Former UFC welterweight Dan Hardy will have to wait a bit longer to make his return to the ring.
‘The Outlaw’ has been out of competition since a knockout win over Amir Sadollah in September 2012. Following the victory, Hardy was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The heart condition immediately forced the fan favorite to retire.
Following his retirement, the Brit became a UFC commentator and analyst. However, in 2018, Hardy was cleared to return to competition. Sadly, the former welterweight contender never got his return fight, as he was released from the UFC in 2021.
Following his release, Dan Hardy was in talks with several promotions. However, he soon settled on a boxing match for his comeback fight. The opponent was set to be Diego Sanchez, on the undercard of Ricky Hatton vs. Marco Antonio Barrera on July 2nd.
Two weeks out from the event, it was postponed. However, Hardy has now revealed that the card has been re-scheduled for November 12th, at the AO Arena in the U.K. The 40-year-old discussed his comeback on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“They added the Hughie Fury title eliminator fight to the card, and with that, came the Sky Sports deal, which is a big deal. Hughie got sick or injured, and they decided to move the whole event, along with him to November 12th. So everything is still moving forward, it’s just been moved back to November 12th. I slowed down for a couple of weeks, and maybe put five pounds back on. But, training has started again today, so back in motion for November 12th.”
Dan Hardy continued, “[When the card was postponed] I was two weeks away, I was in the last week of training camp before fight week started. I was feeling good, still do, to be honest. I’ve kept my weight down, I’ve been moving around and went back to my strength and conditioning. I know Diego is excited for November as well, it’s a bit of delay but it’s okay.”
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