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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Tai Tuivasa of Australia punches Stefan Struve of The Netherlands in their heavyweight bout during the UFC 254 event on October 24, 2020 on UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Tai Tuivasa of Australia punches Stefan Struve of The Netherlands in their heavyweight bout during the UFC 254 event on October 24, 2020 on UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The stacked UFC 264 card is going to have another great addition. Heavyweights Greg Hardy and Tai Tuivasa are set to square up in the co-main event of the July 10th card. It will be Hardy’s first fight in 2021 after losing to Marcin Tybura in his last fight in December 2020.
Hardy is one of the most talented fighters in the UFC. He is one of the best athletes in the world in not one, but two different sports.
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Before trying his hand at MMA, Hardy was a professional football player in the NFL. He had an amazing career playing for teams like Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers, who drafted him in 2010.
Wish granted: @GregHardyJR gets his fight with @BamBamTuivasa at #UFC264 in July. 💥
News via @MikeBohnMMA
Full story: https://t.co/slFqAqXte0 pic.twitter.com/Pz7SUNuJav
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) April 7, 2021
Hardy announced his switch to MMA in 2016 and made his amateur debut in 2017. He won his first 6 fights via knockout in the first round before being disqualified against Allen Crowder in his UFC debut.
The American continued on his amazing run and won 2 more fights via knockout in the first round before dropping a no contest and a unanimous decision loss against Alexander Volkov.
On the other hand, his future opponent, Tai Tuivasa, has found his mojo again.
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Tai Tuivasa and his prospects in the heavyweight division after his 2-fight win streak
Tuivasa was on an incredible run of 9 wins in a row and held an unbeaten record going into the biggest fight of his career against Junior Dos Santos. However, the Australian couldn’t handle the step up and lost the fight by knockout in the second round.
His next two fights went horribly wrong as both Blagoy Ivanov and Sergey Spivak utilized their wrestling and takedowns to stifle Tuivasa’s offense.
He lost one fight via decision and one via submission. This derailed all the momentum that he had while going into 2018.
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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – OCTOBER 24: (R-L) Stefan Struve of The Netherlands kicks Tai Tuivasa of Australia in their heavyweight bout during the UFC 254 event on October 24, 2020, on UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
However, he has steadied the ship with his last 2 performances. He knocked out Stefan Struve and Harry Hunsucker in the first round to take his record to 11-3.
Ten of those eleven wins have come via knockout. This UFC 264 match is a fight between two people with immense knockout power. Don’t miss this one.
Do you think Greg Hardy can beat a re-surging ‘Bam Bam’ Tai Tuivasa?
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