Dan Hardy aims to finish Diego Sanchez with a body shot in upcoming boxing match

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy will be lacing up the boxing gloves to face MMA legend Diego Sanchez in an exhibition boxing match, and he knows how he wants it to end.

Hardy is 10 years removed from his last professional outing, when he defeated Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision in 2012. Talks of a return have been rumbling for years, but now it will finally come to fruition against Sanchez, although they will not meet inside a cage.

On July 2 at AO Arena in Manchester, England, the pair will meet for an eight-round exhibition boxing match. While the return from a decade-long hiatus is tough in its own right, preparing to enter into a different combat sport adds to the difficulty.

“It’s going to be an interesting challenge, that one is,” Hardy told Fight & Talk. “Obviously, his strength is his wrestling and I think he’s going to want to clinch a lot and do a lot of dirty boxing. So, we’ll see what the referee allows when it comes to that, but I think the biggest challenge for both of us will be controlling the pace. Because with MMA, it’s constant. Whether you’re at range or in the clinch or on the ground, the pace is still going. Where as boxing, it tends to ebb and flow. It speeds up and then it slows down, people clinch and kind of hang out for a second.

“I think that’s gonna be a big challenge for both of us, kind of controlling the pace. Especially because he’s a madman anyway and I’ve not fought in 10 years. So if someone starts punching me I’m just gonna want to punch them back until I run out of gas.”

Despite the differences between MMA and boxing, Hardy is confident he will finish the fight before the eight rounds are complete. In fact, he knows exactly how he wants to get it done.

“I’m going to put it on him,” Hardy said. “I’m going to beat him up, beat him up really good to the body and wear him out. I want to stop him with a body shot. That’s my goal.

“I used to love stopping people with body shots in muay Thai because they’re down on one knee while you’re getting your hand raised and they know exactly what’s going on. For me, if I’m going to fight Diego, it’s easier to just do it one time and if I can put him down and put him away, he might not want to call me out for MMA next.”