Greg Hardy smashes Dmitry Smolyakov in 1st round
It was hardly a coincidence that Greg Hardy was the co-main event of the UFC on ESPN+ card during the NFL Draft weekend.
And the former Dallas Cowboys star didn’t disappoint on Saturday night at the BT&T Center, making short work of Dmitry Smolyakov and winning by TKO at 2:15 of round 1.
Shaking off the disappointment of his disqualification loss to Allen Crowder in his UFC debut in April – due to an illegal knee – Hardy was able to hurt Smolyakov early in the fight. When Smolyakov covered up, Hardy swarmed on him with ground-and-pound until the ref pulled him off.
Hardy is now 4-1 as a pro, and evened his UFC record at 1-1. Smolyakov saw his overall record fall to 9-3, and 0-3 in the UFC.
“It felt amazing to be back after the situation in my first fight,” Hardy said. “I got to redeem myself, fight my heart out in front of my home crowd. I loved it. I kept my calm, I did the exact opposite of what I did the first time, kept it collected, just looked for all the openings in his game. I felt like I could see it all, and what I couldn’t see, I could get out of range fast enough and it all just came together. Now I want more. That’s it. Whoever the boss says I’m going to fight, I’m going to fight. Let’s do it!”
1️⃣& done for @GregHardyJr!!#UFCFtLauderdale on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/E8gesBMrER
— UFC (@ufc) April 28, 2019
