Heather Hardy returns to fight Taylor Turner at Bellator 222

[OctoberRed]

Heather Hardy’s Bellator business is far from over.

After returning to boxing in 2018, “The Heat?is making her way back to cagefighting on June 14 when she fights Taylor Turner (3-5) on the main card of Bellator 222 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. MMA Fighting confirmed the matchup with Bellator officials following an initial report by Newsday.

This will be Hardy’s first MMA fight since last February when she defeated fellow boxing transplant Ana Julaton by unanimous decision at Bellator 194 to improve to 2-1 in her new sport. After that, Hardy took a pair of boxing bouts, defeating Iranda Paolo Torres and rival Shelly Vincent, both by unanimous decision. The latter victory earned Hardy the vacant WBO featherweight championship and she remained undefeated in boxing at 22-0 (1 NC).

Hardy will face Turner, a Tennessee-based fighter who is coming off of back-to-back first-round finishes of Anastasia Bruce and Ashley Samples in the Valor Fights promotion.

Bellator 222, which features Lyoto Machida vs. Chael Sonnen, and Rory MacDonald vs. Neiman Gracie in the headlining spots, as well as a bantamweight rematch between Bellator champion Darrion Caldwell and Rizin FF champion Kyoji Horiguchi, will air live on DAZN.

[bigjavi973]

Heather Hardy’s Bellator business is far from over.

After returning to boxing in 2018, “The Heat?is making her way back to cagefighting on June 14 when she fights Taylor Turner (3-5) on the main card of Bellator 222 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. MMA Fighting confirmed the matchup with Bellator officials following an initial report by Newsday.

This will be Hardy’s first MMA fight since last February when she defeated fellow boxing transplant Ana Julaton by unanimous decision at Bellator 194 to improve to 2-1 in her new sport. After that, Hardy took a pair of boxing bouts, defeating Iranda Paolo Torres and rival Shelly Vincent, both by unanimous decision. The latter victory earned Hardy the vacant WBO featherweight championship and she remained undefeated in boxing at 22-0 (1 NC).

Hardy will face Turner, a Tennessee-based fighter who is coming off of back-to-back first-round finishes of Anastasia Bruce and Ashley Samples in the Valor Fights promotion.

Bellator 222, which features Lyoto Machida vs. Chael Sonnen, and Rory MacDonald vs. Neiman Gracie in the headlining spots, as well as a bantamweight rematch between Bellator champion Darrion Caldwell and Rizin FF champion Kyoji Horiguchi, will air live on DAZN.

only thing that will save her if she stops that "dipping" she does in mma... its a boxing thing sure but what happened last time she got kicked right in the face... if she dips shes gonna have to implement the shoulder roll with it so her right hand would be able to block most of those kicks

[Rudyo]

Her style just isn't that well suited to MMA, and she's 37. A lot of female boxers don't have power, but she really doesn't have ANY power... I mean she's entertaining to watch, and I wish her luck but I don't think she ever advanced above the undercard level she is at now even in Bellator.

[Eff Pandas]

I wish her luck but I don't think she ever advanced above the undercard level she is at now even in Bellator.

Damn Bellator kicked her in the nuts. When you said you don't see her moving above the undercard I was gonna disagree in as much as sure she's never likely to main event a Bellator card or be a regular main eventer best case, but she'll be a main card fighter (top 5ish or so fights typically) for as long as she's fighting. BUT when I looked at this card I'm seeing she's the opening fight for the whole damn show lol.

She went from main card to the opening bout ffs. Thats a weird ass flip if thats correct. I guess this is a pretty bs setup opponent doe (3-5, 36yr old, her 3 wins over fighters with a combined 0-3 record).

But yea as a 37 year old with 3 MMA bouts on her record & a L in one of them her ceiling in MMA is limited to say the least. Hell I think her boxing upside is limited. Hopefully she's looking at other avenues to use her level of fame & experience with combat sports into out of the ring careers. She seems like a bit of a hustler so I expect her to do that eventually anyway.

Over/under on her having a podcast or a YouTube show or something along those sorta lines is 18mos I'd say.

[OctoberRed]

Hardy will take another beating in MMA, that's for sure.

[Eff Pandas]

Hardy will take another beating in MMA, that's for sure.

I woulda agreed with you, but didn't think it would be tonight vs this soccer mom with 3 wins over fighters with a combined 0-3 record.

Bad L for Hardy here. Didn't seem to know wtf to do on the bottom despite being with a more legit MMA team finally.

Sounds like she's making more money in MMA than in boxing doe so I suspect her MMA run continues cuz she's a 37 year old with not a whole lot of time left in combat sports & bills to pay & mouths to feed.

[Anthony342]

Neiman Gracie had his first loss too. Only lost by one point on two of the cards so I guess he looked good? How did he really do though? Was the main event any good?