Former NFL Player Wins His Pro MMA Debut In 57 Seconds

Former NFL Player Greg Hardy competed in Dana White’s Tuesday night contender series tonight, and boy did he make an impact. The former Carolina Panther and Dallas Cowboy made his pro MMA debut tonight. After dealing with some legal problems the former defensive end turned his sights on MMA. Hardy is training out of one of the best gyms in MMA ATT (American Top Team). Fighters that train out of ATT are fighters like current welterweight champion Tyron Woodly, Junior Dos Santos, Amanda Nunes, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and many more. Many members of ATT described Hardy as very motivated and very athletic. Hardy came into this fight with an amateur record of 3-0-0. Most all of his amateur fights ended in KO most of them lasting only a couple seconds. Hardy is a massive man standing at 6,4 and he weighed in tonight at 264 pounds, one pound short of the heavyweight limit. So it’s no surprise Dana White gave Hardy a chance to compete in the Tuesday Night Contender Series.

Hardy’s opponent was Austin Lane another former NFL player. Lane was defensive end for both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears. Lane also had an undefeated armature record.

With both men being so athletic it’s no surprise they were matched up to fight each other tonight. Lane gave up a lot of size in this fight, as Hardy was the much bigger man. Both men came out swinging from the start, both throwing punches with some serious power behind them. Hardy did poke Lane in the eye early in the fight but it wasn’t a factor. 57 seconds into the fight Hardy rocked Lane with a right hook which stunned Lane. Hardy followed that up with another punch that floored lane. Hardy was victorious and Dana White was brought to his feet. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here

(Dana White on Hardy’s future in the UFC, and Greg Hardy’s comments on his future and his victory)

Stephen Caloggero (@stevie_calo)