Travis Wright (red gloves) vs Justin Wonzy in this Tri State Cage Fight. (Travis) Fighting out of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Riverside and Roseberry’s martial arts center in Lincoln. Sick Jitz..
Dan Hardy is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2004, Hardy fought in various promotions such as Cage Force and Cage Warriors before signing a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2008. He is the current Cage Warriors welterweight and light-welterweight champion. His nickname comes from the time he spent on the CageWarriors.com forums under the name “The Outlaw”. At the time, Hardy was looking for new training partners after his former coach and him could not see eye-to-eye. Hardy is currently ranked by Sherdog as the #4 welterweight fighter in the world. Hardy had been training in Tae Kwon Do since he was six years old. He moved on when taekwondo went down the Olympic route. He wanted real fights, so switched to Muay Thai instead. Hardy only became interested in Mixed Martial Arts after spending two months in China training with the Shaolin monks in 2002.[5] He then came back to England and competed in amateur MMA tournaments until his professional debut in 2004. Hardy is a member of Team Rough House alongside Paul Daley, Andre Winner and Dean Amasinger. Hardy has also spent time training at Xtreme Couture, Leicester Shootfighters and the Wildcard Boxing Gym.[5] He just received his Purple Belt in 10th planet jiu jitsu from Eddie Bravo. Hardy made his UFC debut at UFC 89, defeating Akihiro Gono via split decision. Gono was left swollen and bloody by several of Hardy’s left hooks. Gono rocked Hardy on more than one occasion. In the third round Gono pushed Hardy to the canvas and while there landed an illegal knee to the face of the downed fighter causing the fight to be stopped for a lengthy period. Hardy recovered and went on to win the split decision. The judges saw the bout 2928 (twice) for Hardy and 2928 for Gono. Dan Hardy beat Rory Markham at UFC 95 in the first round (1:09) by KO with a clean counter left hook. A follow-up shot on the mat brought in Kevin Mulhall to stop the fight. In his post-fight interview, Hardy retorted to Markham’s pre-fight accusation that he had weak hands by exclaiming to the ecstatic crowd, “No punching power? What do you have to say about that? Dan Hardy next defeated Marcus Davis via split decision at UFC 99 on June 13, 2009. The grudge between these two men began with the Irish-American Davis fighting in the UK against local fighters and defeating them all in spectacular fashion. Hardy stated that the UK was his home and he did not want Davis in it, building a fan base. It started to get personal when Hardy began openly insulting Davis calling him a fake Irishman and stating that Davis’ website “looked like a St. Patrick’s day gift shop blew up.” Afterwards, on an UK underground MMA website, Hardy encouraged fans to post photoshopped pictures of Davis in a homosexual fashion. The pictures upset Davis, causing him to confront Hardy at a UFC 99 press conference. The two continued to argue, but finally agreed to settle it in the cage. After a three round war, the judges at UFC 99 awarded the fight to Dan Hardy. Marcus Davis stormed out of the cage ignoring Hardy’s attempts to make peace. Davis told reporters that he wants a rematch with Hardy in Ireland or Boston. Hardy insists in his post-fight interview with Davis (and after the event to fans) that all of controversy was an effort to get Davis off his game-plan and nothing personal. On November 14, 2009 at UFC 105 he faced Mike Swick who replaced an injured Kim Dong-hyun.. At a press conference in Manchester Hardy and Swick discussed the winner of their fight getting a title shot against Georges St. Pierre. Hardy was the underdog coming into the fight, but managed to rock Swick early in the first round with a straight right hand which appeared to dent the American’s confidence. Swick appeared to be uncomfortable standing toe-to-toe with the Englishman and Hardy proceeded to rock him again in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Hardy won the fight by unanimous decision and booked his place as the number 1 contender for Georges St-Pierre’s Welterweight title. In being awarded the title shot, Hardy became the first British fighter in UFC history to receive one. UFC President Dana White confirmed at the post-fight press conference that the fight will most likely be held in Las Vegas. Dan stated in a post-fight interview with Sherdog.com that the next event in Las Vegas (UFC 109) in February was a little too early for him and he would much rather wait. Hardy is currently ranked the number 4 welterweight in the world by Sherdog.com. Hardy will fight Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111 which will take place in Newark, NJ.
Check the sweet action at 2:45 of the video. Great fight!
“Jeff broke his hand in this round before he went into using the Rubber Guard. Notice the use of the Double Bagger and the Go Go Bagger into the Omo plata.”
It’s official, I’ll be going out to train with and coach Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy in preparation for his fight with George St. Pierre, March 27th. I have to admit, this maybe the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s a huge honor to have been asked to help Dan Hardy prepare for, quite possibly, the biggest fight of his career. I’m going to do everything in my power to see that Dan brings the belt back to the states, well, via Nottingham, U.K. at least.
I’ll be returning from teaching seminars two, soon to become 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu affiliates in Africa, just to fly right back out to New Jersey, where Dan is having his training camp. I’ll be out there for the last 3 weeks of his camp, until the fight. So, as you’re watching the fight on your color t.v., look for me in the background saying encouraging words and shaking my fist violently. I might even through up a little 10th Planet gang sign or 2. While I’m out in NJ, I’m going to try and keep a little vblog, to document the experience.
It’s been an amazing 2010 already, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me the rest of the year. I’m very thankful for the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu family, Eddie, and The Burbank Crew. I’ve received so much support from everyone, thanks to everybody for helping out!
MMAWeekly is reporting that the undercard of UFC 106 will feature a lightweight match up between “Ultimate Fighter” veterans Jason Dent and George Sotiropoulos. UFC 106 is set to take place on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.
George Sotiropoulos was a cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra.” On the show, he made it to the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual runner up Tommy Speer. Since the show, Sotiropoulos has gone 3-0 in the UFC. Most recently, he dropped down to lightweight and submitted season 8 veteran George Roop. Overall in MMA, the Australian is 12-2 with six victories via submission.
Jason Dent was invited to be a cast member for “The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom” after a previous 0-2 stint in the UFC. Dent made it to the semi-finals of the show, before losing to Ross Pearson. Since the show, Dent submitted cast mate Cameron Dollar at show’s finale. The performance earned the Cincinnati native submission of the night honors.
A heavyweight title fight between champion Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin is set to headline UFC 106. The card will also feature the UFC debut of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Tito Ortiz will return to the UFC against former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman.