Greg Hardy to make official UFC debut at ESPN+ card this January

After going 3-0 as an amateur, NFL vet Greg Hardy turned professional and was signed to a developmental contract with the UFC. He has gone 3-0 in the past six months, winning two bouts at Dana White’s Contender Series, and another at a regional show.

He will officially be making his UFC debut soon.

Dana White told ESPN that Hardy’s debut is “close to being finalized,” and will happen on January 19, at UFC’s inaugural show at ESPN+. It will be against Allen Crowder (9-3), who hasn’t fought since being KO’d on his UFC debut in 2017.

The disgraced former NFL player brings with him a checkered past, with numerous run ins with the law. This includes being charged and convicted on assaulting a woman and communicating threats.

The UFC President, who regularly claims that the UFC has a hard stance against domestic violence, earlier defended the signing. White says Hardy deserves a “second chance,” and that “the guy was never charged with anything, he was never sentenced or anything like that.”

The problem is, he was charged, and he was sentenced. It was only later expunged from his record, when the victim stopped appearing in court for a jury trial. His case has been well documented, as are the disturbing details from the attack, but White still made those claims.

As Suzanne Davis also points out, the UFC is also putting Hardy on the same card as Rachael Ostovich, a recent victim of an alleged assault and domestic abuse, who is still nursing the injuries sustained from the incident.

The UFC has always spoken about how the promotion “does not tolerate domestic violence,” but on multiple instances like this, they’ve have had actions that send a completely different message.