Dan Hardy would like UFC HOFer Matt Hughes to debate him on sport hunting

It’s well known that Dan Hardy doesn’t agree with UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes‘ lifestyle choices, but the UFC commentator isn’t opposed to giving Hughes the chance to convince him that sport hunting is a noble pursuit.

“I’ve got no interest in fighting him,” Hardy told MMAjunkie. “I don’t want to beat up an old man; there’s no need for that. I respect him as a champion. His time’s past. I’m talking about him as a person, and if he wants to sit down and talk with me, I would love to try and understand his perspective, because I have done as much research as I care to into hunting, and I can’t understand his drive.”

Hardy probably shouldn’t hold his breath that Hughes will accept his invitation, but he is willing to explain his position on why he recently called the retired fighter “a real piece of s–t” on Twitter.

Hughes again drew Hardy’s ire when the former welterweight champion posted pictures from a reality TV show documenting his hunting trip in Africa. The show, “Uncaged with Matt Hughes,” airs Saturday on The Sportsman Channel.

Hardy said he’s not opposed to the idea of hunting, but doing it for sport is a practice he repeatedly said is “unevolved.”

“I believe there is a cycle; there is a balance to the ecosystem, and we play a part as a predator, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t hunt and we shouldn’t use animal products, as long as it’s done respectfully,” Hardy said. “My problem with Matt Hughes, he’s not going out there to fill his refrigerator with elk, or whatever, but he’s going out there to shoot a number of animals for a TV show that he’s making to promote his gun sponsors and his stupid (camouflage) wear and stuff.

“It’s so frustrating for me to watch these people with such an unevolved operating system; to take a life for your entertainment is sociopathic. There’s no two ways about it. It’s one thing if you’re feeding your family. You can feel achievement that you’ve caught something that’s going to feed your family or your social group or your tribe. But to take photos and post them on your Twitter … yeah, OK, some smart person has seen an opportunity to donate the meat that’s shot by these people, and that is fortunate that there’s a use for the trophy meat. But his intention is what I’m talking about.

“His intention is not to go over there and feed people. If he was concerned about that, he’d be out there digging wells and building schools and helping people live for themselves, instead of going over there and shooting a few animals. He doesn’t care what happens to them; he’s going over there for his own pleasure. And I don’t think we can encourage it.

“I get so many stupid tweets of people saying, ‘You’re a fighter, and a lot of people don’t agree with that, so maybe you shouldn’t be able to do it.’ But the difference is that this is an arena that we are opting into. At no point has someone locked the door and said, ‘You’ve got to fight this guy.’ I’m choosing to get in there. And it frustrates me that someone can live in such an unevolved way and have an absolute disrespect for his place in nature.”

Hughes, an avid hunter, hasn’t engaged Hardy online but has defended his practices on social media, citing a Bible verse that advocates man ruling over “every living creature on the ground.”

Hardy said he would hunt himself if it was necessary to survive, but added “there would be no pride in killing” an animal to feed himself or his family. As it is now, he admitted to occasionally using animal products and said he seeks out food from “the most ethically sourced place I can get it,” citing Whole Foods Market as an example.

“Call me a hippie, but I like to see that caretaking, because we have a responsibility to keep this cycle balanced, and we’ve done so much damage hunting out of ignorance,” he said, “ever since the British came over and hunted the buffalo to extinction just for target practice. That is such an unevolved thing that we wouldn’t stand for that now, yet we’re still standing for Hughes taking a huge rifle over and shooting something from 200 yards, and filming it and saying, ‘Hey, look how awesome I am.’ If he doesn’t feel like enough of a man after his reign as the UFC welterweight champion, then he has some serious, deep-seeded issues that I would love to sit down and talk to him about.”