Greg Hardy made the most of his last-minute opportunity against Hasim Rahman Jr.
On November 19, Hardy competed against Hasim Rahman Jr. in his second-ever professional boxing bout.
The matchup took place at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Prior to this fight, Hardy only had one fight as a professional boxer in which the 34-year-old took on Mike Cook in October and defeated him via knockout.
Rahman Jr., on the other hand, had a record of 12-1 coming into the fight against Hardy. At the weigh-in prior to the event, Hardy outweighed ‘Gold Blooded’ by 94 pounds. ‘Prince of War’ came in at 320 pounds while Rahman Jr. hit the scales at 226 pounds.
Greg Hardy emerged as the better fighter on November 19 as he won multiple rounds and also scored a knockdown against ‘Gold Blooded’.
In the end, ‘Prince of War’ got his hand raised via unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 39-36 in favor of the 34-year-old.
Greg Hardy’s career in the UFC
Greg Hardy had a tumultuous run as a heavyweight fighter in the UFC. He made his UFC debut against Allen Crowder at UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw in January 2019. Prior to this, the 34-year-old only had three professional MMA fights on his record.
Hardy’s inexperience showed in his UFC debut as he landed an illegal knee on his opponent, which led to him being disqualified and Crowder being named the winner. ‘Prince of War’ bounced back, picking up back-to-back knockout victories against Dmitri Smolyakov and Juan Adams.
Hardy had momentum going into his fight against Ben Sosoli but dropped the ball with a controversial decision during the fight. Between rounds of his fight against Sosoli, Hardy used an inhaler. Thus, what was originally a win for him was overturned into a no-contest.
He then made a huge jump in competition by taking on Alexander Volkov. The fight did not go his way and Volkov cruised to a comfortable decision victory. After the loss, Hardy once again returned to winning ways with victories over Yorgan De Castro and Maurice Greene.
However, the 34-year-old went on to lose his next three fights via TKO at the hands of Marcin Tybura, Tai Tuivasa, and Sergey Spivak. Hardy then parted ways with the UFC and ventured into the world of boxing.