Houston fighter, ex-Cowboy in grudge match
SAN ANTONIO — Tension between Juan Adams and Greg Hardy runs deep.
Since September 2018, three months after Hardy’s mixed martial arts amateur debut, Adams has been an outspoken critic of Hardy. From questioning Hardy’s choice of opponents to creating a hashtag #F—GregHardy on Twitter, there is little respect for Hardy out of the Houston fighter’s camp.
On Saturday, the two up-andcoming heavyweights will meet in the octagon in a three-round bout at UFC Fight Night at the AT&T Center.
“It’s a proving match for me,” Adams said. “I feel like this is something I need to do to prove myself. That’s why I lobbied for it so hard.”
All of Adams’ negative comments have fueled Hardy.
“I’ve been having a great time,” Hardy said. “I’m however long away from being locked in the cage with somebody supposedly ‘hates’ me. Sounds great for me.”
Hardy also maintains he’s not a “bad guy.”
“If you’ve met me, if you’ve sat down with me, you can’t say you have a problem with me,” he said.
Adams felt Hardy got special treatment when he entered the fighting circuit in 2017 after his NFL career dissipated. Adams admitted he was jealous at times of the spotlight on Hardy.
“I really had to work a lot to get noticed by the UFC,” Adams said. “I fought seven times in 16 months to get my shot in the Contender Series. He washed out of the NFL and said, ‘I want to fight’ and he gets a shot. That’s a big part of it.”
Adams also said constant negativity was sent his way about a potential match with Hardy.
“To hear that every day, saying as if I’m afraid of him whereas I’m asking for the fight and he’s been avoiding it, that’s why I hate him,” Adams said.
And Adams isn’t a fan of Hardy’s checkered past that includes domestic violence charges, a subject that’s resonated with Adams since his youth. Adams said when he was 6 years old, his mother’s boyfriend “laid hands on her,” and Adams and his younger brother were too young to stop it.
“Reading that police report just really rubbed me the wrong way,” Adams said of Hardy’s domestic violence charge. “Seeing him show no remorse for it at all, not even making an attempt, it’s a simple as making an apology statement. Clearly he’s not sorry for what he did and he doesn’t regret it.”
Adams said he won’t be shaking Hardy’s hand before or after the fight.
“I’ve said what I’ve said. I mean what I said. I don’t like him. Period,” Adams said. “We’re going to fight on Saturday, so I don’t need to cause an altercation here. I don’t need to cause an altercation in the parking lot, anywhere.