UFC color commentator Dan Hardy has been unveiled as part of Sky Sport’s broadcast team in the UK for the Mayweather Vs McGregor boxing match on August 26th in Las Vegas.
Hardy has called many of the UFC’s recent European events, and though this will be his first time doing so for a boxing match, the 35-year-old fighter explained at a press conference earlier today why he’s the right man for the job.
“I’ve worked a lot with boxers in the past,” Hardy said. “I’ve trained alongside boxers because back in the day with mixed martial arts, they were the only real combat athletes around me that knew what they were doing.
“All of the other martial artists were making it up as they go along, so I feel in love with boxing from a young age. I grew up watching the likes of Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank and I have trained alongside the likes of Carl Froch.
“I know what it takes to get into the boxing ring and I know how difficult it is to become supremely skilled in such a narrow skillset like that because I’ve been in there with boxers and I’ve been pushed around.
“As soon as it becomes a mixed martial arts fight, (boxers) become interested. There have been questions that have come from (boxers) in the past that will prepare me for this, I think.
“I understand the boxing mentality and I understand what they’re going to be looking at as far as Conor McGregor as a new addition to the sport.”
It looks like Hardy will be serving in a role similar to the one ex-UFC fighter Brendan Schaub has been doing over in Showtime in the US, but it seems like ‘The Outlaw’ feels he’ll be able to bring more to the table from an analyst’s point of view.
“As much as like Brendan Schaub, I’ll admit that I thought a lot of the stuff he was saying was hot air. There were a lot of superlatives and celebration. There was not a great deal of substance to his analysis.
“He didn’t tell me where Conor should put his feet, where he should hold his hands, what we should be looking out for, what Floyd is going to be looking to do against a southpaw that fights outside of his normal range… there wasn’t really any analysis. It was more yelling over each other.
“What I’m hoping to bring to the table is some knowledge and some intellect.”
