Daniel Mark Hardy[1] (born 17 May 1982) is an English former mixed martial artist who fought in the welterweight division.

He started practising other martial arts as a teenager, which included karate, jujutsu, judo and eventually wushu.

[5][6] In his post-fight interview, Hardy retorted to Markham's pre-fight accusation that he had weak hands by exclaiming to the ecstatic crowd, "No punching power?

"[7] Afterwards, on a UK underground MMA website, Hardy encouraged fans to post photoshopped pictures of Davis in a homosexual fashion.

Davis later told reporters that he wanted a rematch with Hardy in Ireland or Boston, as well as stating how controversial he thought the decision was.

At a press conference in Manchester[10] Hardy was the underdog coming into the fight,[11] but managed to rock Swick early in the first round with a straight right hand, which appeared to dent the American's confidence.

[12] Hardy won the fight via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 29–28) and booked his place as the #1 contender for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

UFC President Dana White confirmed at the post-fight press conference that the fight would most likely be held in Las Vegas.

Hardy stated in a post-fight interview with Sherdog.com that the next event in Las Vegas (UFC 109) in February was too early for him and he would rather wait.

[18] Condit followed up with two more punches on the ground, causing the referee to stop the fight at 4:27 of the first round, giving Hardy his first KO loss.

[27] During his hiatus, Hardy served as a commentator for UFC's Fight Pass events,[28] and works as an analyst on Fox Sports.

[29][30][31] On 15 August 2019 Hardy appeared as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, revealing he is joining USADA testing pool in order to be eligible for competition.

[32] While on commentator duties for the second Polaris Squads event, Hardy revealed that he was planning to make his return to professional MMA for one final fight in the UFC at some point in 2021.

He gave up his degree in art and design in his final year at Nottingham Trent University to pursue MMA full-time.

In recent years, he has also become an outspoken critic of trophy hunting on numerous occasions, even calling Matt Hughes "bad for the sport" due to his trophy-hunting in the States and abroad.