Gym 01's Hardy fired up for Shock N Awe main event at Portsmouth GuildhallÂ

Cameron Hardy is relishing his Shock N Awe 28 main-event contest.
Cameron Hardy defeats Bailey Gilbert at Made4TheCage 27: VendettaCameron Hardy defeats Bailey Gilbert at Made4TheCage 27: Vendetta
Cameron Hardy defeats Bailey Gilbert at Made4TheCage 27: Vendetta

The Royal Navy ace tops the bill against Jean Do Duc at Portsmouth Guildhall tonight. 

Hardy makes his comeback after suffering a nasty cut during his TKO victory over Bailey Gilbert in June '“ which moved his professional record to 3-1.

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It forced him to pull out of his fight against Kingsley Crawford on BAMMA Fight Night London later that month. 

The Darlington-born charge has made a full recovery from that setback, though, and is excited to return to the cage.

He meets a dangerous opponent in Frenchman Do Duc (5-2), whose five wins have all arrived via first-round submission.

Hardy, who trains out of Fratton's Gym 01, knows he's heading into his toughest battle to date.

But the 23-year-old is confident he'll come out on top. 

Hardy said: '˜I can't wait for the fight at the Guildhall.

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'˜I was there not long ago with the Royal Navy boxing team and couldn't believe how big it was.

'˜My cut has recovered now and it's been fine during sparring.

'˜After my last fight, I also had a couple of injuries that kept me out of the cage.

'˜My opponent is a late replacement, but I haven't been focusing on that too much.

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'˜I've just been focusing on my own game at the end of the day.

'˜He's got five submission wins but I've been working a lot on my ground game.

'˜In my last fight against Bailey Gilbert, I surprised a few people by taking it to the ground.

'˜At first, I focused a lot on my stand up but it's MMA at the end of the day and you've got to be well-rounded in all areas.

'˜My opponent has never been out of the first round. 

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'˜He's been finished twice in the first round and I'm hoping that I can use that to my advantage.

'˜I'm confident I can get another victory.'

Hardy missed out on a prized opportunity to meet Crawford on the BAMMA card. 

Gym 01 head coach and Shock N Awe promoter, Gareth Johnson, stressed it was the correct decision.

He said: '˜We pulled him out of the last fight because obviously the cut was never going to heal.

'˜You put someone in with a cut like that and it's potentially career-changing and life-changing damage that can be done.

'˜But now looking at him you wouldn't even think it'd happened.'