Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy is one of the newest fighters on the UFC roster. With his record standing at 19-6 with 1 no contest he has established himself as one of the top fighters in Europe, fighting out of Team Rough House in the UK and Xtreme Couture and Legends in the USA. 

Dan was in back in the UK to attend his first ever UFC event, UFC 85 and we caught up with him on the morning of the event to sit down and get his thoughts on his move to the UFC amongst other things.

MMA Hit Pit: Hi Dan thanks for taking the time to sit with us and help
launch our new website mmahitpit.com

Dan: No problem

MMA Hit Pit: Any idea when your first fight is in UFC?

Dan: Its going to be later on in the year, not sure when, but I think they’re
gonna be wanting me to fight on the next UK show. Don’t know when that’s
gonna happen yet, but I’ve got a feeling its gonna be
September/October/November time. I mean that’s what I’m planning for in
my head, ‘cos I’m actually in Los Angeles from tomorrow until end of
August. My plan is to come back here and, however long I’ve got between
then and my fight, ill stay in Nottingham and train with Rough House.
that’s my intention.
 
MMA Hit Pit: Would you prefer to be part of the UK event or over in the states?

Dan: Before I signed with the UFC I thought “I wanna fight in America”. but
now I have (signed with the UFC), I think…I’ve fought so much of my
career in the UK, I think it will be a nice start for me. I mean,
stepping into the UFC and having your first fight, there’s gonna be some
nerves and some tension, and I think with me having my first fight in
the UK, I think that’s gonna take a little bit of that away because I’m
not far from home, and I know everything here. I know what food I have
to eat. If you go to America, everything changes. As soon as you fight
abroad, the whole preparation that you do when you’re at home goes out
the window. Japan was just a pain, ‘cos when you go into a supermarket
there and look at the food, a lot of it looks like its alive! (laughs)
and I’ve got quite a strict diet when I’m training, I’m really strict
with what I eat and I know exactly what I can eat and what I cant, what
affects my body. So when I get to Japan, I look at all this stuff and
I’m thinking “I’m gona starve to death in this place”. I mean
fortunately I found a couple of places that are alright, but it is an
extra stress, know what I mean, for the preparations. I think fighting
in the UK my first fight will take all that away.
 
MMA Hit Pit: Do you think you’ll be one of these UK fighters that will always just
fight on the UK events, like Mike Bisping or Paul Taylor?

Dan: I don’t think so no, and the reason being is most of my time I’ll be in
LA anyway. I’m gonna be fighting out of Legends and Xtreme Couture so, I
think that’s gonna help me move into the US market. That’s where I wanna
be anyway. Once I’ve fought over here, I mean, maybe my first couple of
fights they’ll keep me here, and ill beat a couple of guys then they’ll
think “maybe he’s ready for US PPV”
 
MMA Hit Pit: Whats the deal that you’ve got (with the UFC)?

Dan: It’s a 4 fight deal. I pushed for that ‘cos you know, it’s a little
easier to get sponsorship. I mean, the standards 3 fights. I asked for a
bit extra, you know me! (laughs)
 
MMA Hit Pit: Do you think now is a bad time to be moving into the UFC’s Welterweight
(WW) division, with quite a lot of guys fighting for that top spot?

Dan: I think, no matter what time you step into the UFC, its always going to
be a big step up. To be honest, I don’t think the WW division is as
strong now as it has been in the past. I think the strongest division is
Lightweight (LW). They’ve got some monsters at LW. I’ve trained over
with Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard, Mac Danzig and they’re just, they’re
hard work ‘cos they do exactly the same as WW but twice as fast. LW
division is tougher. The WW division…id say there’s probably 4 or 5 guys
that I look at and go “that’s gonna be a tough fight”, and the rest of
them, I look at them and think “they’ve got nothing to offer me that
I’ve not already dealt with in the past”. It’s always gonna be a step up
going into the UFC, but I think now is the right time for me to do it.
I’ve just beaten a couple of good guys, and I’m in a position now where
I’m ready to progress my competition a little bit more. My techniques
getting better, and each time I fight…I mean I’ve just beaten Chad
Reiner and Daniel Weichel, and both fights I look at and go “that was a
terrible performance”. Even though people are saying to me it was a good
performance, I know there’s so much more to give, and I think stepping
into the UFC and getting to take on guys of a higher skill level is
gonna bring that out in me, which is really what I wanna do.
 
MMA Hit Pit: Previously, you have said that you have put off fighting in the UFC so
you could develop your ground game. How do you judge when you have
reached that certain level?

Dan: To be honest, the people that helped me make that decision, were Eddie
Bravo and Joe Rogan. Both train at Legends, and they were saying “just
do it, just get in there”. I mean, my striking is in a position where, I
feel I can step into the UFC and compete with anybody in the striking, I
really feel comfortable there. My wrestling has come up and my takedown
defence has got better, so I really feel like I can keep it in my world
and if it does get to the ground, that’s my incentive to train harder
and work on my jiu jitsu. I’m taking this step into the UFC more as a
motivational thing for me to work harder on my ground game than anything
else. I think by moving up in competition, I’m actually gonna feel like
“right, now is the time to spend 6hrs a day on my ground game”. I’ve
done it to push myself more than anything. I’ve not done it ‘cos I think
“right ok, I’m ready to beat everybody”, I’ve done it ‘cos I’m ready to
step up my ground game and I think its gonna force me to do that. I
mean, I might never have to submit anybody, but I think once I have
done, I think its gonna start coming a lot more often. I’m just not
comfortable in that area at the moment. Id much rather be hitting
people, but once I realise that I can submit people…I mean, I do it in
training all the time, submitting purple belts and brown belts sometimes
and things like that, so I know I can, I just don’t in fights. Its just
not in my skill set, in my mind when I’m fighting.

MMA Hit Pit: Do you think you have an edge over other guys, given the fact that you
have been around for quite some time now on the underground circuit?

Dan: Yeah, I think that’s where I’ve got an advantage over the other guys in
the UFC from the UK. Most of them have had 6 or 7 fights, and I’ve had
25 now. People have more likely heard about me ‘cos ive been around for
a lot longer.
 
MMA Hit Pit: Your background is Tae Kwon Do (TKD), but Joe Rogan once commented it was a
useless fighting technique to learn…would you agree with that?

Dan: I cant imagine Joe Rogan saying that as his background was TKD. I’ll
have to have a word with him about that! I think yeah, to be honest, the
majority of TKD techniques go out the window when fighting in MMA. But
having said that, I think the majority of techniques in general from
martial arts go out the window. I mean, in my opinion, TKD’s a hell of a
lot more useful than any kinda kung fu that you’re gonna bring, so I
think TKD gave me footwork so I can get in and out. I don’t really get
hit too much when I fight, and that’s from TKD footwork, from having to
get in and out so you don’t get points scored on you, things like that.
And also, the flexibility and speed of my legs. When I first crossed
over to Muay Thai, I only had to tweak my technique a little bit to put
power into my kicks and it worked perfectly. I mean I used to knock
people out in TKD tournaments and people did tend to avoid tournaments
if they knew I was fighting, so I’ve always had that power, but when I
altered the kicks slightly, I was able to break peoples arms and knock
people out with kicks. I think there is some benefit to all martial
arts, I just think that some are of more benefit than others, like
wrestling, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai and boxing. Really they’re the 4 that
kinda hold their own. TKD’s got something to offer, its just not perfect.
 
MMA Hit Pit: Do you think UK fighters are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting
into the UFC, given the fact that you train a lot in America, and guys
like Bisping and Brad Pickett are doing the same?

Dan: I think UK fighters that hold themselves back, are at a disadvantage in
the UFC, and a lot of UFC fighters do. I mean, people started to realise
this, and make the move to train in America. Like you said, Mike Bisping
and Brad Pickett, and Jay Tan’s just spent some time over at BJ Penns
camp. I think for some people, it’s too much too late. They should have
done it years ago, so it became part of their game and they became
comfortable. I’ve been training in America since…well the first time I
went there I was 1-1...so quite a while ago then…yeah, I went to
American Top Team with Paul (Daley?). It was painful. Got battered every
day, running around outside in bare feet ‘cos I forgot my running shoes,
getting knocked out ‘cos I wasn’t paying attention in sparring, things
like that. It builds character and it toughens you up and it pushes you
to improve your game, and I think a lot of people have got to the stage
now where they’re comfortable, and thinking “oh maybe I’ll go over there
and get a couple of techniques then come back and carry on beating the
guys in my gym”. That’s just not how it’s gonna be. You need to be in a
situation where you’re getting your ass kicked all the time, which is
why I’m at Xtreme Couture as much as I can, cos I get my ass kicked everyday there!
(laughs) I think the more UK fighters realise the need for stepping up
their training, the more success we’re gonna start having in major
competitions and people will be coming back and bringing the techniques.
All the techniques we have in this country, is what people bring over
from America and Japan, and to a certain extent Europe as well. We’ve
not got a great deal here apart from boxing. Any wrestling we’ve got in
the UK has been learnt outside and the more people we have going away,
the more people we have coming back with techniques. I think eventually
we will start to catch up, but its gonna take a lot of people packing
suitcases and upping roots.
 
MMA Hit Pit: You mention wrestling. Obviously we don’t have a history of wrestling in
this country, whereas in America they train at their universities

Dan: Yeah, and it’s a pain in the ass! (laughs) I’ll be at a wrestling class with a
guy who hardly trains, and y’know, did 6 years of wrestling at high
school/college whatever, not trained for 5 years, then comes in and
takes me down when he likes. But its where I need to be, same with a lot
of the UK fighters.

MMA Hit Pit: Obviously you’ve been in some difficult situations in the past in some
of your fights…

Dan: Yeah yeah. I’ve had quite a controversial career as well.
Disqualification’s (DQ) and things like that. (re: Japan DQ). First
round was pretty even. My game plan was basically to take him into the
2nd round. He always wins his fights in the first round, so I thought
“take him out of his comfort zone”, make him panic a little bit, make a
few mistakes. My intention in the first round was just to pass time, get
him into the 2nd round. Be a little bit defensive. If there’s a chance
to be offensive, do it, but nothing too serious ‘cos I wanted to reserve
my energy for the 2nd round. As soon as 2nd round was about to start, I
looked across and could see he was breathing heavy and I thought “this
is the round“. He came out, I threw the inside low kick on his lead leg
‘cos he was a southpaw, and as I threw it, he stepped forward and
changed levels, as if to shoot, and I caught him…I thought I caught him
at the top of the leg, but it musta clipped his box as well and he
rammed me to the fence then he just dropped to the floor…oops! (laughs)
I mean I would never do anything like that intentionally because I
trained so hard to get to that position, y’know what I mean, I won the
first 2 fights, I had no reason to believe I wasn’t gonna win that one
as well. My intention was to take it to the 2nd round, so for people to
say “oh he did it because he was losing the first round”…I’ve heard that
a couple of times.
 
MMA Hit Pit: People will think things like that when there’s a DQ…

Dan: Yeah. I mean, I would never do that. I don’t see the point in it y’know,
especially if you make a habit of it, people will start thinking “he’s
doing it on purpose”.
As soon as I hit him, I stepped back and I thought “that’s bad”. the
reason I thought it was bad, is ‘cos I thought “he’s gonna have time to
recover now, get ready for another round“, and I thought im gonna have
to take him into the 3rd round. And then I saw all of a sudden, he’s
getting carried out on a stretcher and I’m DQ’d. It just made no sense.
Any other show it would have been a No Contest because I had no warning,
I didn’t do anything wrong, I had a warning as soon as it had happened
and I thought “fair enough”, if it happens again get a point deduction
then DQ. But nothing, it was just DQ ‘cos he cant continue. These things
are sent to try us though.
 
MMA Hit Pit: If you could take one fighter with you to the UFC, who you think
deserves to be there, who would you take?

Dan: That’s a difficult one…its gonna have to be somebody from Team Rough
House, ‘cos we pretty much dominate. Paul Daley’s doing his own thing,
so I wouldn’t like to comment on him. I would say…I’m torn between Jim
Wallhead and Andre Winner. Both of them really need to be moving up in
competition. Andre Winner could just steamroll through people if he
picked up his momentum in fights. I think when he finds his rhythm a
little bit more, he’s gonna be stopping people in every fight. At the
moment, he gets into a comfortable zone in his fights and he just kinda
stays there and takes it to a decision. He never gets challenged. He’s a
pain in the ass in sparring! His punchings fast, his wrestlings good.
And then obviously Jim Wallhead…again, when he gets into a fight, he
needs to believe in his technique because he is seriously dangerous. I
mean, everyone kicks my ass in training all the time. The difference is,
when I step into the cage, I believe 110% I’m gonna win, so I can go out
there and do what I need to do, and as soon as those guys get that
comfortable and get that feeling in the cage, they’re gonna start
causing some damage. I don’t really need to take either of them with me,
they’ll get there eventually, but it would definitely be one of them if
I had the choice.

Part 2 of this Exclusive interview with Dan Hardy is coming soon, make sure you check back on the site as you dont want to miss it.

Don't forget to register with us, to receive monthly newsletters informing you of what's recently been updated and what's going on with the Hit Pit.