Dan Hardy Turns Down Fight With Mickey Gall
Mickey Gall kept his undefeated streak alive as a professional MMA fighter when he submitted sage Northcutt in the second round of their co-main event fight at UFC On Fox 22. After the fight, as Gall was interviewed by Brian Stann, he called out the returning Dan Hardy for a fight, but Hardy doesn't 22
"I almost spat my tea out of my mouth when I was watching it," Hardy said on The MMA Hour. "It was like four o'clock in the morning when I was watching, and I just wasn't expecting it. I appreciate the callout. I appreciate the respect that you've shown me. But I've never fought anybody with less than eight fights, not even in my first pro fight. It's just, we're in different phases of our careers. I'm not looking at knocking off a future contender that I'm possibly going to commentating for in the future. And at the same time, if I was going to fight, I want to fight a veteran. I want to fight someone who's had 20, 30 fights, who's matured in their game and is sure of their fighting style, rather than someone who's still developing. I like to see the development of these young fighters and I don't want to interfere with that in any way. I'm 10 years older."
Despite the fact that he turned down the challenge from Gall, Hardy says he has a lot of respect for the fighter for making the challenge in the first place.
"I think he's realistic," Hardy said. "He said in the post-fight press conference that it was a bit of a haymaker, a bit of a wild callout, and I appreciate that. It surprised me, but I appreciate that. It was very respectful of him. I don't think it was done in bad taste in any way. I wasn't offended by it. But you know, there's 100 guys on the UFC roster who would be much better opponents for him right now. I don't want to beat up a kid that I'm enjoying watching. There's a lot of older guys out there who have matured in their style, they know their fighting style, they know their capabilities, and there's a lot of fighters out there that I would be motivated to fight. And Mickey is a kid. I appreciate where he is in his career. He's had four fights and he's an exciting prospect for the future. I don't want to play a part in that, being a burden in his career in any way."
Hardy hasn’t competed since defeating Amir Sadollah at a UFC On Fuel TV event in 2012, he has previously challenged for the UFC Welterweight Title, losing to then champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 111.
