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Hardy suggests pay cuts for inactive fighters

Dan Hardy admits the UFC may have to consider hitting fighters where it hurts if they fail to put on a show, by cutting their win bonuses if they do not finish the fight.

Hardy has joined BJ Penn, Randy Couture and Cole Miller in being vocal about the need for fighters to fight. The Outlaw was outraged by Nik Lentz's recent 'lay-and-pray' victory over Andre Winner, insisting such performances harm MMA's image and financial prosperity.

At UFC 120 Hardy will get to do his own talking with a co-main event bout against Carlos Condit, where he promises to seek a finish to the fight. The Briton has been to a decision in each of his last three outings, but that does not stop him suggesting a new pay system to ensure fighters do not come merely to score points.

"Maybe you could alter fighters' pay," Hardy told ESPN. "Only give them the second half of the win bonus if they get a finish. Fighters wouldn't agree to that because they'd lose money, but at the end of the day we're here to fight."

Hardy has already clarified that he has no grudge to bear against an aggressive wrestler, but he wants the judging to accurately to reflect the amount of ambition shown by a fighter following a takedown.

"I don't know the answer, I really don't. If it was up to me, I'd bring back elbows, knees to the head on the ground, headbutts. I'd bring it all back because it works better for me because I've got a hard head and I like a scrap! But obviously we need to do the fights under the Commission's guidance so they're not going to allow those things due to the danger of them.

"You can't really alter the way the referees officiate the fights because it's down to the opinion of the referee. Judging's very difficult, I wouldn't want to be a judge at all.

"The only thing I can think of is to have more judges in the sport, so that there's one for jiu-jitsu, one for wrestling, one for striking etc. That would rule out bias in judging because, if you have a judge that likes boxing, he's going to score striking more than certain aspects of wrestling.

"It's all opinion. I'd hate to say I'd be biased but if I was judging I'd probably score striking higher than wrestling because I see it differently."

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