Dan Hardy opens up on boxing bout with Diego Sanchez: 'It's a good place for me to start'
British MMA legend will make his long-awaited return to action on July 2, and it sounds like it won't be a one-off.
Almost a decade removed from his last appearance inside the UFC's octagon, Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy is ready to pull on the gloves and trade leather once again.
Hardy will take on UFC Hall of Famer and The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner Sanchez in an exhibition boxing match on the undercard of the upcoming Ricky Hatton vs. Marco Antonio Barrera fight in Manchester on July 2.
It's been a long road back to competition for the Nottingham native, who became the first British fighter to compete for a UFC title when he challenged Georges St-Pierre at UFC 111 in March 2010.
After his title fight loss to GSP, Hardy's form dipped, but his career looked to be regaining momentum in 2012 before an April 2013 bout with Matt Brown was scrapped due to a failed medical.
Hardy was subsequently diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White syndrome - a heart condition that threatened to end his combat sports career. He later revealed to me in an interview in 2017 that he had received the documentation required to clear him for competition once again.
That news sparked regular questions for the former UFC welterweight about his comeback, with interviews in the years that followed seemingly always finishing with a quick check to see if he had any further news to share on his return.
But it's taken until now for Hardy to finally get a fight agreed, and he'll face Sanchez in Manchester on July 2. It’s a bout that clearly has the Brit’s competitive juices flowing already.
Collision course
"Diego and I have been on a bit of a collision course for a long while," explained Hardy on his Full Reptile YouTube channel, as he explained how the bout came to be made.
"I think it was back in 2006, when we got to face off when we were at a fight in Holland. It's always been on the cards. We've always been in the same weight class – he was slightly ahead of me in his UFC career. So, as I signed for the UFC, I was watching him fight the likes of Clay Guida at The Pearl at The Palms.
"I've got some good memories of Diego's fights and you know what you're gonna get with him is an animal. He comes to scrap every time and, you know, this is big gloves boxing, it's 16-ounce gloves over eight rounds, so we can beat the hell out of each other and have a lot of fun with it."
Sanchez has certainly been much more active than Hardy over recent years. While the Brit spent his time on the sidelines developing into one of the best fight analysts in the sport, "The Nightmare" continued his MMA career. Sanchez has fought 16 times since Hardy's last competitive outing, but Hardy still thinks he'll hold the advantage when he shares the ring with the American on July 2.
"I'm still confident I'm gonna be able to stop him inside the distance, but it's gonna be a bit more difficult with 16 ounce gloves, and with just one skillset," he said.
"But it's a good place for me to start. Get myself back in proper condition, proper fight shape, and then we'll see where we go from there."
Hardy even hinted that his bout with Sanchez could become the first of a series of matchups between the pair that could cross codes into other disciplines.
"I think there are other options with Diego, assuming I don't beat him up too badly in this boxing match," he said.
"We might be able to do MMA or bare knuckle or something afterwards. But this is like it's the first step on the rung of the ladder, if that makes sense."
Styles clash
The reason for Hardy's confidence is down to the two fighters' contrasting backgrounds. While Hardy is a specialist striker, Sanchez built his career off a strong wrestling base and a tireless work rate that saw him wear down his opponents during the peak years of his career.
"His skill set is grappling, you know?" Hardy explained.
"He's never been particularly the best striker. He's been an enthusiastic striker, and he's made things work because of his enthusiasm.
"But Diego has always looked best when he's been wrestling. You look what he did to opponents in the past when he was coming through The Ultimate Fighter. And then we've seen glimpses of it against the likes of Mickey Gall and Craig White.
"But then he veers away from that ... he has a bit of a warlike mentality, and he comes forward, aggressively scrapping.
"With this being a boxing match, it's gonna be a test for him, to see if he can pace himself and not walk onto anything. But it'll be an interesting test.
"I'd fight him in MMA as well. But, where we're at right now, it'd be fun to make some make some money with some big gloves."
And on the topic of making money, it seems that he'll be making a tidy sum for his appearance on July 2. In an interview with MMA Fighting, Hardy revealed that he'd be getting handsomely paid for his services, saying his paycheque will dwarf those he received from the UFC, even at the very peak of his career.
"You could add all my paycheques together from UFC and I'm still making more doing this," he said.
Photo: @danhardymma / Instagram