Antoni Hardonk

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Antoni Hardonk (born February 5, 1976) is a Dutch professional mixed martial artist and a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under Rickon Gracie.

He stands 6 ft. 4 in. tall and fights in the heavyweight division at approximately 245 lbs.

He is a K-1 veteran who currently fights as a heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Antoni Hardonk made his professional mixed martial arts debut at a Rings Holland event against Peter Verschuren on January 28, 2001. He defeated his opponent via cut stoppage at 3:05 of round 1.

Hardonk flew to Italy for his next two bouts which were held on the one night in the form of a four man tournament. Hardonk won his opening fight, defeating opponent, Will Elworthy via rear naked choke. In the final he suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career to Grzegorz Jakubowski by decision.

Another decision loss followed in his next bout this time to Claudineney Kozan at a K-1 MMA event.

With a record of 2-2, Hardonk faced UFC veteran and Team Hammer House member, "The Project" Wes Sims at Rumble on the Rock 6. Hardonk submitted Sims with a keylock at 4:24 of round 1.

Hardonk followed the Sims victory with a TKO stoppage of Ibragim Magomedov at a Bushido Europe event in his next fight.

UFC Career

Starting his career with a 4-2 record, Hardonk was called up to the UFC to fight fellow UFC virgin, Sherman Pendergarst at UFC 65. Hardonk was taken down early but eventually Pendergarst gassed and Hardonk used his technical and powerful striking to take Pendergarst out at just over the three minute mark of the first round.

At UFC Fight Night 9, Hardonk was matched up against another ground specialist in Justin McCully. A persistent McCully continually exploited Hardonk's lacking takedown defense en route to a lacklustre unanimous decision win. Hardonk almost ended the bout with an armbar but McCully refused to tap.

At UFC 74, Hardonk faced former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir. In an odd move, Hardonk looked to pull guard and attempted an omoplata. Mir, a BJJ black belt, quickly got out of the hold and applied his own soon after, forcing Hardonk to tap from a Kimura at 1:17 of the first round.

Finally given a fellow striker as an opponent, Hardonk returned at UFC 80 to face Irishmen, Colin Robinson. The bout was over quickly as Hardonk pounded Robinson with his patented leg kicks before dropping him with a punch. The fight was ruled a TKO victory for Hardonk at just 17 seconds of the first round.

Fighting in England once again at UFC 85, Hardonk faced Eddie Sanchez who was a late replacement for Englishman, Neil Wain. In an exciting back and forth battle, Hardonk was dropped a number of times by Sanchez before landing a devastating combo on Sanchez in the second round that dropped him cold.

At UFC 92, Hardonk faced Mike Wessel who was a late replacement for Mark Burch. A tight first round led to a dominating second round for the Dutchman who pounded out a very tired Wessel just over two minutes into the round.

On the back of his three straight UFC wins, Hardonk was given a step up in competition at UFC 97 when he faced French striker, Cheick Kongo. The bout was a lacklustre one that saw Kongo's power eventually prevail as he overwhelmed Hardonk on the ground midway through the second round.