Greg Hardy’s Ultimate Fighting Championship debut ended in controversial fashion when he landed an illegal knee on opponent Allen Crowder in the second round, resulting in a disqualification loss.
While a foul is never a satisfying conclusion to a fight, the domestic violence allegations in Hardy’s past led some to speculate that the troubled former NFL star landed the knee intentionally. Hardy immediately disputed that notion during the UFC Brooklyn post-fight press conference.
“He was getting up, it was inexperience in mistiming it, man,” Hardy said. “But I was trying to time it like I had just watched Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone do, like I saw everybody else do, and I thought it was the right thing to do at the time.