Greg Hardy, whose NFL career ended in controversy, reportedly will get his first professional UFC fight in June after winning three bouts as an amateur.
He’ll fight Brandon Sayles as part of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series on June 12, MMA Fighting reports. Hardy, who trains with American Top Team, has won each of his amateur fights by knockout in under two minutes. Sayles, who is 5-1, is based in Fort Benning, Ga., and has won three straight fights. His only loss was a 2012 decision to Chase Gormley.
“I’m ecstatic. I’ve been humbled a lot in the last two years,” Hardy told ESPN after his first fight in November. “I’m just super excited to be able to compete. … I’m super excited to be back to the Greg Hardy everyone knows and remembers and give back to my fans.”
Hardy, 29, was a volatile Pro Bowl defensive end for the Carolina Panthers, but his career nose-dived after he missed most of the 2014 season because of an alleged assault incident involving an ex-girlfriend and a bed covered with guns. Initially suspended 10 games, his sentence was reduced as the NFL grappled with how to punish players during its domestic violence crisis. Hardy was found guilty by a North Carolina judge and, following procedure in that state, asked for a jury trial. The case was dismissed when the alleged victim did not appear in court.
The Panthers let Hardy walk after that season, and he signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015. He never returned to his previous form, though, and was a constant distraction. When he was activated after his four-game suspension, he grabbed headlines with an odd interview in which he speculated about the attractiveness of the wives of quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Blake Bortles. He continued to talk about guns, an uncomfortable topic given the assault charge.
After he missed team meetings, became a sideline irritant and reportedly partied while not producing, the Cowboys chose not to re-sign him. No other team publicly considered him, and he reached a plea agreement after his arrest on a cocaine possession charge in a Dallas suburb in the fall of 2016.
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