Bellator 222 is a pivotal fight in world champion boxer Heather Hardy’s MMA career
In the 14 months since she picked up a unanimous decision victory over Ana Julaton at Bellator 194, flyweight Heather Hardy returned to boxing with mixed results.
While Hardy was able to pick up two wins in her return to boxing, including one that secured her the WBC female featherweight championship, just as many important opportunities fell through.
“After I fought Ana, I came back to boxing and it was a really long period of time negotiating to see whether or not I was going to be able to fight for a world title,” Hardy told MMAWeekly.com. “It was supposed to happen last summer and the fight got pushed off until late October (which I won).
“Come December there was talks about unifying the belts. We spent two and half months negotiating a unification bout with the girl with the WBA and WBC titles (in Jalena Mrdjenovich) and that never materialized.”
While Hardy has been fighting professionally since 2012, she admits that having bouts fall through is still a disheartening experience.
“I don’t think you can ever get used to it,” said Hardy. “I think it’s like when you love your boyfriend and he keeps cheating on you. It huts just as bad every time.
“Disheartening is a great way to put it. It’s disappointing, it’s sad, it’s upsetting, and you get your hopes up only be let down. (Women in boxing) get a lot of promises, a lot of maybes, a lot of non-committals, and things kind of fall through at the last minute, and six months have gone by and you don’t have a fight.”
On Friday in New York City, Hardy (2-1) returns to MMA to face Taylor Turner (3-5) in a 125-pound preliminary bout at Bellator 222.
This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
