Dan Hardy says he might retire from MMA next year

UFC welterweight Dan Hardy has a plan, and it might just include retirement from MMA relatively soon. The British fighter has always had a unique way of looking at the sport and it seems like some aspects of it are beginning to grate on him. In an interview with MMA Junkie, Hardy was guarded about the reasons but did lay out how he feels about possibly moving on:

"I'm ready for a new challenge, I'll be honest. There are a lot of things about this sport that I love, and a lot of things about this sport that I don't like at all."

...

"Martial arts for me has always been a tool to understand myself a little more, and it's getting to the stage where it's run its course now. The structure the sport has taken on is taking away from that for me, and I think I'm best served to be somewhere else in the future."

Hardy's stock plummeted when he lost four fights in a row in the UFC, which led some fans to ask why he was still employed with the organization. But he rebounded by knocking out Duane Ludwig and picking up a decision win over Amir Sadollah, and Hardy is looking to ride the momentum into his UFC on Fox 7 bout with Matt Brown. He has a very specific plan before his retirement - five straight wins, which includes winning the UFC welterweight title and defending it once. And if he's able to do that, he'll walk away:

"As of right now, I just need to embrace that instinctual inner-reptile and have a run at the belt again. I'm excited about this year because my potential is sky-high, and it's completely open for me to do whatever I like with it. I'm very determined to make this a big year for me and step away from the top of the sport and do something else for a while."

The quest will begin on April 20th in San Jose.