Morning Report: Dan Hardy says he’d like to make UFC comeback at MSG ‘if the offer is right’

For MMA fans who only came to the sport in the advent of Conor McGregor’s rise to superstardom, Dan Hardy is predominantly known as the color commentator who is on the call for UFC events in Europe. But before Hardy became one of the best commentators in the game, he was a pretty good fighter. Now it appears that Hardy is ready to get back in the saddle again and show new fans what “The Outlaw” is all about.

Speaking recently with MMANytt, Hardy said that he has been eyeing a return to the cage for one final fight, and while he fought at 170 pounds for his entire career, if he had his druthers Hardy says he’d like to open up a new division for fighters between 155 and 170 pounds – the 161-pound division.

“If I was gonna come back, I’d want a name,” said Hardy. “There’s a lot of guys in the lightweight division I would look at, there’s a lot of guys in the welterweight division I would look at. If I had my own choice I would take a fight at 161 [pounds] or 162 [pounds] and have that as a new weight class. There’s a need for a weight class in between those two weight classes and part of the resistance is Dana [White] doesn’t want to move the welterweight division to 175 [pounds], and I absolutely agree but that 161/162 weight class would be perfect for the guys moving up to welterweight or down to lightweight. For me, I would fight anybody in that weight class.”

Hardy is best known as a one-time challenger for Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title but Hardy hasn’t competed since a 2012 unanimous decision win over Amir Sadollah at UFC on Fuel TV 5. In 2013, Hardy was diagnosed with the heart disorder, Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome and removed from a scheduled bout against Matt Brown. He has not competed since then, instead moving up the ranks of UFC commentators. If he does come back though, not only does he have his eyes on a shiny new weight class, he also wants to have potentially his final fight be on the biggest stage, the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden.

“I like Madison Square Garden,” said Hardy. “I know there’s a November card coming up and there’s still time to get on that. If the offer is right, and everything moves in that direction, if not, maybe early next year.”

Fighting on an event at Madison Square Garden is a notoriously coveted position among UFC fighters but with his work in the booth for the UFC, Hardy would likely have an inside track towards making it on the card. Plus, the UFC’s return to Madison Squarge Garden is set for November 10, giving Hardy plenty of time to take care of the one impediment standing in the way of his return: USADA.

“I need to do the four-month USADA testing pool and the likelihood is I’ve got one more fight so I’m in no massive rush to get back into that,” said Hardy. “It’s a very intrusive program which I like as a fan, as an analyst, and as a member of the UFC staff but as a fighter, I don’t need people knocking on my door at 5 o’clock in the morning knocking on my door and asking me to pee in a cup, but I will do it for one more fight when the time is right.”