Dan Hardy reveals what it's like working with Matt Hughes after volatile history
The one-time welterweight title contender has spoken out rather loudly in the past against Hughes and his passion for hunting after posting photos online several times with his trophies.
Just recently, Hardy, who will be analyzing this weekend's UFC Fight Night card from Hidalgo, TX on FS1, was working with Hughes during a Q&A session in Hamburg, Germany. Almost immediately after the two of them took to the stage together, Hardy and Hughes seemed to get along great but there was a lot of curiosity whether or not this encounter was awkward considering the Brit once called him "a real piece of (expletive)."
"We worked a little bit together around UFC 200 as well and I actually went out to the UFC office and they said 'you know you're going to be working with Matt Hughes, if you guys could get along that would be awesome'," Hardy revealed when speaking to FOX Sports on Thursday. "To be honest, Matt is very friendly, he's very complimentary of me as well, which is a bit strange for me because I didn't expect it.
"He's very good at his job. He's dedicated to promoting the sport and I have to see the positives in him. We work together. I don’t agree with some of his extracurricular activities and he knows that and I think everybody else knows that. When we're working together we have to be grown ups about it and that's what we do."
When Hardy hosted the Q&A with Hughes just a couple of weeks ago, he fully expected somebody from the crowd to ask them a question about hunting just to see the sparks fly but it never came.
Hardy says he would have no problem answering those questions even with Hughes standing next to him on the stage because that's one subject they'll never agree on no matter how professional they are being at work.
"As soon as they said Matt Hughes was doing the Q&A with me I was like 'OK, we're going to get some questions here'," Hardy said with a laugh. "But if the questions arose, I would answer those questions honestly.
On the latest edition of the Fight Society podcast, Hardy will also break down the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Texas where Dustin Poirier faces Michael Johnson in the main event. Hardy will be serving as an analyst this weekend and he'll give his thoughts on that matchup, Uriah Hall vs. Derek Brunson as well as his one fighter to watch outside of the main and co-main event.
Hardy will also address his future in the UFC including a potential drop to lightweight if he's able to return to action. Hardy has been pursuing a comeback for sometime now and it appears closer to reality now than ever before.
According to Hardy, there are definitely some matchups he would get excited about, although he says his days of chasing titles or rankings are over.
"I think people realize I'm not chasing belts and titles anymore," Hardy said. "I'm not interested in that.
"There are just a few fights out there that would be a lot of fun and when you see events with Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz and the attention they get, it would just be nice to be on the other side of the coin for a second and put my new skills and my new knowledge to use."
Listen to the entire interview with Hardy via Soundcloud or subscribe to the podcast via iTunes as well.
