Dan Hardy talks 69-second KO over Rory Markham

Besides another addition to his win column, UFC welterweight Dan Hardy at UFC 95 was out to show off his knockout power.

Hardy prior to the fight had his punching power questioned by his opponent, the heavy-hitting Rory Markham out of the Miletich Fighting Systems. Hardy responded by telling the press that he was going to knock Markham out -- and he did.

In just 69 seconds into the showdown, Hardy countered a missed overhand right with a left hook for the knockout.

The first words out of Hardy's mouth for the crowd were, "No punching power, apparently, ladies and gentleman. No punching power. What do we think about that?"

Hardy said afterwards that his strategy was to keep Markham guessing and to throw something that would open Markham up, but he didn't count on winning so quickly.

"I wasn't planning on landing that knockout shot that early on," Hardy said. "My intention was to get him to make a few mistakes. He's a very aggressive fighter and he's got one thing that he's very good at, and that's putting people to sleep."

Hardy continued, "When I caught him with that jab, I could see it in his eyes that he was ready to step it up. When he came after me I was expecting to hit him with my overhand right to be honest, but the left hook just followed on from there nicely and it was just nice to catch him cleanly."