Hardy: MMA is the most evolved sport for women
Heather Hardy: “The sport itself is much more evolved. Not even just more than boxing but more than any sport where females are involved.”
Heather Hardy makes her mixed martial arts debut at Bellator 180, after going 20-0 in boxing and winning the WBC international featherweight title. MMA is often unfavorably compared with boxing in terms of athlete compensation, but ‘The Heat’ says that wasn’t so for her.
It’s more than I’ve ever made in any individual bout in my boxing career, including a 10-round title fight with an undefeated contender that was on NBC Sports, said Hardy to Tristen Critchfield for Sherdog.com. It wasn’t surprising. I knew that MMA was so much more evolved than boxing. I knew that female boxers are so grossly underpaid. I hate to say I’m gonna do MMA for the money, but it is certainly an incentive.”
The sport itself is much more evolved. Not even just more than boxing but more than any sport where females are involved. MMA is one of the few sports where women are seen as athletes.
In boxing, we’re dealing with the same guys that we’re signing contracts when Laila Ali and Christy Martin were fighting. … These are just a bunch of guys who are really far behind in the times and stuck in their ways. Women in the sport are suffering. I just had to change. Boxing is not evolving.
After going through one full [MMA] training camp I can say so I have so much respect for all MMA fighters. It’s not easy, not just physically. I’m like limping around half the time. Mentally, dedicating your time, a lot of people don’t know the sacrifices that goes into an MMA camp, she said. I tip my hat to every MMA fighter. But I say that to say this: I don’t really watch fights. So for me to say I look up to or admire one of these MMA fighters…I’ve already established who I am as a boxer, and I’d like to carry that into my MMA career as well.
Hardy’s point has merit. The best-known figure in mixed martial arts history is a woman, Ronda Rousey. In 2015, she was named by ESPN as the best fighter, male or female, in all of combat sports. That same year, she was #3 for Google’s top trending people. #4 was Donald Trump.
And while the UFC media machine hugely helped Rousey, she entered the league as champion, having already won the Strikeforce belt, vs. Miesha Tate, under the direction of founder Scott Coker. Now Hardy will have the opportunity to shine again, in Coker’s Bellator MMA, vs. 4-5 Alice ‘The Soccer Mom’ Yauger, live on Spike, from Madison Square Garden.
Bellator could’ve offered me a thumb wrestling match at the Garden and I would’ve taken it, said the Brooklyn native. That’s the fight capital of the planet to all New Yorkers. Fighting at the Garden is probably one of my biggest dreams. To be able to fulfill that, I’m so excited.