{"id":1156708,"date":"2023-02-18T05:21:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T10:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/ex-nfl-player-greg-hardy-opens-bare-knuckle-fighting-career-by-getting-knocked-out-cold\/1156708\/"},"modified":"2023-02-18T05:21:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T10:21:31","slug":"ex-nfl-player-greg-hardy-opens-bare-knuckle-fighting-career-by-getting-knocked-out-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/ex-nfl-player-greg-hardy-opens-bare-knuckle-fighting-career-by-getting-knocked-out-cold\/1156708\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NFL player Greg Hardy opens bare knuckle fighting career by getting knocked out cold"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n
Greg Hardy’s post NFL career has been a very mixed bag. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/figcaption>
Jeff Bottari via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Greg Hardy’s meandering post-NFL career saw him make his debut with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship on Friday. It did not go well.<\/p>\n

The former Pro Bowl pass rusher entered BKFC: Knucklemania 3 as an overwhelming favorite against underdog Josh Watson, but he received a cold dose of reality at the end of the first round when a left from Watson sent him reeling into the ropes.<\/p>\n

The hit was scored a knockdown as the ropes prevented Hardy’s fall, leading to a 10-count from referee Dan Miragliotta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
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Down goes Greg Hardy!! #KnuckleMania3<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/JHF5evpoNg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FITE (@FiteTV) February 18, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The first round ended before Watson could do any more damage, but then he hit Hardy with another left hook in the second, knocking him horizontal and ending the fight.<\/p>\n

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GREG HARDY JUST GOT SLEPT pic.twitter.com\/yMOT2ayV0T<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) February 18, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Watson was participating in his third BKFC event, holding a 1-1 record with the promotion. Before that, he had gone eight years since a minor MMA career, per Tapology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BKFC organizers who signed Hardy were undoubtedly left with the same feeling the UFC experienced in 2019, when Hardy made his promotional debut as a -500 favorite against Allen Crowder. Dana White and Co. had hoped Hardy’s athleticism and pre-existing following could give them a new star, but then Hardy lost his debut via an illegal knee in a fight he hardly dominated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That night more or less set the tone for Hardy’s MMA career. The UFC kept feeding him bottom-tier opponents until he got his big shot against Alexander Volkov and lost. Hardy left the promotion last year with a career MMA record of 7-5 with one no-contest.<\/p>\n

Hardy also entered the world of boxing with a pair of bouts late last year, the latter a win against Hasim Rahman Jr., whose claim to fame to date is almost fighting Jake Paul.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whole spectacle is a far cry from Hardy’s prime in the NFL, where he posted 40 sacks in six seasons with the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys. That career ended under a cloud of outrage over the domestic allegations against him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From:AOL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Hardy’s post NFL career has been a very mixed bag. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)Jeff Bottari via Getty Images Greg Hardy’s meandering post-NFL career…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}