Sep-24-2009

Dan Hardy and The Art of War

UFC Skeleton T-shirt Related Products TapouT TUF 10 Team Rampage Football Jersey - Black/Silver UFC 104/105 UFC Mens National Windshirt UFC Girls Lucky Jacket Related News James Te Huna: Last pick becomes a wanted man UFC 109 Musings Better Late Than Never, as Couture Submits Coleman in UFC 109 Main Chael Storm – Sonnen Earns Shot at The Belt Danzig’s Back with A Win; Davis Impressive in Debut Headlines James Te Huna: Last pick becomes a wanted man UFC 109 Musings Better Late Than Never, as Couture Submits Coleman in UFC 109 Main Chael Storm – Sonnen Earns Shot at The Belt Danzig’s Back with A Win; Davis Impressive in Debut

By Thomas Gerbasi

You could call Dan Hardy mixed martial arts’ first true viral marketer. How else do you explain his ability to take a bout that was intriguing, but without title implications in the welterweight division, and turn it into a fight that may have stolen the thunder from the main event at UFC 99 in terms of fan anticipation?

Well, with a little Ali, a little bit of modern technology and the uncanny knack of pushing opponent Marcus Davis’ buttons before their June bout, Hardy went from a relatively unknown 27-year old with just two UFC fights under his belt to a legitimate UK star with designs on the top of the 170-pound division as he heads into his UFC 105 bout against Dong Hyun Kim in November. But ‘The Outlaw’ isn’t about to take all the credit for taking an undercard bout to heights rarely seen in terms of fan and media attention.

“I think it was the way I was brought up,” said Hardy of his gift for gab. “My dad’s very much like that, and so is my grandma, actually. (Laughs) She’ll wind you up, tease you, and get a reaction out of you. Plus, my dad used to play football every weekend, and I got to see him in the changing room with all the guys, and it was like that all the time. I also think everybody I train with in the gym has had a similar upbringing, so we’re all lighting up at each other. It’s just natural to me. If I dislike someone genuinely, they would know, and everybody else would know. But the stuff I’m saying is just fun. It might upset somebody, but that’s just my humor.”

That somebody was hard-nosed welterweight contender Marcus Davis, whose ‘Irish Hand Grenade’ was about to explode in the lead-up to the bout in Cologne, Germany. Seething at the mere mention of Hardy’s name after the Brit went on the offensive both verbally and online, Davis made a mistake many believe is fatal to a fighter – he got emotionally involved.

So on fight night at the Lanxess Arena, Davis wanted nothing more than to punch a hole in Hardy’s face. On the other side of the Octagon, Hardy was smiling and taking in the moment, visibly excited when Bruce Buffer introduced him to the crowd.

“Watching the UFC all through my career, I remember thinking to myself, ‘one day he’s gonna be saying that to me,’” recalled Hardy. “And I want to take it in and enjoy that experience. That’s a big part of it for me and Bruce Buffer’s a huge part of the UFC, and as soon as people hear his voice, everything thinks ‘okay, here we go, here’s the fight.’ It’s the same feeling for me too. As soon as I hear him announcing the fight, I get the goose bumps and I get real excited. It’s just amazing.”

And once the bell rang, it wasn’t Armageddon, but instead, a war of attrition between two fighters determined not to let this fight slip away. Losing could be accepted any other time but now, yet after a tense 15 minutes, it was Hardy who emerged victorious via split decision.

“Obviously it was a relief to back up all the trash talking, because I would have looked pretty stupid if I hadn’t,” smiled Hardy. “It was a real big fight in my career and a big step forward for me. It was nice to generate that kind of interest in the fight as well. I had a lot of fans come up to me, saying ‘that was the fight I was looking forward to on the card.’ That means a lot and it kind of eases some of the pressure knowing that somebody’s gonna be tuned in to watch it and just enjoy the show. As long as I go out there and put on a performance, that’s all that really matters.”

Hardy, now 22-6 with 1 no contest, added the win over Davis to his two previous Octagon victories over Akihiro Gono and Rory Markham, but even a month after the event, while in Las Vegas for UFC 100, Hardy wasn’t particularly pleased with the fight.

“When I got back to the dressing room after the fight, I really wasn’t happy with the performance,” he said. “I expected a lot more of myself, and I think because there was so much buildup to the fight, that played a factor for me as well. I was certainly feeling a little bit of the pressure, but at the same time I was so excited that the moment was finally there that I think I tired myself a little bit, certainly after the first round. He was very strong as well and that first round took a lot out of me. It just wasn’t a good performance by me. I felt I was about 40 percent of what I could potentially be, and I was convinced I was gonna knock him out.”

A win’s a win though, and now Hardy moves on to face Kim at UFC 105 in Manchester. And even though a drawn out war of words with Korea’s Kim is highly unlikely, there is the question whether Hardy will now be expected by fans to put on a show before, as well as during, the fight.

“It did cross my mind how I’m gonna top this hype, but I don’t think that’s important,” said Hardy. “Each fight’s different, and it really depends on the opponent. It was very difficult to do anything like that with the first opponent, Gono, obviously. Rory Markham really disappeared off the map before that fight so I really didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. There was a little talk about me not having punching power, but nothing apart from that. And there are guys in the welterweight division where if I get put up against them, they’ll be no bad blood at all because most of the guys in the division are real nice guys and I get along with them. I wouldn’t trash talk just for the sake of trash talk. I think the important thing is to be myself and enjoy the buildup, whether it’s friendly or not. At the end of the day, the fight’s the important thing, and I always put on a show during the fight.”

He plans on doing it again on November 14th, and if you think he’ll be overlooking Kim after his biggest win to date against Davis, think again. After UFC 99, Hardy spent a grand total of one day back home in England before going back to the States to train just five days after his fight. As BB King so famously said, he’s paying the cost to be the boss. And now he’s starting to reap the rewards.

“I’ve trained so hard throughout my career, it’s nice for people to finally recognize what I’ve been doing,” said Hardy.