• UFC Nottingham

Hardy: I'll kick any opponent down

Dan Hardy is not interested in calling out future opponents, insisting he'll knock down whoever the UFC chooses to put in front of him.

Hardy impressed during Saturday's win over Amir Sadollah, which acted as the co-main event in Nottingham. After a one-dimensional first round, the Brit opened up with kicks, takedowns and ground-and-pound in the next two to lift the roof off the Capital FM Arena.

"It was a good night, a very good night. Amir's a tough opponent. I was trying to emphasise the right hand more to open up the left hand, and I cracked him with some good shots," Hardy told ESPN. "I gave him some stitches, which is tradition if you come to Nottingham."

Having answered a run of four losses with back-to-back wins, Hardy's name is being linked to the likes of Siyar Bahadurzada, Thiago Alves and Matt Hughes, but the latest version of The Outlaw is happy to let the sport unravel as the UFC sees fit.

"I'm not looking at anybody now. I used to watch fights from a career point of view and that distanced me from the sport as a fan. Being a fan is what keeps my passion.

"I'll work at my pace and whoever they give me I'll kick them down as they come."

Hardy also brushed off the praise he received for his ability to use wrestling - previously a weakness of his - to beat Sadollah. In the eyes of the Brit, he only showed a percentage of what he has developed since working in the US.

"We spilled some blood and the fans loved it. I apologised to my corner after the first round, but I heard the crowd chanting my name and I didn't want to get carried away and start slugging. I have a habit of doing that sometimes and it doesn't always work out!

"I didn't mind letting the first round go, I've developed 'smarts' since the Carlos Condit defeat. I knew from round two I had to put it on him.

"I didn't really show what I've got. A few takedowns and a bit of ground-and-pound, I'm developing far more. The adrenaline got to me a bit, I felt a little flat for a while.

"We'd worked on picking angles, but when I felt comfortable I started standing in front of him and picking my shots."

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