On Saturday night, at UFC Vegas 12, Greg Hardy picked up his fourth UFC win via second-round TKO against Maurice Greene. But apparently, he was on the verge of pulling out from the fight last minute.
His manager Malki Kawa first made the revelation in a post-fight tweet.
During his conversation with the media, “The Prince of War” gave a bit more background on what happened, but without giving any specifics.
“Some people from my past coming to extort me, put me in crazy situations, trying to take food out of my family’s mouth and just a lot of outside circumstances,” he explained. “I was breaking down in my bathroom before I even started to fight. I was in tears, trying to figure out how I’m gonna function and if I could go on.
“It was just a lot of drama, people, like I said, trying to take advantage of my situation.”
When asked to clarify a bit more, Hardy confirmed it was connected with the domestic violence case he dealt with years ago. The 32-year-old also declared his innocence on the matter.
“A lot of past stuff coming back, just trying to prey on me,” he said. “You guys know me by now. I would’ve jumped off a building, did some crazy TO stuff if I was the guy you always talk about. I’m not. Never will be. I’m a good guy, been a good guy. Innocent man, always have been.
“And when people come back and they try to prey and take advantage of somebody that’s coming back and redeeming and regaining kind of messes with my head. Especially because they’re springing on me literally right in the middle of me going to fight for my life. It kind of messed with me.”
In May 2014, Hardy was arrested for physically assaulting an ex-girlfriend. While Hardy said that he was “never proven guilty” and “never called guilty,” that is technically not true. He was handed a guilty verdict a month later and was sentenced to 18 months probation and a 60-day suspended jail sentence. Hardy filed an appeal and the charges were later dismissed and his record was expunged when his accuser did not show up in court for a jury trial.
