Heather Hardy is just about a day away from making her sophomore MMA appearance when she faces Kristina Williams at Bellator 185.
UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor fells short in his pro boxing debut this past August, but Hardy says the UFC star can win gold as a boxer.
“There is no doubt in my mind that he could be,” said Hardy to MMA Fighting. “He has that champion mentality and that attitude that - even the way that he came in trying to intimidate Floyd. That would have worked on a lesser fighter. We’re talking about Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest of all time, you can’t deny him of that, as much as you may hate him as a man or not respect the things he says or does - which I would agree, I don’t respect a lot of the things he says or does - but from a completely boxing standpoint: he’s just in a different sphere. But I say that to say this, I think McGregor is amazing and could totally stand in there and win a title in boxing if he wanted to.”
Hardy has held three titles as a boxer, they are the UBF International Female Super Bantamweight Title, the WBC International Female Super Bantamweight Title and the WBC International Female Featherweight Title.
The multi-time female boxing champion says the tactics McGregor used against Floyd Mayweather could be used to beat other boxers.
“Before the fight, I felt like (McGregor) could stand with 90 percent of the champions at 147 and 154 pounds,” said Hardy. “For me, it was about him not beating Floyd, not that he couldn’t box or stand in there or be a boxing champion because I totally believe that half the s**t he pulled on Floyd, he would have beat some other champion with.”
Bellator 185 takes place on Friday, October 20 from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut with Gegard Mousasi and Alexander Shlemenko headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Spike TV.
