UFC Boss accused of staging video expressing concern for fighter!

Dan Hardy, former UFC fighter and commentator, has recently opened up about some of his experiences while commentating which gave him “uneasy feelings” towards the world-leading promotion.

Hardy, who fought for UFC from 2008 to 2012, was released from his duties as a commentator in early 2021. No stranger to conflict, Hardy was released after a disagreement with a female employee. This disagreement took place just a few months after a confrontation with referee Herb Dean over his handling of the Fransisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert fight. Hardy was critical of Dean for not waving off the fight when Herbert showed signs of distress.

Dan Hardy spoke to “Freedom Pact” podcast about a similar incident at the Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar fight where he believed the safety of the fighter was not prioritized.

“And then going into the fifth round, and you have one guy that’s being beaten senseless by another fighter, right? Now, there is no reason why that fight shouldn’t have been stopped at the end of the fourth round. No discredit to Calvin Kattar, but he didn’t earn anything by taking that fifth-round beating. But what we did see was that clip coming out of Dana talking to Hunter (Campbell, Chief Business Officer at UFC) and being like, ‘Hey, we need to make sure he goes straight to a doctor after that.’”

In fact, Hardy claimed that the clip of White speaking to Hunter Campbell was staged.

“And it looks like, ‘Hey, they just caught this on camera across the arena.’ The dude was mic’d up. The receiver of the microphone was attached to the camera that was filming him from across the other side of the arena. That whole thing was staged to protect the UFC. And I watched that, and I’m like, ‘That’s just dirty.’ Actually do something to protect the fighter. Don’t do something to protect the sport or the company if the fighter gets damaged.”

Hardy alleged that the UFC has more concern for its public image than the safety of its fighters.

“That hurt me to watch that, because I can see the game being played. It’s pretending they had some kind of concern by Calvin Kattar, and I just didn’t buy it. And I’m standing there keeping my mouth shut, because I had already said too much a few weeks before, and I’m already right on the edge of the chopping block thinking, ‘This might be exactly what I was talking about before a couple of weeks ago.’”

Do you think Dana White will respond to Dan Hardy’s allegations?