Dan Hardy may have been victorious in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on Saturday night, but despite his split-decision win, Hardy was disappointed with the result.

“I’m tired and I little bit disappointed,” Hardy told the Worksop Guardian shortly after his win at the National Indoor Arena.

“I was expecting to be able to push the pace but he was very good at spoiling and he was difficult to pin down.

“I could have been a little more aggressive and been better with my guard.”

Despite his comments, Hardy will still go down in the record books as taking a debut win over one of the UFC’s most experienced fighters.

And after two judges ruled in favour of the 26-year-old, Hardy admitted the moments before his hand was raised were very tense.

“You’re always worried about decisions,” he said. “You can never leave it up to the judges and we’d already seen a couple of strange decisions tonight.

“But obviously I was delighted to get the win and have my hand raised.”

Despite fighting in front of the biggest audience of his career, with over 9,000 in Birmingham, the Team RoughHouse stand out said he was calm as he entered to a raucous reception.

“To be honest there were no nerves. I was nervous all the way through my career because there was where I wanted to be and now that I’m here I can just enjoy it.

“Fighting in front of that many people, and winning, was by far the highlight of my career,” he added.

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com