UFC flyweight Veronica Hardy has detailed Dan Hardy’s new role with PFL Europe and what it means for the promotion.
A week before the inaugural PFL Europe event, the promotion announced that Hardy had joined the organisation as ‘Head of Fighter Operations’.
The former UFC welterweight title challenger has had various roles since leaving his UFC commentary position in 2021, including fight breakdown work for BT Sport as well as commentary for Cage Warriors. But now, he has taken up perhaps his biggest post-UFC role yet in helping the PFL expand to Europe.
In an exclusive interview with Patrick McCorry of Combat Sports UK, Hardy’s wife Veronica discussed her husbands new role in detail.
She said: “A lot of the roster [for PFL Europe 2023] has already been made, so his position will come more into play next year when he can start recruiting and bringing in fighters, but that’s gonna be the majority of his job: recruiting fighters, seeing the tweaks that can make PFL better every single time, making it more comfortable for the fighters, making sure the managers and coaches are happy and just improving PFL as a whole.
“He’ll be at the weigh ins in the morning making sure everything is going through commission and everything’s clear with the fighters, and also at the ceremonial weigh ins.
“So [generally] just playing a big role in bringing PFL to Europe in a smooth transition.”
Veronica Hardy on MMA in Europe
The first ever PFL Europe event in Newcastle was a huge success this past weekend and showcased just a glimpse of the uncovered talent that is in Europe.
Hardy spoke about the European MMA scene and the talent that is yet to be discovered.
She said: “There’s so much good talent [in Europe] that you can have a big show every weekend and you’ll still need more. It’s growing so much and it’s also good for the sport, for example, that Leon Edwards just won and he’s not training in America. He’s a European fighter training out of Europe and has the belt.
“It will help the expansion because the past few years it’s gone down so much, the tickets sell out super quick and there’s not many events. I hope they come back a lot more frequent than they are currently because the fighters are working hard and they deserve the opportunity.”
Veronica Hardy Fight
For the 27-year-old, she is coming off of an impressive win against TUF 30 winner Juliana Miller at UFC 286. This came after a three-year layoff due to concussions, but now she is looking to make her second UFC appearance of the year in September.
She said: “I’m looking to compete again in September, I heard they’re coming back to France and they’re gonna do another show in Paris. That’s somewhere that I go to every six weeks for commentary [for Ares FC] so it’d be great to be able to compete there as well.”
Through her commentary for Ares FC, she has developed a strong bond with Ciryl Gane and the rest of the MMA Factory team. The Venezuela-born fighter hopes that ‘Bon Gamin’ can join her on the potential card in Paris and rebound from his recent title fight loss to Jon Jones.
She said: “I haven’t personally spoken to Ciryl, I hope he’s on the Paris card [because] it would be great to share a show with him again. He brings so much energy to the room and the atmosphere.
“Hopefully we have Nassourdine Imavov as well, who’s also part of the MMA Factory team. We have William Gomis who fought in Ares and fought in the last [UFC] Paris card and he did great, he won his fight as well. Hopefully the MMA Factory team will be present in the octagon [in Paris].”
Veronica Hardy Full Exclusive Interview
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