Interview with rising UK Star, Dan Hardy by Jimmy Boogaloo

[Mr Boogaloo]

Interview with rising UK Star - Dan Hardy
by Jimmy Boogaloo , Team IronLife.com Staff Writer, photos by Robert Swann


('The Outlaw' makes his way to the cage)

Dan Hardy is the current Cagewarriors Welterweight Champion and one to watch on the UK MMA scene. Known for his fluid striking and rugged submission defense, Dan recently went the five round distance, shaking off numerous submission attempts, to earn a victory over the Northern Cartel's Matt Thorpe.

His next challenge is a rematch with Sweden's Diego Gonzales at Cagewarriors Strike Force 5. At the beginning of their last bout, Diego stormed in for the takedown as the two fighters went to touch gloves, starting a heated debate between the opposing corners. Whilst preparing for the fight, Dan took some time out of his hectic schedule to give his view on the situation and discuss his up-coming plans.

- Jimmy Googaloo/Team IronLife.com: What first got you into MMA?
Dan Hardy: I've been doing Tae Kwon Do since I was 6 years-old and went to China to train with the Shaolin monks… I had the choice of following the traditional side of Martial Arts or following the competition side of it. Because I think MMA is the hardest kind of combat, I thought I'd do that…

- How long have you been doing MMA?
I have been training for about 3 years… I've been mixing styles and I've been specifically concentrating on Mixed Martial Arts for about 3 years now… I turned professional in June 2004.

- What's it like training at the Roughhouse?
Hard work… hard work… every session is hard work because there's always somebody there to challenge you and give you a hard time.


(Dan defends an armbar attempt by Matt Thorpe)

- Fair play… there's loads of Welterweights there as well…
Yeah, quite a few… we've got a few other weights now... couple of Heavyweights and a couple of Middleweights and Lightweights as well so we've got a range of weights to train against now. But the majority are Welterweights, especially the ones competing professionally.

- Have you got a prediction for the upcoming Paul Daley vs. Jean Silva fight at Cage Rage?
Paul by knock out. Too big… too powerful. Far too technical standing up.

- I heard you trained at the American Top Team, is that true?
Yeah, I've been there twice actually. Myself and Paul went together, we spent a month there… and I went back for 2 weeks before I went out to Team Quest.

- Team Quest as well? Who did you train with over there?
The main people I was training with there were Chris Wilson and Ed Herman, the rest of the team was there as well. Matt Lindland was there all the time, Chris Leben was hopping in and out, Randy was in Las Vegas at the time, training for the UFC. All the lower level guys that people don't hear about - they're the ones to watch. Ryan Shultz, the Lightweight… just phenomenal… and Ed Herman will be in the UFC very soon as well.

- Sorry, going back to ATT, who did you train with there that had an impression on you?
The obvious one is Hermes Franca, because his ground game in unreal… I just couldn't touch him… nothing I could do… Mike Brown, he's got fantastic wrestling. Marcus Aurelio, he was there quite often, and Denis Kang… Fantastic fighters, top class fighters.


(Dan celebrates his win)

- Congratulations on your win over Matt Thorpe at Cagewarriors - Night of Champions. He's well tricky off his back, did you feel in trouble at any stage?
I felt in trouble all the way through the fight, to be honest. The thing about Matt Thorpe is that he's very under-rated and all the way through training I knew he was going to be dangerous. But there were a few times, particularly in the first round when he caught me in a triangle… that was the tightest submission, I mean, everyone keeps mentioning the armbar escape, but after I didn't tap to the triangle, I knew I wasn't going to tap in the whole fight. I just refused to.

- I hope you don't mind me asking, but did it hurt the next day? It looked very painful!
Yeah, elbow and shoulder. I can still feel it occasionally, but it is strong again now.

- Who on the UK Welterweight scene do you want to fight?
As far as UK Welterweights, I'm not too bothered about any of them. The 3 best Welterweights in the country, in my opinion, are Team Roughhouse: myself, Paul Daley and Jim Wallhead. So apart from that, I don't think there's a great deal of competition out there. I'm looking toward Europe now. My aim last year was to get to a good level in the UK and, this year, I'm looking towards European fighters.

- Who on the continent do you want to fight?
There are a lot of names out there that are being thrown around at the moment, obviously, my first choice is Diego Gonzales…


(Diego Gonzales surprises Dan with a takedown at Strikeforce 3)

- What does it feel like to get him back in the cage?
Well… I can't wait! I can't wait! There were a lot of factors affecting my last fight and they won't be a problem this time, so I'm looking forward to a very different fight.

- Did you take it personally when he shot in, instead of touching gloves?
Did I take it personally? … I was a little bit annoyed… I don't think that disrespect amongst fighters is called for really… I mean, you're athletes, you're sportsman, you're respecting the sport - and with it being a growing sport at the moment, you don't want outsiders looking in... things like that, cheap shots, it's no good.

- What are your plans for 2006?
I'm going to keep my belt, that's the main thing for 2006, keep my belt, beat the hell out of Gonzales and teach him a lesson… and I'm looking forward to watching this 8-man Wolfslair tournament - that's going to be a fantastic tournament - and I'll be fighting the winner of that, once I've beaten Gonzales. Daniel Weichel is my personal prediction on who's going to win the tournament.

- Have you got anything to add?
My sponsors for always supporting me.. I'd like to thank them. Evolution Fightwear, Nemesis Fight Gear and the gym that I train at Bushido MMA.

- Many thanks for the interview!

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For more information about upcoming Cagewarriors events, please visit www.CageWarriors.com and for more action shots by Robert Swan, please visit http://www.Robertswannphotography.com .