Las Vegas — Veronica Hardy returned to the win column and improved her recent run in the UFC to 4-1 card of a decision win against Brogan Walker at UFC 320.
Hardy has gone from 1-4 to start her UFC career, to 4-1 since 2023. Her loss to Eduarda Moura last November, however, ate at her for the better part of a year. And according to Hardy, there’s still work to be done following Saturday’s victory.
“I was a bit disappointed on my hesitation for the fight. That was one of the main focuses, was not to be so hesitant,” stated Hardy (10-5-1), speaking with media outlets backstage at the T-Mobile Arena. “I was very much so in the last one, and I’ve been sitting on it for the last 11 months. It was slightly less this fight, but there was still some of that there.”
“There’s still still a lot of that to work on, but I feel like I have such a great team now, this is just getting started. I have a great team of women that I get to train with, the coaches— I’m taking a step in the right direction.”
Calling fighting “such a mind game,” Hardy and her team know that she “has the skills to do it.” Hesitating leads to dwelling on performances and regret, however. “It’s that battle, constantly, over and over again in your mind. It’s such a battle to control that, to just be present. I wasn’t as much as I should have been, but I’ve taken a step in the right direction and I’m just going to build on that.”
Ahead of the fight, Hardy did feel pressure coming off a loss, especially given her early UFC run. “I started to feel it more these past few weeks. I’m like ‘ugh, coming off a loss, better not do that sh*t again. Especially not hesitating, you’d better not hesitate and be like that.’ I did a little but, and there was some pressure there for that.”
Hardy went into UFC 320 looking to “prove something to myself,” she added. “I thought it was very important for just my personal growth that I come in here and I prove to myself that, I train so hard, I train so much, there’s so many different skills that I don’t show, because I am my own worse enemy because I’m holding myself back. And I want to stop that because that’s important not only for MMA but the rest of my life. I don’t want to have those moments where, ‘you could have done more man, and you didn’t.'”
Watch the full UFC 320 post-fight press conference with Veronica Hardy above.
