Heather
Hardy’s combat sports career appears to have reached its
end.
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The former boxing champion and Bellator
MMA veteran was preparing for a fight against Christine
Ferea in BKFC on May 11, but Hardy struggled with her vision
and was unable to eat or sleep as she began her camp. According to
Hardy, a visit to the doctor revealed that she had suffered too
many concussions over the course of her fighting career and any
further head injuries could permanently impair her vision.
Hardy’s full Instagram post on the matter is as follows:
My fight for May 11 is off. After my fight last summer with
Amanda [Serrano], my vision remained blurred for a few days. I went
for an MRI and to get my eyes checked while I was still in TX and
it was diagnosed the after effects of a concussion. 6-8 months i
should be fine. So basically I needed a fight, and it never got
better. My daughter is in college. Everyone thinks I made millions
in my career but i didn’t, i went paycheck to paycheck keeping that
kid in the best neighborhood so she could go to the best schools.
And i needed to take the fight, so long story short a month into
training for Christine and everything got worse with my sight. I
was down to 123 pounds because i couldn’t eat, i wasn’t sleeping i
was so weak. I hadn’t told anyone how bad it was, not my boyfriend
not my coaches. I thought i could make it through the ten minute
fight, but after a very light sparring session i couldn’t see shit
for two days. I didn’t eat or sleep Friday to Monday, and i knew i
was too weak to do this shit. After finally seeing a doctor, he
said I’ve had too many concussions. When you have a concussion, a
piece of your brain dies and you never get it back. Imagine that?
In ten years I’ve had too much brain damage. I can’t get anymore or
else I won’t be able to see. No running, no jogging, no jumping
rope, and no getting hit in the head.
Hardy did not officially announce her retirement in the post, but
her statement at the conclusion of the post seems to indicate that
her combat sports career is over.
“So I said the thing,” Hardy wrote. “Ya know what that means.”
Nicknamed “The Heat,” Hardy compiled a 24-3 record with one no
contest as a professional boxer — going unbeaten in her first 23
fights — while capturing multiple championship belts along the way.
In her most recent appearance, multiple titles were on the line
when Hardy dropped a unanimous decision to Serrano in the co-main
event of the Jake Paul vs.
Nate
Diaz card this past August.
Hardy made a brief foray into MMA from 2017 to 2019, as she
compiled a 2-2 mark while competing under the Bellator banner.
Ahead of her Bellator debut, Hardy
revealed that her earnings with the promotion for that fight
would exceed anything she had made in boxing up to that point. Her
final MMA appearance came at Bellator 222 on June 14, 2019, where
she suffered a first-round TKO loss against Taylor
Turner.