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A new week is already quickly coming to a close as we head towards the end of August and the start of the month of September, and after the phenomenal growth, particularly in more recent years, in the mixed martial arts sport and the company promoting MMA, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, those battles and match ups continue at pace with fighters (of different styles) testing their best, against the best of others.
Middlesbrough’s George Hardwick was one of the latest in action in more recent days as he competed in Dana White’s Contender Series, looking to earn himself the prize of an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract. For those who like a flutter on their bouts there would have been plenty of UFC odds available for this one, and some of the best available ahead of the fight had Hardwick at +120.
Facing off against Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (+333), 26 year old Hardwick unfortunately went on to lose, as he was simply out classed and out pointed over the three rounds on offer, and in the end the decision to award the fight to 28 year old Palestinian fighter, Al-Selwady, was a unanimous decision by the judges.
As regular fans watchers will know, White’s Contender Series is designed to pit good prospects in the sport against each other with the winners regularly securing themselves a full time contract to appear in the UFC’s numerous events, giving them them the opportunity of having a potentially very good, and rewarding career, in their favoured disciplines.
As has become normal, following the outcome of the bout between the two contenders, UFC president White, confirmed that Al-Selwady had now been presented with his prize of a contract.
Taking to social media after the fight, and his TikTok account, a very respectful Hardwick offered his congratulations and well wishes to his opponent for their success.
“Congratulations to Al-Selwady, his game plan was excellent. This guy battered me in front of Dana White for three rounds tonight. Good luck on your UFC debut, you really earned that contract.”
Hardwick is currently the lightweight champion in the United Kingdom based promotion Cage Warriors, and there will be those out there who more than feel that at some stage he will get another shot at his UFC dream given his success in European MMA competitions so far, and his defeat by Al-Selwady actually marked the end of his eight fight winning streak, but as he continued to talk, he was clearly very thankful for the support that he had received for this, and he was determined to improve further and come back with a bang in the very near future.
“I’ve had amazing support for this one, it’s really blew my mind. I’ve felt like I’ve let a lot of people down, but all I can do is make the fixes and get the win in the next one. I need to get out of my comfort zone and make some adjustments. People say don’t listen to the haters – I’ll listen to the haters, anyone with constructive criticism, I’ll learn from anyone. Put your comments here and I’ll read every one of them. Thank you.”
Whatever getting out of his comfort zone ultimately proves to mean, we certainly have not seen the last of him yet.
