ORCHARD PARK, NY – DECEMBER 27: Greg Hardy #76 of the Dallas Cowboys warms up before the game against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on December 27, 2015 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Greg Hardy, former NFL defensive end now-turned UFC fighter, has apparently taken to his new line of work really well. His boxing coach, Billy Padden, says he knocked down two UFC fighters in sparring practice at the American Top Team (ATT) gym, where such luminaries of UFC like Junior Dos Santos and Tyron Woodley train.

“He’s got such natural ability, and he’s starting to pace himself,” Padden told TMZ Sports. “He’s a natural born fighter, and with that professional athletic ability, it’s easy to hone his skills.”

“He can knock people out with both hands. I believe he could make it to the UFC, it will be tough, but there are other options for him, boxing and kickboxing too. He’s been nothing but a gentlemen here, and we don’t judge people for their past mistakes, we give everyone a chance in the fight world.”

Padden says Hardy is a “natural born fighter”, (poor choice of words) and has a shot to be one of the best fighters in the world (hyperbole, much?), and that his first opponent, Joe “The Legend” Hawkins, better worry, because Hardy is going to dominate.

We don’t much like Greg Hardy for his past digressions because many of them are unforgivable sins. But, he does seem to be picking up UFC and fighting decently well, so we may be hearing from Greg Hardy again soon, outside of football – although, we’d be perfectly OK if he just disappeared into the void forever.

[TMZ Sports]

About Matt Lichtenstadter

Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.