On Wednesday, UFC president Dana White announced that former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy is set to make his official UFC debut Jan. 19 in New York.
That Hardy is under contract with the UFC in the first place has raised plenty of eyebrows, considering his troubling history involving domestic violence. News of flyweight fighter Rachael Ostovich’s name also being on that same fight card made Hardy’s involvement look all the more tone-deaf on the part of White and the UFC.
Ostovich recently came forward with her account of an alleged domestic assault that left her hospitalized with a fractured orbital bone. Her husband, Arnold Berdon, against whom Ostovich was granted a restraining order, was reportedly arrested following the incident.
In 2014, Hardy, then with the Carolina Panthers, was convicted on two counts of domestic violence after attacking and threatening ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder. Charges were dismissed during the appeal process the following year after Holder reportedly did not show up in court. Hardy went on to play the 2015 season with the Dallas Cowboys and announced in 2016 that he was making the move to MMA and was awarded a UFC contract earlier this year.
White addressed the card, and his decision to put both fighters on it, during an in-studio interview on Prime Time Sports Thursday night.
“These cards get negotiated and put together months before they are released, and we had been working on this ESPN card forever. And the thing happened recently with Rachael, so she was off the card. And we were working to put Hardy on the card at that time,” White explained. “So, she comes back and it ends up she’s healthy enough to fight on this card and I’m like, ‘There’s no way she’s fighting on this card’ — training for this, she’s probably going to get injured, she needs to get her head together, she’s going through a divorce. All the things that are negative going on in her life, this is the last thing she needs to be focused on. Well, she called me up and she said, ‘I need this. I want this fight.’ And she gave me 75 reasons why she should be on this card. And I said, ‘You know what, Rachael? I agree with you. I’m going to put you on the card.’ So I did it.”
Upon realizing that Ostovich — who is scheduled to fight Paige VanZant — and Hardy had been put on the same card, White said he called Ostovich to explain the situation and ask her opinion. He recalled the conversation:
“She goes, ‘First of all, this guy has nothing to do with me. His story is different than my story. Everybody’s story is different, and I believe in second chances anyway. But what’s happening with him has nothing to do with me. Please, I want to be on this card and I don’t care if he’s on this card. This man can do whatever he wants to do, he has nothing to do with me.’ And I said, ‘are you sure about that?’ and she said, ‘absolutely sure,'” White recalled.
Ariel Helwani on Twitter
UFC’s ESPN debut is a little over a month away. They are scrambling for big fights. They don’t have a main event yet. They are trying to move things around. I get all that. This wasn’t the move, though, on multiple levels.
“Listen, at the end of the day, I signed Greg Hardy,” said White, who has openly defended his decision to give the disgraced NFLer a second chance since signing him in June. “This question is going to be asked to me as long as this guy is here.”
Here’s the full interview:
