono at “UFC 89”, and he promises setantasports.com he will instantly prove he is among the top 10 fighters in the welterweight division.
| To watch "UFC 89: BISPING vs LEBEN" exclusively live on Setanta Sports, click here for details on how to subscribe. |
Hardy enters MMA’s top competition at the age of 26, having gained years of experience fighting for Cage Warriors.
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
This is replaced by the Flash content.
Place your alternate content here and users without the Flash plugin or with
Javascript turned off will see this. Content here allows you to leave out
noscript
tags. Include a link to
bypass the detection if you wish.
The Kickboxing expert dominated the welterweight class with eight wins in his last nine fights – the only defeat coming by way of disqualification.
While few people know it yet, Hardy is expected to make huge waves in The UFC’s welterweight division, mixing his high tempo with technical brilliance.
And “The Outlaw” predicts he will be in the best shape of his life against submissions specialist Gono, insisting he has never trained with such high class coaches.
“Getting to The UFC has opened up doors, I’ve got the best coaching and the best nutritionists now, which is only going to help me lift my game,” Hardy told setantasports.com.
“I always chase the knock-out, and all this coaching is gonna help me start knocking out some of the top-ranked guys.
“I just don’t see this performance being on a par with any of my others. I want to prove I’m a legitimate title challenger."
Britain has a growing number of fighters in The UFC, with Michael Bisping the stand-out figure ahead of a group that features the likes of Paul Kelly, Paul Taylor, Terry Etim and Neil Wain.
So why should extra attention be paid to The Outlaw?
“I put myself in the top 10 fighters right now, it depends what ratings you look at.
“I’d say I’m eight or nine, but definitely I’m in the top 10 welterweights. This fight’s gonna help me prove that.”