Former National Football League (NFL) player Greg Hardy is taking the preparations for a potential MMA career very seriously. according to coach Mike Brown from American Top Team (ATT), the former football star has been sleeping at the gym when training.
"He's staying in the dorms we have upstairs. It's for guys who are really in intensive training. He seems to have the drive and desire," Brown says ... noting that Hardy has been taking classes in multiple disciplines to hone his skills. "He took boxing last night, jiu-jitsu today. He was training with Steve Mocco, our wrestling coach, who was in the Olympics,” Brown said to TMZ.
Hardy is expected to make his amateur MMA debut sometime in 2017, and has been training at American Top Team for the last several months.
UFC President Dana White, when asked by TMZ about Hardy in the UFC, said that he doesn’t expect Hardy in the UFC anytime soon, but the fighter does deserve a second chance in life following a domestic violence incident during his NFL years.
Hardy's domestic violence charges have caused many, including Jay Glazer, to criticize his decision to move to MMA.
“It’s pretty cut and dried, here,” Glazer said. “And I asked all my fellow MMA coaches not to give this guy a chance because he doesn’t deserve it. It’s a privilege to play this sport or play football, and we here at Unbreakable Performance, and I know other places I’ve worked, we actually train women to defend themselves against people like Greg Hardy and with threats to violence."
