Greg Hardy Picks Up First UFC Victory Of His Post-NFL Career

Greg Hardy was a successful defensive player in the NFL until a domestic abuse scandal ultimately got him blacklisted from the league. Since then, Hardy has tried to turn a new leaf and has entered the world of MMA. Hardy made his UFC debut back in January and was dominating his fight until he got disqualified for an illegal knee to the head. Thanks to his past, many questioned whether Hardy had changed, although he assured everyone he didn’t mean to make the move maliciously.

“He was getting up, it was inexperience in mistiming it, man. But I (tried) to time it like I had just watched Donald Cowboy Cerrone do, like I saw everybody else do,” Hardy said at the time. “Go ask Tom Brady if I ever cheated when I sacked him. I’m not a cheater. That’s not on my record, that’s not on my resume.”

Over the weekend, Hardy got his chance at redemption in the Octagon against Dimitrii Smoliakov. Hardy won the fight easily with a TKO at 2:15 of the first round, according to Complex. After the fight, Hardy spoke about how he changed up his mentality going into the fight and how didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

“I wanted to make sure it wasn’t the same as last time,” Hardy said after the fight. “Every day, I’m getting better. Every month, I’m getting more violent, more nasty in the Octagon, more humble and peaceful outside of it. I’m just coming into my own. I love this sport.”

Hardy’s next fight has not yet been determined.