Greg Hardy picked up arguably the biggest win of his young career with a unanimous decision victory at UFC 249.
Hardy kicked off the pay-per-view broadcast with a shutout performance over previously undefeated prospect Yorgan De Castro, who was fresh off a jaw-dropping knockout in his octagon debut. With 30-27 scores across the board, Hardy showed marked improvements in all areas of his game while surviving an early onslaught from his opponent.
When the action got started, De Castro was looking for the knockout behind every punch, putting incredible velocity behind every shot he threw. While he connected on a couple of those shots, De Castro’s best strikes were the nasty kicks that were eating up Hardy’s lead leg.
While he was being wary of De Castro’s power, Hardy did manage to stay busy on his feet in return, picking and choosing his shots at a distance. As De Castro’s output slowed down, Hardy did manage to find a home for more of his strikes while controlling the center of the octagon.
In a reversal of fortune from the first round, Hardy started landing a thudding leg kick of his own as he looked to take advantage of De Castro standing flat footed during many of the exchanges. The real difference was Hardy’s activity while staying very busy throughout all three rounds while De Castro seemingly burned out much of his conditioning while throwing heat-seeking missiles in the first few minutes of the fight.
Hardy almost certainly would have preferred a finish but he still out dueled De Castro for the better part of three rounds to get the unanimous decision win.
“Like going to Disney World. It’s been a roller coaster,” Hardy said about his first year-plus in the UFC where he’s amassed a 3-2 record with one no-contest.
There’s plenty of room to grow for Hardy, who continues to get better with more experience while De Castro will now seek to bounce back after suffering the first loss of his career.