Introduction
Saturday, April 25th, English lightweight prospect George Hardwick will be in action for Caage Warriors, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Yann Liasse. He will be looking for another win, as Hardwick looks to inch closer to a contract with the UFC. He represents Middlesborough Fight Academy, a lesser-known camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Striking: Watching George Hardwick strike is a thing of beauty, as he has crisp boxing and solid Muay Thai techniques. Hardwick is aggressive and constantly pushing forward, throw punches in bunches. His volume is impressive, but also has tremendous stopping power. What’s most impressive is Hardwick’s body work. He absolutely tees off on the body, which usually sets up his finishes. In his last five fights, Hardwick has finished three with a combination of body strikes and head strikes. That includes one-punch KO to the body of Dean Trueman, a body shot to ground-and-pound of Contender Series vet Kyle Driscoll and another one-punch body shot of Chris Bungard.
Toughness: In addition to his talent on the feet, Hardwick is also incredibly tough physically. He’s able to absorb damage and keep coming forward. He’s never out of a fight whether it’s on the feet or on the ground. He’s able to move forward through counterstrikes because he has a good chin on him. You can’t teach toughness, so it’s an attribute Hardwick has that not everybody can possess.
Needs Improvement
Counter-Wrestling: Hardwick’s lone chink in his armor is his counter-wrestling. He hasn’t fought many wrestlers outside of Kyle Driscoll, who had some success with getting Hardwick down. Because he hasn’t fought a ton of wrestlers, it’s hard to really gauge how strong he is there. From the little evidence we have, it’s definitely something to work on.
Outlook
UFC Prelim Fighter: Hardwick’s style is one that is going to gain the attention of Dana White because his toughness/striking combo is the prototypical craving of White. He has proven he can hang with some tough opponents like Driscoll and Bungard. Should he get by Yann Liasse in his upcoming fight with Cage Warriors, I don’t know how the UFC doesn’t offer him a contract in the near future. He may struggle with the move up in competition, considering the UFC lightweight division is crowded with wrestlers. He will, however, put on some exciting fights and have some tenure.
MMA Intel 