Greg Hardy Is Giving Up Football to Pursue an MMA Career

NFL player Greg Hardy has decided to give up football in order to pursue an MMA career.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

On Monday, Greg Hardy unveiled a new website to let the world know that "Greg Hardy 2.0" was making "The Ultimate Comeback." It was unclear what that "comeback" would involve, though, and most people assumed it meant Hardy would be trying to get back into the NFL. Well, here we are just 24 hours later, and it appears that Hardy was not alluding to the NFL when he spoke about making a comeback. Instead, he is apparently going to pursue a career in...MMA?

In a statement released to MMAFighting.com, Hardy revealed that he has put football to the side for now to focus on launching a fighting career. "I'm very focused and excited to start my MMA career," he said. "I'm going to do this the right way, I can assure you of that...I'm fully committed to being as successful as I can be in this sport."

So where does Hardy go from here? He has been training for MMA for several months and reportedly has interest from several promotions that are likely looking to capitalize on his notoriety. He doesn't have a background in MMA, but there are plenty of people out there who hate Hardy as a result of the domestic violence incident he was involved in back in 2014 and would likely pay to see him step into the Octagon. At 285 pounds, his team is saying he's expected to start his career as a heavyweight, and he is aiming to make his debut sometime in 2017.

This probably marks the end of Hardy's NFL career. As CM Punk recently found out, you have to devote your entire life to MMA to be even a little bit successful, so Hardy won't be able to focus on MMA and football at the same time. Not that there were many NFL teams banging down his door this season anyway. Stay tuned to see where this leads Hardy in the future.

Latest in Sports