Curtis Blaydes Defends Greg Hardy After DQ Loss in Octagon Debut

UFC heavyweight fighter recently appeared on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, and he discussed the DQ loss for Greg Hardy at UFC on ESPN+ 1. Below are some highlights (h/t MMAjunkie).

Blaydes on Greg Hardy using the illegal knee strike: “I don’t think his past transgressions had anything to do with what happened out there in the cage. I think he was super excited, because that was me. When I was an amateur, that was me – just in the cage swinging wildly, hitting guys in the back of the head because you’re just so amped up. It takes time to get used to fighting.”

Blaydes on how difficult it is to fight in the Octagon: “People don’t get you have to be calm and at the same time hyper-aggressive, which is a hard thing to do. He threw that knee and I think he was expecting his opponent to pop up, and when he didn’t, he couldn’t stop the knee.”