Dan Hardy's a savvy guy. Heading into each one his fights, the British bomber usually provides us with some awesome promotional fodder. Not this time. Coming off a rough knockout loss against Carlos Condit and facing a guy he actually respects, Hardy refused to unleash his customary verbal warfare.
"I guess you could say I was humbled. I was more angered than humbled, though. I got annoyed at myself, I was like you wasted an opportunity there, you let a guy take it away from you and you never deserved it.� And that was the talking I got for myself," Hardy said on the Ultimate Fight Night 24 conference call.
Hardy, a 28-year-old Brit who splits his training time between the U.K. and U.S., is slated to faced Anthony Johnson at Ultimate Fight Night 24 (Spike 10 p.m. ET/PT) in Seattle on Saturday.
Hardy (23-8, 4-2 UFC) fell victim to a nasty left hook from Carlos Condit, dropping his second straight fight in just 4:27. The mohawked-Brit was too relaxed heading into that fight at UFC 120.
"I was just little overly confident. That's all it was. I was, you know ? I let the moment get to me and let myself confidence get to me up.� I didn't have any respect for the guy. I just kind of let myself open, not thinking that I'd pay the price," Hardy said. "That was all what it was really. It was a silly mistake and it was regrettable, but, you know, I wouldn't take it back because, you know, it's got me where I'm at right now. And I'm in a much better place now than I was then."
With two straight losses and one of the deepest divisions in all of MMA at 170 pounds, Hardy knows the heat is on.
"I've kind of put myself in a situation and mindset where I'm fighting for my job and, you know, that's the worst place that I could possibly be in for my opponent because they're going to get everything that I've got a little bit more," said Hardy.
Aside from not wanting to look like an out-of-touch blowhard coming off an bad knockout loss, Hardy didn't think Johnson was the right guy to try and rattle with a barrage of prefight trash talk.
"You know, one, myself and Anthony are friendly and we've always gotten along well. So there was no point in fabricating something because, you know, the fans just see through that kind of thing. So it was just, you know, I don't want to waste my energy doing that," Hardy said. "And the second thing is, you know, Anthony never bites to that kind of stuff.� He's a pretty chilled guy.� So, you know, I've just invested the energy into the training camp instead and, you know, I'll just do my talking on Saturday night."
Johnson (8-3, 5-3 UFC) is the perfect opponent for Hardy. He loves to stand and bang. The 26-year-old from Georgia is not a great wrestler and rarely looks for the takedown.
He's also coming off a 16-month layoff where he battled a ton of injuries. Johnson injured his knee three years ago and said he tried to fight through it, but kept doing more damage. He finally had it operated on last April. Johnson admits that he gained a ton of weight during the down time. He's been back in the gym since the summer, but how likely is it Johnson is at his best? This is a must-win fight for Hardy.
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