Greg Hardy Says UFC 232 Cheater Talk ‘Kind Of Hurt Me’

Greg Hardy’s UFC debut in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC on ESPN+ 1 from Brooklyn didn’t go exactly as hoped.

In fact, it went about as bad as it could have. The oft-criticized former NFL star lost to Allen Crowder via disqualification. New to the UFC, Hardy hit Crowder with a blatant illegal knee. The manner in which he lost obviously gave his haters fuel for their ever-raging fire.

The NFL star was looking to silence his many critics as he came into the UFC amidst endless controversy. But it seems the opposite came true instead. Hardy claimed he wasn’t a cheater after at the post-fight press conference, and he’s sticking to that stance. In a recent interview with TMZ Sports (quotes via MMA Mania), the maligned heavyweight said it was perhaps a misunderstanding of the rule that lead to him being disqualified:

“Looking back and listening to the rule, I didn’t really understand the rule,” Hardy told TMZ. “It was a different understanding. And the crazy thing is, in my mind, I wasn’t even gonna risk it, you know? I was literally waiting for him to get up. I saw the knee come up, and he grabbed the back of my other leg, so it feels like he’s standing up, man. And I was trying to time it.”

Hardy’s ‘Hurt’

Indeed he was attempting to time it, but that attempt fell way off. And with his sordid past outside the cage he little to no room for error in the cage. Referee Dan Miragliotta was visibly angered by Hardy’s strike. The longtime official immediately admitted he would disqualify Hardy if Crowder could not continue. That’s what happened, and Hardy is hearing it on social media as a result.

He said that’s getting to him. It’s even ‘hurting him’ to be called a cheater:

“I was in a bad place, bro,” Hardy said. “It kind of hurt me. You guys cover me for a long time, I hate losing, bro. I’m not a loser, for one. For two, I hate people thinking that I’m a cheater and just the way that it was all formed and shaped. It kind of hurt me, man.”

We may be hard-pressed to find many feel sorry for Hardy. The ex-Carolina Panther was involved in a highly-publicized domestic violence incident in 2014. While he was never convicted when his alleged victim failed to show up to testify, he was suspended by the NFL. That stigma is following to this day, and always will.

His breaking of the rules in his first UFC bout certainly isn’t going to help things, either. Fans are already calling for him learn the rules rather than complain about what happened. What do you think?