Brendan Schaub Rips UFC For Promoting Greg Hardy Over Nick Newell
Brendan Schaub rips the UFC and its President Dana White over their decisions is something that has been a trend over the past few years. The former UFC heavyweight star doesn’t agree with the latest tactic that the promotion decided to go with that involved two interesting names.
Those names are Greg Hardy and Nick Newell. They both competed on the second season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series on UFC Fight Pass, which is their streaming service.
Newell is an established veteran and former World Series of Fighting title challenger but did not win in his fight on the show against Alex Munoz. As a result, Newell didn’t get a contract and White took one step further by stating that he’ll likely move on from Newell.
Many fight fans are believers in the prospect and thought he should be given another chance. However, White is not due to him thinking that Newell has a disability despite winning all of his fights except for two.
Brendan Schaub Rips
Schaub does have a history of having words with White over the years for a number of reasons. The main reason is due to Schaub’s take on White not treating the fighters the way that they should. The former UFC start went off on White for promoting Hardy over a guy like Newell during a recent episode of his Below the Belt podcast.
“I just don’t understand. I don’t understand why he’s in that bulls**t Contender Series,” Schaub said (transcript courtesy of MMAFighting). “They’re just doing it for reviews. They’re riding and dying on Greg Hardy which is hilarious. It just shows you the nature of the business and what you’re dealing with with Dana White being a promoter.
“I would bet my life on it that Nick Newell sells more tickets than Greg Hardy, especially as an established fighter who’s a congenital amputee. His story is so much better. Not to mention, you’re worried about Nick Newell. Nick Newell has, I don’t know, 20 times the amount of experience than the rest of these guys in the Contender Series. He fought at a high level, the World Series of Fighting. We can hate on the World Series of Fighting, however, Marlon Moraes, Justin Gaethje, David Branch, Anthony Johnson, Andre Arlovski – I can go through the list of high-level fighters who have competed in World Series of Fighting. To not give him an instant UFC contract is just wrong, man. It’s wrong.”
Hardy’s Background
The second professional mixed martial arts fight for the former NFL star is in the books as he beat Tebaris Gordon on the August 7 episode of the show. This bout marked the first on Hardy’s new four-fight contract with Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC.
Hardy made his pro-MMA debut on the season 2 premiere (June 12, 2018) of ‘Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contenders Series.’ He faced off against fellow former NFL player Austen Lane in a heavyweight bout.
The Problem
Hardy does have a history of domestic violence that started back in 2014. It all started once he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a former girlfriend and communicating threats against her life. As a result, he was convicted of domestic violence. However, after an appeal, the charges were eventually expunged from his record, which has led to people being skeptical of why the UFC wants to do business with him.
“And to highlight a guy like Greg Hardy. Greg Hardy – not the person, as a person that guy, I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire for what he’s done to women, allegedly – however, him as a fighter, he’s an older heavyweight, has an NFL background, we’ve seen how this story works out. Trust me, we’ve seen how this story works out.
He’s gonna be knocking out these lower level guys. He’s not UFC caliber. He would get beat by everyone on the current roster in the UFC. Everybody right now. But you’re gonna invest time and marketing dollars into that guy and not Nick Newell, who has fought for a world title? There’s only about four or five major leagues in mixed martial arts. World Series of Fighting is one of them. It’s produced some legit f**king champions. Marlon Moraes is a real f**king threat to T.J. Dillashaw. Lance Palmer, who is over there right now, could probably beat 98 percent of the UFC if he came over. So it’s like, to shun a guy like Nick Newell is just silly.”
“There’s only one person making these calls: Dana White,” Schaub concluded. “Same guy that s**ts on fighters. The same guy who talks shit about Francis Ngannou but then highlights Greg Hardy. What the f**k are we doing?!”
