Perhaps you guys remember a time…oh, let’s say around 9 months ago, when former welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy had just dropped his third straight match to Anthony Johnson. In desperate need of a win, Hardy decided that he should call out a fighter by the name of Chris Lytle. You see, Lytle was on the tail end of his career, and plus, Hardy knew that “Lights Out’s” style would play perfectly into his strengths. Hardy claimed however, that he chose Lytle out of the need for “an old school shootout with a guy that wants to throw down.” We saw through the bullshit.

But then, after getting his wish and finding himself on the wrong end of a good old fashioned Lytle ass-whooping, Hardy dove in for a takedown at the end of the third round, and was promptly submitted. He claimed he needed some time off to think about his future, even though he knew it was safe in the UFC.

Well, it seems that Hardy has spent a good deal of time thinking about a solid, game opponent for which he should begin his comeback. A young, feisty up and comer by the name of…Matt Hughes? Hardy told ESPN:

I’ve mentioned Matt Hughes to Lorenzo. He’s been on a rough streak as well recently, he’ll look at me and see I’ve lost four fights and think he can outwrestle me. I also genuinely don’t like him. I need a fight to get up for and I’d take great pleasure in smashing him in the face. I won’t talk about why I don’t like him, it’s some knowledge I have about him away from the sport. Even students around where he lives bet against him. Lorenzo would love to see it; more than anything he just likes a good fight! That’s why I’ve not been cut yet because I come to fight. I think Matt Hughes would be an entertaining fight. 

If anything, this without a doubt proves that Hardy lives up to his nickname, because only a true outlaw would choose to rebuild himself using the fragile, osteoporosis-ridden bones of the elderly.

Now, we here at CP understand that it sometimes takes a couple lower level fights to build a fighter’s confidence back up; it’s part of the game. And we definitely understand that someone could clash heads with Matt Hughes, but you gotta be kidding with this one, Dan. Not only has Hughes been discussing retirement for like 3 years now, but the man is coming off back-to-back knockout losses for Christ’s sake. And don’t give us this “entertaining fight” routine again; what’s next, you want to fight Renzo Gracie to show us how far your ground game has come?

And we’re just going to brush over the fact that Hardy had the balls to mention an opponent to Lorenzo Fertitta, a man whom he should be thanking each time he looks down at his plate and sees that there is still food on it. It would be like if we all quit work today, only to come back a year from now and request a raise along with some stock options.

Perhaps even more ironic is the possibility that if Hardy was somehow given this fight, we could see him being listed as the underdog considering that Hughes presents the exact kind of gameplan that just one fight ago, Hardy was complaining about having to deal with.

Does anyone out there think this is a legitimate, respect based request by Hardy, or are y’all calling shenanigans like us?

-Danga