UFC-veteranen Dan Hardy, 35, har inte gått någon match sedan 2012. Men den nuvarande expertkommentatorn är sugen på att fightas en sista gång innan han för evigt lägger handskarna på hyllan.
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2013 drabbades Hardy av Wolff-Parkinson-White-syndrom, ett ovanligt hjärtfel som tvingade honom att lägga karriären åt sidan. Men efter år av tester fick UFC-analytikern förra året hjärtläkare att godkänna ett intyg för en comeback, och han gick återigen med i USADA:s testpool.
I en nylig intervju med Jon Anik och Kenny Florian bekräftar också Hardy att planen att gå en sista match fortfarande gäller.
”There is another fight for me, there has to be,” säger Hardy.
“I’ve been thinking about it for too long and it’s within me. I was stopped halfway through a training camp and I think all of that energy gets caught up inside of me and I need to have like an exorcism, I need to get it out.”
“What I would like to do, I’ve considered going to down to 155, I’m walking around at 182-pounds at the moment. I’m a lot closer to welterweight than I have been before. I used to start training camp over 200-pounds, so I’m a lot smaller and a lot leaner that I ever have been. If the matchup is right, the weight class doesn’t matter.”
Hardy berättar också att han inte vill något hellre än att tävla i en viktklass mellan lättvikt och mellanvikt, och drömmer om att vara den som gör den första matchen i en ny 162.5 pounds-viktklass.
”What I would like to do, if I was day dreaming, I would like to introduce a 162-pounds weight class to the UFC roster,” säger Hardy.
“I think that would be an excellent stopping point between lightweight and welterweight for the guys like ‘Cowboy’ and dos Anjos to move through. Masvidal is another one. Then you have a few welterweights that are slightly too small, the likes of Gunnar Nelson and Mike Perry, Colby Covington could probably make 162.”
“We could have another weight class and we could make the most out of another champion. I think it would be a really fascinating and really competitive weight class.”
“What I would like to do is have the first fight at 162. You pick an opponent, there are a whole bunch of guys you could put in there, good veterans that would give me a good scrap. That was always my dream weight class.”
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