Source - BJPenn.com
As you're about to see, this is a
very long read
, but I thought it was pretty awesome, as a lot of Dan Hardy interviews are.
They say life imitates art, and if that’s true, UFC welterweight Dan Hardy may well be a Renaissance Man. Fans know the Briton as an accomplished fighter, but few may realize he’s also an artist who writes and has an interest in music and philosophy.
BJPenn.com caught up with Hardy to discuss his role as host of XYIENCE’s XenArt competition, which runs through Aug. 6 and tasks aspiring artists with creating original compositions incorporating a Xenergy theme. Hardy offered not only his thoughts on art, but also a peek behind the curtain of his psyche, sharing his views on his opponents, critics, and even religion and politics.
On His Love of Art
How does a professional fighter end up hosting an art competition anyway?
“I’m sponsored by XYIENCE and I’m kind of the obvious choice for doing it. I went to university and I did the degree in art, so it’s a familiar background to me. It’s something that I’ve been involved with a lot in the past. The other thing is, there’s not many things that Vegas is known for outside of drinking and gambling, but there are a lot of things going on here that are away from that scene. We’ve got quite a big art scene developing in Vegas, so I’m just trying to encourage that a little bit and maybe bring some culture to Vegas — other than losing all your money and getting a headache.”
Hardy said events such as the XenArt competition give him a chance to engage UFC fans, which he enjoys.
“It’s just nice to be around the fans. The thing with me, I always consider myself a UFC fan before a fighter. So really, I feel at home around the UFC fans because I have a lot in common with them. It’s just nice to be in environments with people that are as enthusiastic about the sport as I am. XYIENCE has always been great, and they make an effort to do things that are slightly outside of the box, like the XenArt competition. A lot of other sponsors might not give the opportunities to do these types of things.”
Hardy sees similarities between the worlds of art and mixed martial arts.
“Art’s always been a big thing for me. It’s just always been something that interested me, expressing yourself. Mixed martial arts is quite similar in a way. You’re out there expressing yourself. You’re constantly pushing yourself to become better, to evolve. For me, my interest in art, my style of art, was very much along the same lines of self expression, self exploration, and trying to understand who I am, what makes me up as a character and how I communicate that to the world.”
On His Victory Over Duane Ludwig After a String of Defeats
As fans who’ve kept up with Hardy’s career might imagine, his victory over Duane Ludwig at UFC 146 was a breath of fresh air for Hardy following four consecutive losses in the Octagon.
“It was just a huge relief. I spent two years training, and I’ve been working hard. I’ve got good coaches around me and I’ve got training partners helping me out. But if you’re not winning, it almost invalidates everything that you’ve done. There really is only one thing that can [validate you] after all that training, and that’s the fight. You’ve got to get the win.
“For the last two years, I felt like I wasted a lot of time and maybe took my eyes of the prize a little bit. I’d become a bit distracted and discouraged. I had a great training camp [for the Ludwig fight], and going out there and getting the knockout over a well respected striker, a guy that I’ve looked up to for many years … it was a huge relief. You know, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I’ve got to get the job done.”
Hardy traced the course of his mental evolution over of his last several UFC fights.
“With the Condit fight I was overconfident. I had no respect for him. I didn’t even think of a way I could lose that fight. Going into the Johnson fight, I was worried about losing my job, about having to go back and fighting on other shows and building back up. And once the Lytle fight came around, I was three losses down and I kind of felt like my job was affected, like I was fighting on borrowed time. And that fight didn’t go my way either. But the good thing about that [fight] was that I really enjoyed it. And that encouraged me to not quite call it a day yet, but I realized I had to make some changes. It was kinda now or never. It was kind of a last opportunity to really put things right.
“I did everything I needed to, so that by the time the Ludwig fight came around, I felt very calm. I was enjoying the experience and appreciating it for what it was … whether that was going to be one time of many to come, or the last one ever.”
I asked Hardy to explain what it felt like to get a victory with all the anticipation surrounding the Ludwig fight.
“It’s a very difficult emotion to describe. The best way to help someone understand it is to imagine you’re underwater and you can’t take a breath. And you’re holding your breath, and you can feel your body really struggling for oxygen and starting to shut down. Then the moment you see your opponent hit the canvas is that moment where you get that rush of new oxygen into your lungs. It really feels like that. It’s a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. From three months up to that point, everything is hanging in the balance. The fight could’ve gone either way that night. I was fortunate on May 26 of this year; I’m well aware of that.”
On His Next Opponent, Amir Sadollah
What challenges does Hardy see Sadollah posing for him?
“He’s quite an underrated fighter. He’s very durable. He can take a punch when he’s coming forward, and he can make people work for a full 15 minutes. That is one of his biggest strengths, being able to wear people down like that. He’s very well rounded. He’s got good striking, technically. I think as far as a thinking fighter, I have an advantage. I think I’m smarter, and I think I can play my skills better, more to my advantage than he can. But he’s got some submission skills. And he trains with good guys, so I know he’s going to be prepared.
“At the same time, he’s flying out to fight me, you know? Regardless of whether we’re doing our training camps in the same city or not, it’s still my home town [we’ll be fighting in] at the end of the day. There’s got to be some level of annoyance that he’s been picked for this fight, I think. If the UFC had picked me to go into Amir Sadollah’s home town to fight him, I would think that everyone had turned against me. (Laughing).
“So I think he’s got a point to prove. I think that I’m the biggest name that he’s fought. I win over me would be great for his career. I just generally think I’m too much for him. I’m too quick. I’m too strong. I’m far too technical. And I’m too determined. I have the hometown advantage, you know? I’ll have a few thousand fans cheering me on [and more] around the world. I just can’t see me losing in my hometown.”
As for his gameplan, Hardy said he has more ways of beating Sadollah now than he did earlier in his career.
“The good thing for me now is that I have a lot more options than I might’ve in the past. We haven’t seen a great deal from me other than the striking and getting hit in the face. And people see that as the limits of my skills. I’ve been working religiously with Ricky Lundell on my wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu, and I also work with Robert Drysdale a lot and his guys. I’ve made some huge advances in the past few months, certainly since the Chris Lytle fight. And I feel that going into this fight, I have a lot more options. It’s truly my fight to win.
“I’m too quick for him. I’m quite fast for my weight class and I have quite a long reach, which is another problem for him to deal with. And I have a lot of experience. This is another thing which might be overlooked a little bit, but I have almost three times as many fights as him. I’ve had all kinds of experiences, and I’ve pulled myself out of the trenches in the past. I know he’s had some tough fights, but against the kind of opposition that I’ve went against, he wouldn’t have had the same success.”
Hardy doesn’t think there will be much trash talk between him and the even-tempered Sadollah in the lead up to their September fight, but he offered up a few verbal jabs nonetheless.
“He seems like a nice guy. I saw him at the fighters summit and shook his hand, said ‘hello’ to him. He seems like a nice dude. But he’s got that deadpan, one level of emotion. You never see him happy or sad, he just kind of is. (Laughing). His emotions don’t fluctuate a great deal. I don’t have any interest or time to waste in trying to provoke him in any way. I have the skills to get the job done, and that’s really all that needs to be said. I think he’s aware of that as well, and the pressure’s on him to come in and perform and try and beat me. And I think that’s all that really needs saying. He knows he’s in for a fight, and I know he’s in for a beating.”
Sadollah doesn’t have the experience Ludwig did, and when the two met head-to-head, Ludwig beat him. I asked Hardy if he would’ve preferred a bigger name or if he felt like this fight was a step back for him.
“I’ve always kind of liked Amir as a potential fight. It’s the kind of fight that the fans want to see: Two guys that like to strike, that can take a punch and don’t mind being hit. The fight just kind of made sense. It was something that I was thinking about before the Ludw
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