Former Ole Miss DE Greg Hardy to fight in UFC
Published 8:00 am Monday, May 14, 2018
‘The Kraken’ will be released once again. This time inside the octogon.
It was announced on Sunday that former Ole Miss defensive end Greg Hardy was signed to a fight in the UFC. The former NFL star will face off against another former football player, Austen Lane. The two will fight on June 12 as part of the ‘Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contenders Series’. The second season premieres on June 12 on UFC’s Fight Pass streaming service.
Lane was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2010 NFL Draft and played in nine games his rookie season. He spent three years with them before being released in 2013 and then bounced around three other teams before announcing his retirement in 2015.
Lane does not have the same experience on the football field as Hardy, who spent six seasons — five with the Carolina Panthers, one with the Dallas Cowboys — but in the MMA arena Lane is the seasoned fighter. With a record of 4-0 Lane has recorded two knockouts. The first took 14 seconds in his first fight and then in his second fight needed only 20 seconds to score the knockout.
Hardy has fought in three amateur mixed martial arts fights against opponents who were heavily overmatched.
The football career is not fully in the past for Hardy. He finished up his first season with the Richmond Roughriders — a team in the American Arena League — in January.
Winner’s of the ‘Contender’s Series’ fights are not guaranteed UFC contracts but White did select a couple fighters from each episode for a chance to fight on one of the company’s main shows.