Issue 210

October 2024

Join Kyle Dimond as he interviews Veronica Hardy to explore her journey from globetrotting fighter to finding stability in the Octagon.

For most of Veronica Hardy’s life, she’s been a road warrior. A nomad. A vagabond. Call her what you will, but in 29 years on this planet, she has visited 39 countries and lived in eleven of them. In the second phase of her UFC career, Hardy has found the stability her career longed for. After returning to the Octagon in London with her feet firmly on the ground, she hasn’t looked back. Now, she’s aiming to make it four in a row at flyweight. However, with her track record, Hardy can’t stay in the same place for too long. The next time that she makes the walk, it will be in her newest home away from home: The Big Apple.

THERE AND BACK AGAIN 

At age five, this Venezuelan voyager first set sail from her home country with her family, settling in Miami in search of a better life. Having fallen in love with martial arts early through Bruce Lee movies, this remained a crucial part of her upbringing that would eventually lead her back to Venezuela eleven years after departing. Like many of her travel destinations, this only served as a short layover. At this time, Hardy was traveling to participate in martial arts competitions, Taekwondo to be precise, and she eventually arrived in the UK, where MMA first entered the picture. She recalled that despite trying her best to find notable coaches or gyms, her search was unsuccessful due to the lack of a platform like Instagram that would have made it much easier to track these resources now. After being denied a visa to stay in the UK, nine months had passed before Germany was the next destination.

“After Germany, I went to Poland to train, and then it all gets a bit, then it all starts blending, and I'm not too sure the exact order, but there were obviously a lot of different countries, but it was like trying to do bits of my camps in some places, or I would go for training, it was never like I was going to settle here as a home,” Hardy told Fighters Only.

Having accumulated 39 countries at the age of 24, hitting the big 40 is a target for the UFC flyweight, who has identified Japan, Thailand, or Greece as potential candidates. Had she been granted a visa to stay in the UK all those years ago, who knows how different her story could have been? 

“I have thought about this before, about if it would have just worked out here and I would have found a team, and everything would have played out, and I would have had a different story,” reflects Hardy. “Maybe not so many setbacks. But in the end, I'm grateful for all the experiences I've had because, for me, martial arts hasn't always been about being a UFC fighter. It's also, when I started, it wasn't about being a UFC fighter because there were no female UFC fighters. It wasn't something that I could hope to achieve. For me, it was about meeting people, going to different places, different cultures, getting to experience life through something that I love.”

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Though Hardy wouldn’t take back the experiences, it certainly did impact her MMA career. Without a head coach or team, she was combining all her skills from various martial arts and traveling to different places to pick up the things she thought she needed. This changed once she returned to the UK and made plans to stay put, even if the COVID-19 pandemic somewhat enforced them. Veronica Hardy, formerly Macedo, would marry former UFC title challenger Dan Hardy in 2022 after they lived together throughout the pandemic. She had explicitly gone to England for ‘The Outlaw,’ but this wasn’t the same as her usual fly-in visit to experience another martial arts culture. As one of the best analysts in the sport, the PFL commentator has been able to help his wife strip away all of the information that isn’t of use in the MMA arena. They’ve worked on refining her game, and for the first time, the 14-fight professional has a clear sense of direction. Having one of the sport’s most meticulous minds by her side is an asset, but where her relationship has aided her MMA career is in the stability that it provides. From traveling to Team Renegade and GB Top Team for high-level sparring to a proper strength and conditioning routine, the difference between Hardy’s preparations now compared to several years ago is stark and showed on her return to the Octagon.

LOCKDOWN REFLECTIONS

During the pandemic, Veronica had retired from MMA due to long-term concussion issues that, at the time, didn’t have a light at the end of the tunnel. This meant that when she was healthy again and could return at UFC 286 three years later in London, it felt like a homecoming. With her husband in her corner, she earned a dominant victory inside the O2 Arena, which still takes the top spot when she looks back at her favorite experiences. 

"London was very special for me because I'd dreamt of fighting in London for such a long time and just the whole history of being in the UK and finding a home and all of that,” she says. “For those reasons, it made London very special, and I think as big as the fights get, that one will always be my favorite because of what I had to overcome in myself to be there and the location. I mean, it was pretty epic."

Despite settling in England, Hardy has only twice fought in the same country in her 14-fight career. She was soon back on the road, securing consecutive wins in Austin, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri. During this time, the Hardys fell in love with a new way of living, one that came with a hefty rent.

LIFE IN EMPIRE CITY

It’s incredibly fitting for Veronica Hardy’s life that after finding a place she could call home, she would spend much of her time in New York. Though this is convenient for Dan’s work with the PFL, it also grants the two lifelong martial artists access to a fountain of knowledge in Manhattan, home of the legendary blue basement of the Renzo Gracie Academy. She says splitting their lives between New York and England may seem like it would disrupt the stability. Still, in reality, it’s a perfect balance for her because of her previous life as a constantly commuting competitor. 

"Because of the way I've lived my life, due to outside circumstances, I find it to be very much like a home,” she says. “There are things that are very normal for me that wouldn't be as much for someone else, but also the things that I was lacking before. It's kind of like a blend that's really helped me be more stable as a person. Maybe for me, only being in one place I would feel, I wouldn't necessarily say trapped, but it would just get too much because of my previous experiences, and now being able to have both, I find it just feels right for me like I'm not giving up anything."

Despite contemplating it before her most recent win over JJ Aldrich, the Hardys plans to make New York a permanent fixture in their lives are on hold. Veronica cites being close to Dan’s family as a critical reason. However, it must be said that every martial artist dreams of living and training in New York as a full-time fighter.

“I get to travel with my husband, who's very passionate about the sport, and we get to share that passion, and we get to try things and sometimes it doesn't work,” she smiles. “It's not like every day is great, but if you just take a step back and look at the grand scheme of things, you can take the lessons from the day, and it not be so daunting and use it and improve a lot quicker if you're with a clear mind and a more grateful mind of where you're at. I don't even find that I'm like being grateful and trying to trick myself. Dude, you literally are in New York. Be quiet. It's not that bad." 

FROM MIGRANT TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Hardy’s time in New York helped her case for getting on one of the biggest cards of the year. On November 16, the UFC returns to the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Here, she will face Eduarda Moura as she looks to extend her current UFC winning streak to four. She jokingly remarked that if other UFC fighters want to live in New York to try and get themselves on a Madison Square Garden card, their commitment will be tested by the Airbnb prices. 

Hardy has fought in so many places across her eight years of being a pro because she couldn’t return to the US. This eventually changed, partly down to the fact that she left voluntarily at 16. The times of waiting for events that would be hosted outside of the US are over and what better way to cap that off by walking out at the Mecca of combat sports? Hardy will always be a road warrior at heart, but the stability that has come into her life recently has changed things for the better. From her training camp to her split time between England and New York to her self-confidence, all of that now has a solid foundation beneath it. Though it shows in her results and performances inside the Octagon, as Hardy said, winning a few fights was never what this pursuit was about.

THE NEXT STEPS

Veronica Hardy can now do what she loves with the people who support her at every step. The stability she has found comes from knowing what she’s doing and the comfort of having a real support system behind her in the form of her chosen family. Away from the glitz and the glamour of New York and Madison Square Garden, it’s clear that this means the most to her as she attempts to hold her emotions back. 

"I just know that after I fight, and I go and see my mother-in-law, she's just going to hold me and be like, 'I just want to make sure you're alright,' you know,” she says. “That's so different for me, and some people may have grown up with it and it might have just been normal. And maybe they take it a bit for granted but for me, to know that I can just pursue my passion and not worry that if I fail, I'm going to feel even worse in the safety of my own home is incredibly important. Because it allows me to give my best without any fear of disappointment for anybody. I know that their influence is only positive to what I can accomplish, and it makes me feel very free to try and to be the best version of myself. From traveling, what I've learned is that we're all sort of the same. We just want to be loved and be happy and support each other and ourselves do great things, and accomplish what we can. That's what it's about, and thanks to this stability, it's helped me see that."

From chasing new passport stamps to chasing new belts, Veronica Hardy has finally found the one thing she never booked a ticket for: a place to truly call home - until her next adventure, of course.