Greg Hardy is set to face the fan-favourite Tai Tuivasa for the UFC 264 card on July 10th headlined by Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor on what is expected to be a massive heavyweight showdown. Anonymous sources with knowledge of the matchup broke the news to MMA Junkie due to there being no official UFC announcement yet.
UFC 264 location has not yet been confirmed but president of the UFC, Dana White hoped for the event to take place in T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas with fans in attendance.
Greg Hardy
Greg Hardy (7-3) is coming off a loss in his last bout against Marcin Tybura back in December when the former NFL player was finished by TKO in the second round. Hardy managed to have a good first round but succumbed to the superior ground game of Tybura in the second round who managed to pound the bigger man out. The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak of Hardy’s which saw him defeat the likes of Yorgan de Castro and Maurice Greene. This was also first time Greg Hardy lost by stoppage.
Hardy is a former American football defensive end. He played college football at the University of Mississippi and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Hardy also played for the Dallas Cowboys.
Although having no experience of MMA before, Hardy announced in 2016 that he was starting a new career in the sport of MMA claiming that he had been training for several months. After having a brief amateur career where he went 3-0. Hardy made his professional debut on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series in 2018 where he was victorious and as a result earned himself a UFC contract.
Tai Tuivasa
Tuivasa on the other hand is riding a two-fight winning streak coming off a fantastic KO win over Harry Hunsucker back in March. Prior to his two recent wins, Tuivasa was riding a three-fight losing streak after losing to the likes of Junior dos Santos, Blagoy Ivanov and Sergey Spivak.
From going undefeated with an 9-0 to losing consecutively three times, there was massive pressure on “Shoeyvasa” to get a win as he bounced back brilliantly against UFC veteran Stefan Struve by KOing the tallest fighter in the UFC.
Now on a two-fight winning KO streak, Tuivasa wishes to continue his fine run of form against Hardy. A fan favourite, the man from Sydney, Australia is well known for his post-fight antics where he celebrates his win by drinking beer out from a borrowed shoe. Called a “shoey”, Tuivasa was coined “Shoeyvasa” by Sydney Newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
UFC 264 lineup now includes:
- Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
- Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
- Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia
- Greg Hardy vs. Tai Tuivasa
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