“I’m feeling great. I’m feeling positive. I’m feeling excited. I’m ready to go, man. Ready to take this next step and see where it takes us.

It would be best to meet me, give me an opportunity. I think I can win a lot of people back over to my side.

I’m eager to get out there, I’m eager to get on the big stage. But like I said before, I’m gonna play it note by note. I’m going to take the steps that I need to take. And follow the path that Dana [White] is kind of setting out for me. Soon enough, you’re gonna see me in front of the ‘Black Beast’ [Derrick Lewis]! I’m not backing down, not forgettin’ about it at all but definitely want to take the steps and then I would say very soon. I’m gonna keep comin’ and keep improving. Leaps and bounds.”

Former NFL player turned MMA fighter, Greg Hardy’s checkered past is no secret. And top-ranked UFC heavyweight, Derrick Lewis has made it very clear that he wants to get his hands on him because of it.

“I think he looked good, but as soon as the fight ended, I started thinking about his [ex-girlfriend],” Lewis said on UFC Tonight this week, “I was like, I wonder if he had hit her like that.

I don’t know, man. I really don’t like guys like that because I grew up with a troubled past, and I saw my stepdad fight my mom just about every single day. I don’t even remember one day they didn’t go without arguing or fighting.”

Hardy made his professional MMA debut just this week on week 1, season 2 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series and successfully earned the win by knocking out Austen Lane in just 57 seconds.

White was impressed enough by the victory that Hardy was given a UFC developmental contract meaning he is signed by the UFC but still has to work his way through some other regional promotions first.

For Lewis, he will be taking on Francis Ngannou next month at UFC 226 in Las Vegas.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/14/2018.