Dan Hardy doesn’t know where Tyron Woodley has gone.
For the last several months, Hardy has been pursuing a fight with Woodley to no avail. The two had been in discussions to meet in a boxing match, but Woodley dropped the idea in January. He said he preferred to fight Hardy in MMA if he were going to fight Hardy. Hardy claims that since then there has been silence on radio about the possibility of a fight.
“I just don’t know where he’s gone,” Hardy told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. I literally do not know where he is. He’s kind of fallen off the face of the planet. He’s been offered by a few different companies, which I believe are good offers. They’re comparable with what he was getting because I’ve spoken to the team on the other side who have already paid him his paycheck. So I don’t know. To be truthful, I’m not sure what hesitation means. It makes no sense to me. He could kick me in the face, but it’s still a lot of money. I know he hates me, I don’t really care either way to be honest, but I like it when people don’t like me and they’re trying to hit me because it makes me giggle.
” I think it would make a lot more fun, and he doesn’t want to do it. I don’t know whether his brand’s taken too much of a hit over the last couple of years to take a loss against me as well. Maybe that makes sense.”
Hardy, a one-time UFC welterweight title challenger, has not competed since 2012, after he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a disorder that affects the heart. In 2018, Hardy was deemed medically cleared to return to fighting and has since been flirting with a return to the cage or ring. Hardy said that he is keeping an open mind for any other possibilities, even with Woodley’s fight now less likely.
“We’ll see. Hardy stated that he has a positive and young relationship with ONE Championship. There are many options. Because two of my friends are old and could be potential opponents for me in the future, I will be closely watching [Shinya] Aoki_ Akiyama’s fight this weekend. ?”
Who is that?
But Hardy wants to return to the cage. Hardy was released from his commentary role with the UFC in 2021 after a series of issues with the organization and while he currently works as a commentator for Cage Warriors, Hardy says he’s interested in getting back in the booth for a major promotion this year.
“I would like to get out and travel and be in front of a bigger audience, a different audience, maybe in Asia or somewhere in Europe,” Hardy said. “But we’ll see. There’s a few options on the table and MMA is exploding behind the scenes. I think within the next few months, there’s gonna be a lot of shifts and changes and organizations emerging and strengthening. It’s exciting times to be part of…
“I just need to stay ready for whatever is gonna come, and if that’s a fight then it will be but I’d like to be commentating again soon on a big show.”
