The fact that Hardy is a Hw contender shows how shallow ufc elite level is too boxing

[CutStryker]

Hardy is not a contender, the guy isn’t in the top 15. Needs to beat 10 and up to show contention. I can also tell you that his cardio needs to immensely improve and submission skills. He had a possible arm triangle set up on Greene, but his lack of knowledge in the submission game has been exposed by yours truly (kidding).

 

[Amerikuracana]

Rahman of beating my goat Lennox Lewis fame started boxing at like 22 years old.

 

[stinkynecklace]

Unless I’m way more out of touch than I think, HW boxing isn’t all that different.

 

[Kryptt]

Hardy dunked another UFC "prospect"...dunna be mad..

 

[sangreporsangre]

He's way too young to be a contender at HW.

 

[Istryker]

a contender? what are you looking at?

heavyweight boxing is pretty bad too, for the record.

no it’s not.


Other than the big 3 at the top


You have Ruiz,Usyk,Joe Parker, Dillian Whyte,Povetkin and many many others

 

[Istryker]

has little to do with eliteness tbh Its more a matter of restricted fighting vs fighting almost without any. Its obvious that an inexperienced fighter would benefit from being able to fight the way they want as opoosed to using only his fists.

WHAT LOL

 

[dmwalking]

No way a football player at the age of 30 with no combat experience could just walk in and be a contender in boxing but Hardy is considered a contender in UFC, if he becomes a champion one day it would look even worse. I still love UFC don’t get me wrong but it just shows the levels of eliteness in boxing vs mma

A football player can definitely get to the top 10 in boxing’s hw division. Hw division is shallow for all fight sports.

 

[Fluffernutter]

He is not a contender. Not even a gatekeeper yet.

Alonzo Highsmith was described by Sports Illustrated as having one of the best jabs in the division when he boxed.

 

[snackgod]

No way a football player at the age of 30 with no combat experience could just walk in and be a contender in boxing but Hardy is considered a contender in UFC, if he becomes a champion one day it would look even worse. I still love UFC don’t get me wrong but it just shows the levels of eliteness in boxing vs mma

who is saying hardy is a contender?

 

[TGArthur]

This has been a universal problem for many years in the UFC. The good thing is they are hitting the Eastern Euro market that seems to produce a lot of good talent for the HW division. Hopefully we see some really good prospects in the future.

 

[jk7707]

No way a football player at the age of 30 with no combat experience could just walk in and be a contender in boxing but Hardy is considered a contender in UFC, if he becomes a champion one day it would look even worse. I still love UFC don’t get me wrong but it just shows the levels of eliteness in boxing vs mma

How do you define "contender"? He's beaten the bottom of the UFC HW barrel. The only fight he had against someone near the top he was soundly beaten. Imagine him fighting Blaydes, or Ngannou, even a guy like Alexander Romanov (a legit prospect)? He's only a contender because the UFC hype train says so.

 

[is a]

He'll most likely make it if he's serious about training the important aspects of MMA, plus improving his conditioning a bit. He's a physically gifted athlete who is strong and can generate tons of power, but there's still room to improve his techniques + speed/agility.

Stipe isn't going to last forever holding the strap and other than Ngannou/Rozenstruik? The skill level in the HW division appear to be much lower overall compared to let's say...LHW?

 

[jotdori]

Pretty sure most top contenders from middleweight and light heavyweight can easily win vs heavyweights.

Just gotta last 1-2 rounds and its game over for most HWs

 

[Tevfik1907]

If you are a talented athlete over 6'3, you don't do mma in USA, you usually play basketball in NBA or do other sports like American football etc. Which is why you don't see many talented people at heavyweights in mma, there are few, but they are boxing because there is more money in boxing right now, (it could change in the future)

There are more competition in the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight because there are many guys out there who are between 5'8 and 6'1, who can't play basketball in NBA or do other sports like American football, thus they are fighting, and that means there is more competition to it for those divisions.

 

[DaDamn]

Not one heavyweight boxer would be ranked in the UFC top 10 if they joined today.

 

[Evangelion]

how is he a contender? he isn't even in the top 15 lol.

#15 Tybura would beat his ass.

HW is a shit division but it has nothing to do with shitty ass Greg Hardy. He's just a cow they parade around against favorable matchups to pander from people who know him from football. If he had a normal prospect path he would have lost multiple times already. Basically every performance where he didn't just nuke the other guy has been really shitty and/or been a DQ/NC for cheating.

Yea guys like Alexey arent even really contenders. Hardys not even that level.

That being said youre being a little harsh on Hardy. Hes had less than 10 fights and faced a top 6 opponent and a guy who was top 15 a year ago. How is that favorable treatment and since when do other prospects face a tougher schedule than that.

 

[Saku_96]

If you are a talented athlete over 6'3, you don't do mma in USA, you usually play basketball in NBA or do other sports like American football etc. Which is why you don't see many talented people at heavyweights in mma, there are few, but they are boxing because there is more money in boxing right now, (it could change in the future)

There are more competition in the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight because there are many guys out there who are between 5'8 and 6'1, who can't play basketball in NBA or do other sports like American football, thus they are fighting, and that means there is more competition to it for those divisions.

I don't think its a height issue. There's LOTS of talented successful NBA/NFL stars that are shorter than 6'2".

It's a money issue. If you're athletically gifted, why train for 1-3 fights a year and make only 50-150k/fight unless you're the champion.

NBA/NFL salary minimum is 500-800k/yr. That's just for training and sitting on the bench, even with bottom tier teams. You get A LOT more if you're a huge producer.

Until MMA closes that gap, we're never going to see the best athletes compete. Hence I'll keep beating that drum for higher fighter pay until I turn blue. 18% of UFC revenue goes to fighters is egregious. NFL/NBA are 50/50 split with corporate and players.

 

[xP]

Yea guys like Alexey arent even really contenders. Hardys not even that level.

That being said youre being a little harsh on Hardy. Hes had less than 10 fights and faced a top 6 opponent and a guy who was top 15 a year ago. How is that favorable treatment and since when do other prospects face a tougher schedule than that.

Almost every normal prospect signed by the UFC fights a tougher schedule. I guess you're saying "but these were his first fights".


Well the UFC doesn't usually sign guys with 2-0 records or whatever he did in the contender series, so there isn't a lot to compare it to. There was Cain, who they signed at 2-0 and he fought Kongo, Rothwell, and Nog in his sixth, seventh, and eighth fight. But he was actually good, because the UFC doesn't sign people with 2-0 records unless they're good at MMA or someone like CM Punk. Hardy is obviously decent but he's still more on the CM Punk side than the Cain Velasquez side. If you have some other similarly experienced fighters feel free to bring them up, i'm not going to do much digging. Obviously Brock comes to mind and he fought actually good fighters as well.



That is where the special treatment comes in. Dude gets to have regional level MMA fights on the main card of fight nights and PPVs. Everyone before Volkov has been cut and most of them had(and still have) 0 UFC wins.

 

[lsa]

Almost every normal prospect signed by the UFC fights a tougher schedule. I guess you're saying "but these were his first fights".


Well the UFC doesn't usually sign guys with 2-0 records or whatever he did in the contender series, so there isn't a lot to compare it to. There was Cain, who they signed at 2-0 and he fought Kongo, Rothwell, and Nog in his sixth, seventh, and eighth fight. But he was actually good, because the UFC doesn't sign people with 2-0 records unless they're good at MMA or someone like CM Punk. Hardy is obviously decent but he's still more on the CM Punk side than the Cain Velasquez side. If you have some other similarly experienced fighters feel free to bring them up, i'm not going to do much digging. Obviously Brock comes to mind and he fought actually good fighters as well.


That is where the special treatment comes in. Dude gets to have regional level MMA fights on the main card of fight nights and PPVs. Everyone before Volkov has been cut and most of them had(and still have) 0 UFC wins.

Well hasn't most of the guys he fought been brought in to the UFC, before Volkov)
Several had 1 UFC fight was cut and then back to face Hardy.
I cant recall many or any "prospect" in any other weight class they did that to.