UFC on FOX 7′s Dan Hardy: Hughes Ain’t My Boss

Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy

 Hardy on Hughes: He's Bad for the Sport

While the career of UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes may have lacked the level of controversy and drama of those of Chael Sonnen or Tito Ortiz, the welterweight legend is specifically known for having a personality that can only be described as an "acquired taste."

Hughes just has a knack for getting under people's skin, often voicing the individual values and beliefs that make him seem very close-minded, intolerant and ultimately insulting. The reputation that proceeds him is simply not that of a nice guy.

Several UFC fighters, most notably Matt Serra, have expressed their distaste for the way Hughes conducts himself outside of the cage. Hughes is back in the UFC as the VP of Athlete Development, and we can only expect that at least a few fighters who have also seen the country boy's true colors won't approve of his new role as an authority figure.

The latest to publicly denounce the new VP is Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy. In a recent media scrum (via MMAfighting.com), the former number one contender had no problem discussing how aside from his accomplishments as a fighter, he has little if any respect for Matt Hughes as a person at all.

"What's he going to mentor people to do? He was great as a fighter at his time, but the sport's moved on. No one likes training with him. I respect him as a fighter but as a person I've got nothing to learn from him. In my thirty years I've achieved more as a person than he has in his whole life. I just don't like the guy at all. I think he's bad for the sport. I think he's bad for the athletes in the sport.  He ain't my boss, that's for sure. I think there are better people for [his job]. We saw him on the Ultimate Fighter, and I have friends who were on his team and no one enjoyed being on his team. He's going to come to someone like me, who's been doing this for a long time and he's going to tell me to read the Bible? Buy a farm? What's he going to tell me?"  

You've got to wonder whether or not Hughes' appointment will provoke "The Outlaw" to truly live up to his name and purposely rebel against the VP's orders, as Hughes would've probably been Hardy's last choice for a position of power in the UFC.  It's already been established that Hardy doesn't like being told what to do, so who knows how he'll react to Hughes efforts to take the promotion in the direction he sees fit in the near future.

Dan Hardy will attempt to derail the momentum of Matt Brown in a welterweight clash April 20th at UFC on FOX 7 in San Jose, California.

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