UFN 24 co-headliner Dan Hardy: I perform better when the pressure is on

With back-to-back losses and coming off the first knockout defeat of his career, Dan Hardy finds himself in a must-win situation.

Although a crowd-pleaser whose only UFC losses have come to welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and top-10-ranked Carlos Condit, Hardy (23-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) knows roster spots are limited.

But as he wraps up his preparations for Saturday's UFC Fight Night 24 co-headliner with Anthony Johnson (8-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC), he's confident the pressure to perform is a good thing.

"I like to put that kind of pressure on myself because I always perform better," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) during a recent media call. "I didn't do that in my last fight, and I ended up paying the price for it."

That fight was a first-round knockout loss to ex-WEC champ Condit, which followed a lopsided title loss to St-Pierre. Three consecutive losses would spell the end of most fighters' UFC careers. Hardy may have a longer leash, but he's not banking on it.


Source & Full Article: MMA Junkie