Greg Hardy, who was exiled from the NFL for domestic violence charges, is set to make his UFC debut in January as a part of the promotion’s first event on ESPN+.
But the UFC is under fire for placing flyweight Rachael Ostovich on the same card. The outlet Deadspin called Dana White and Co. “either stupid or evil.”
Ostovich, 27, will meet Paige VanZant, having rescheduled in November after Ostovich suffered major injuries from her husband, who was arrested for second-degree attempted murder.
In 2014, Hardy was found guilty of assaulting Nicole Holder, a former girlfriend, “grabbing the victim and strangling her,” read the arrest warrant. A year later, the Carolina Panthers, who drafted Hardy in 2010, allowed his contract to expire.
With a suspension looming, the Dallas Cowboys signed Hardy to a one-year deal. And in a tense saga, Hardy’s ex-girlfriend dropped all charges, and the NFL reduced the defensive end’s 10-game suspension to four games.
By 2017, Hardy began channeling his energy to competing in mixed martial arts. “Everything that I do is focused on this MMA career,” Hardy said, per The Washington Post.
The UFC invited Hardy onto Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. He won his first three professional fights by knockout, each in under one minute. Now the UFC is eager to bolster their first major event of 2019 with Hardy’s name.
“That shouldn’t come as a surprise given the UFC’s shaky history handling domestic abuse,” Mike Chiappetta wrote for MMAFighting.com. “The UFC placed fighters with domestic violence pasts such as Anthony Johnson and Abel Trujillo in high-profile fights.”
On the heels of the Kansas City Chiefs cutting ties with Kareem Hunt a week ago, after video showed the running back shoving a woman in a hotel, the UFC’s reluctance to draw a hardline of their own on domestic violence can only hurt the company.
UFC on ESPN+ 1, on Jan. 19, will be headlined by world champions Henry Cejudo and T.J. Dillashaw, the company’s first show of a five-year television deal with the sports network.
