• UFC Fight Night 24

Condit should never have beaten me - Hardy

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Dan Hardy is 'dying' to get back inside the Octagon and face Anthony Johnson after reliving his knockout loss to Carlos Condit with ESPN.

Hardy had never been knocked out before he met Condit at UFC 120, but a piece of poor technique led to a shock defeat on home turf. The Outlaw must now bounce back against an even more dangerous striker in Rumble Johnson.

The Condit defeat arrived after Hardy chased a finish, throwing repeated left hooks that finally got countered by the American. Five months on, the Briton is desperate to erase the memories.

"I can't wait, it feels like years since I've been in the Octagon and I'm dying to get in there. I can't wait," he told ESPN. "I hate losing at the best of times, but the worst thing is there is no way Carlos should have beaten me.

"I think if we fought 10 times, I'd win nine of them. I can't take anything away from him, he caught me clean and took advantage of a mistake, but it certainly stays with you. I was back in the gym the following Monday, that's how angry I was.

"I had no respect for the guy, I had no concern over his striking at all. I didn't think he could land a clean shot on me, and I was confident I could walk him down, take his best shots, and put him to sleep.

"The problem was, I caught him a minute into the fight and I could see it in his eyes that I had hurt him, so I smelt the end of the fight and chased him with my left hook. I had more tools but my left hook has always finished fights, so I relied on it too heavily.

"I threw four in a row and he countered the last of them. It was good technique by him and stupidity by me."

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