Dan Hardy was on hand for commentary duty during the filming of the epic Polaris Squads 2 event, and the promotion has just released an exclusive interview where he discusses his potential return to MMA. “The Outlaw” set his place in UFC history with a stellar run through the Welterweight division that resulted in him becoming the first British fighter to earn a title shot, against the greatest Welterweight fighter of all time, Georges St-Pierre. After this monumental occasion, Hardy would only spend another two years competing in the Octagon before medical issues forced him into an early retirement.
At the age of 30, Hardy was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome and was not sanctioned to continue competing at the time. Since then he’s gone on to become a mainstay of the UFC commentary team and also taken up similar roles for UK-based MMA promotion Strikeforce, and Polaris as well. In 2018 however, news broke that Hardy had actually been medically cleared to fight and was then considering whether or not to make a comeback. Then in August 2019, Dan Hardy made an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience and revealed to Rogan that he had decided to compete at least once more, and had entered the USADA testing pool in order to facilitate his return to MMA.
Now, he’s confirmed that the plan is for Hardy to return to the UFC in 2021, for one final fight in his career, and the video was posted on the official Polaris Instagram Account:
“My plan is to have one more fight at some point. Ideally next year, and the UFC is the only place i would do it. I know the standard, I know the organisation you know. USADA is a big draw for me now, for the UFC, which I think has made the world of difference to the sport. So, I mean, if and when I do fight again, it would be in the UFC regardless of whether my contract is up or not.”