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ESPN app. Viewer discretion is advised for the image of Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight
Greg
Hardy at the bottom of this article. Per his Instagram on Friday,
Hardy (7-4, 1 NC) has suffered a gruesome finger injury that will
keep him out of action for the near future. Hardy was expected to
face Sergey
Spivak (13-3) at UFC
270, with an opponent in Spivak
stepping in on short notice to replace Alexey
Oleynik on Thursday. The timetable for Hardy’s return is
currently unknown, as are the plans for the promotion to seek
another replacement fighter or pull the matchup altogether.
Hardy was aiming to put an end to a two-fight knockout skid at the
hands of Marcin
Tybura at the end of 2020 and Tai Tuivasa
in July 2021. The much-maligned football star posts a career
knockout rate of 86% as a pro, while putting away Maurice
Greene, Juan Adams
and Dmitry
Smoliakov inside the Octagon. Hardy’s UFC tenure has come with
a fair bit of controversy, as his debut ended by disqualification
when he illegally kneed Allen
Crowder in the head to end the match. A few fights later, Hardy
had a decision win over Ben Sosoli
overturned to a no contest due to Hardy using an inhaler between
rounds.
Spivak took the fight on extremely short notice, replacing Oleynik
after Oleynik was forced out for undisclosed reasons. It is unclear
if Spivak will face Hardy at a later date, or if the past fight
between Oleynik and Hardy will be put back together. “The Polar
Bear” was also looking to get back in the win column, as his last
outing against Tom
Aspinall did not go his way in September, succumbing to strikes
at the midpoint of the opening round. Since joining the roster in
2019, the Moldovan has claimed victories over names including
Tuivasa, Carlos
Felipe as well as Oleynik.
UFC 270 will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Jan
22, and the headliner of Francis
Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane
for the unified heavyweight strap remains intact. The co-main
attraction brings a flyweight championship trilogy battle when
Brandon
Moreno puts his belt on the line against ex-champ Deiveson
Figueiredo. Also drawing a main card assignment is a
welterweight scrap between Michel
Pereira and UFC debutant Andre
Fialho.
