Greg Hardy, the former Pro Bowl defensive end whose NFL career ended because of a domestic violence accusation, has taken up a second career as a pro fighter. His latest fight did not go well.
Hardy has signed with an organization called Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, which promotes boxing without gloves. In his first fight on Friday night, he was knocked cold by Josh Watson, a mediocre fighter he was handed as his first bare knuckle opponent in an attempt to give him an easy win.
A left hook from Watson in the second round sent Hardy flat on his back, and Hardy was still trying to get up when the referee counted to 10.
Hardy signed with the UFC in 2018 and won some fights, but he was cut by that organization a year ago after suffering three consecutive knockout losses. His knockout loss on Friday night may indicate that the 34-year-old Hardy needs to find something else to do for a living.
A 2010 sixth-round draft pick of the Panthers, Hardy was a Pro Bowler in 2013 but spent all but one game of the 2014 season on the commissioner’s exempt list over a domestic violence charge. The Cowboys signed him in 2015, but after that no NFL team wanted him, and so he found fighting as his second career.
