Israel Adesanya Believes Greg Hardy Is ‘Very Talented’

Hardy Adesanya

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes heavyweight prospect Greg Hardy is getting better and better.

Hardy most recently fought Ben Sosoli at UFC Boston last month, initially winning a unanimous decision. However, it was later overturned to a no contest after the former NFL star used an inhaler during the second and third round.

Despite the amateur mistake, Hardy’s all-round performance was impressive as he was much more composed and picked his shots. He now gets to show if he’s ready for the elite when he meets Alexander Volkov at UFC Moscow this Saturday.

And when asked if Hardy was underrated, this was what Adesanya had to say:

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“He’s new to the game, so he makes a lot of mistakes, like the asthma thing,” Adesanya said (via ESPN). “If he was more experienced, he would have known. But he’s very talented. And one thing is he’s getting better every single fight. I see it. The last guy he fought, he’s not the greatest, world-class opponent like his next test is a world-class opponent, but Hardy’s lead rear hand was really snappy. That was the first thing I noticed, and his foot placement I was really impressed with.

“So yeah, he’s getting better, and I think even the fact that he picked to fight Volkov on such short notice, I’m impressed. I saw him fight a few months ago and saw this and thought he has gotten better.”

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Hardy caught wind of the praise and responded on Instagram:

“Damn, when the video game him self aka the created player aka the style bender is giving u a few props it feels like u do n some things right,” Hardy wrote. “Thanks champ. And no I didn’t tag him cause I don’t want you guys hate to blow up all in his comments but blessings man for sure ???????? that ish is motivation.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4lJS9dAqt2/

Do you agree with Adesanya’s assessment of Hardy?