Dan Hardy gick in i en svår tid när han bestämde sig för att inte vila och fokusera på att komma på banan igen efter förlusten mot Georges St Pierre. När tre förluster till var ett faktum förstod han att han var tvungen att göra något.
– I should have done this a long time ago to be honest. If I could take my time again, I would have done it after the GSP fight. I really think things would have been different for me. The title fight was what it was. I could have fought it 100 times and it probably wouldn’t have been any different. GSP was the better fighter and it showed why he was the champion and I respect him for that. I enjoyed the fight. It was an honor to fight him, but after that I went into the (Carlos) Condit fight with a little bit too much ego, säger Hardy när han pratar med mmaweekly radio. Because I lost that fight, I was two down and really I should have stepped away then. I mean I should have stepped away before the Condit fight. But in hindsight, stepping away after the Condit fight and really assessing what was going wrong would have been the wise thing to do, but coming off two losses I was so keen to get back in there and get another win and get back on track.
Den första av Isaac Newtons rörelselagar säger att ”hastigheten av en kropp förblir konstant om inte kroppen påverkas av en yttre kraft”. I Hardys fall sa ingen till honom att sluta och fokusera om utan han fortsatte sin spiral neråt efter matchen mot Carlos Condit. Han tvingade sig tillbaka till gymmet för att bli av med den bittra smaken av förlusten. Tanken var att bekämpa förlusten med att gå matcher, men konceptet fungerade varken i matchen mot Anthony Johnson eller i den mot Chris Lytle.
– I just pushed too hard. I was over-trained for the Anthony Johnson fight and I was massively over-trained for the (Chris) Lytle fight, as well, because I was up against it. I was two down and the general rule is three (losses) and you’re out. That was the last thing I wanted, so I put everything into my training camp and I didn’t have anybody really managing me and anybody that was holding me back and telling me you need to take a session off and just chill out a little bit. So I was exhausted. I mean, three weeks before the Lytle fight I was ready to go, and by the time the fight came around I just wanted to be over with it.
Innan matchen mot GSP blev Hardy mer känd än han någonsin varit, han hade intervjuer varenda dag och han sågs på många tidningsomslag. Men när man går in i sån extrem publicitet kommer också pressen från omvärlden. Han fick ingen chans att bearbeta förlusten mot St Pierre, ljuset försvann aldrig från honom och han kunde inte fly från medierna. Förväntningarna var skyhöga och vikten av det ansvaret han fått, krossade nästan Hardy.
– I changed a few things in my camp and they were not working for me, but everybody was aware of it, so I just couldn’t escape it. That made me push more to really try and fix it, but I was pushing in the same direction as when things weren’t working for me, so I was just pushing harder at the things that weren’t fitting for me. It was frustrating, I was just very, very close from just walking away altogether.
Pressen låg inte bara på att han skulle göra intervjuer utan också på att han skulle leva upp till sitt smeknamn, ”The Outlaw”. Tuppkammen skulle alltid vara uppe och alltid färgad för att det tillhörde hans roll. Det gick så långt att han ville lämna allt vad MMA var bakom sig, det var inte kul längre, han såg det som något han var tvungen att göra och inte som något han gjorde för att det var kul.
– I got into this sport because I love fighting, I love martial arts, I love the challenge of being in the gym every day and trying to improve myself. But the problem was the title fight, it changed things so much for me. There were so many things that altered after that because of the notoriety I got after the fight and obviously the added exposure through the media. A lot of the fun of it was taken out for me. I stopped enjoying myself in training because it wasn’t just about going in and improving anymore. It wasn’t about martial arts anymore, It was about being The Outlaw, being the guy everyone wants to see on TV, and there was just so much demand on me and there was nobody filtering that for me because I’ve had a lot of problems with management in the past. I’ve been very resistant up to this point because there are a lot of bloodsuckers in this sport, in this industry, a lot of people want a piece of you and don’t want to give anything back. I was very resistant to management when really I needed it the most at any time in my career.
Det som Hardy också känner var att de han hade runt sig inte brydde sig om honom, utan om varumärket Dan ”The Outlaw” Hardy.
– There’s a lot of people that are just bad guys, a lot of bad people around this sport. People that are realizing there’s money coming into the sport and guys are making money, there are a lot of people that want a piece of it. They’re not qualified, they don’t care, they’re not interested in the struggles the athlete goes through, they’re just interested in getting their piece. I’ve had to deal with a lot of these people over the past couple of years. A lot of people coming up to me and trying to get a piece of me, and get a piece of what I’ve achieved, it’s very, very difficult to tell the difference between the genuine people and the people that are just poison.
Hardy förstod att för många var han en aktie, något man köpte och sålde och han började sakna de dagarna då han inte var ”The Outlaw” och hade ett vanligt jobb.
– I was really up against it in those three fights and it was just a bad run. I wasn’t at my best. It was just a really bad phase that I was going through in my career, and a lot of the times in this sport, you feel like a product, you don’t feel like a person anymore. You feel like you’re a commodity to be traded and that’s a very depressing feeling. Because a lot of people don’t get to know you as a person, they just see you as you are on TV and think you’re a product. Sometimes I think it would be kind of nice to work nine to five cause then I know when it’s Friday I’ve got a couple of days to just chill out and be me, do my thing, but you don’t have that luxury in this sport.
Hardy började med MMA för att han alltid velat bli en fighter och för att han älskade kampsport. När det slutade vara roligt varje dag och när drömmen om att bli en av Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles dog, då blev Hardy ett skärva av den fighter som slog killar som Mike Swick och Marcus Davis i oktagonen.
– Martial arts for me, it’s been my core focus since I was a kid,” säger Hardy. “And to find myself in this situation where I was doing what I thought I was going to love as an adult, just being able to train full time, to becoming frustrated and not wanting to be anywhere near it, it was upsetting for me because obviously martial arts is very important to me. I’ve made a lot of good friends and I’ve had a lot of good experiences through martial arts, but there’s a lot of negativity that comes with it as well when it becomes a business.
Nu närmast är Dan Hardy inbokad att gå en match mot Duane Ludwig under UFC 146 den 26 maj. Det är här han verkligen måste prestera, för med fyra raka förluster i ryggen finns det en väldigt stor chans att han blir av med sitt kontrakt hos UFC om han nu sätter en femte förlust. Men håller nerverna?
