Dan Hardy: The Outlaw

Dan Hardy is a champion.  He isn’t delusional about exactly where his talents lie: “I get paid to beat people up,” he has said at the Canadian/USA border when asked by border patrol what he does for a living.  He’s not your average MMA fighter, however.  He’s also known as a sweetheart.

Hardy has the gift – or terrible affliction – depending on your viewpoint, to be able to commit himself fully to accomplishing a goal. Hardy’s goal is not to become President of the United States, rid the world of hunger, or even become a doctor and make his mother happy. Hardy lives to destroy human flesh in the ring. He can live for months at the gym: barely talking in between workouts.

He is aware of the mental tole – not just the physical one – that all the training and psychological warfare is having on his brain. He views the world as a series of enemies who challenge his identity.

But is there anything for Hardy outside the world of fighting? His MMA nickname, The Outlaw,  after all, for a reason. Sadly, fighting is the only place where he feels a connection to his fellow man – even if that connection is on the receiving end of a fist.

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