Hardy dedicates another dominant victory to Gym 01 team-mateÂ

The Royal Navy ace racked up a fifth success of the year after defeating Olya Wolfe at Apocalypse Fight Series 7.

Hoye, who trains at Fratton's Gym 01, was due to fight at Bognor's Arun Leisure Centre '“ but Wolfe came in 6kg overweight.

Team-mate Hardy stepped up in the 11th hour, though, and submitted his opponent via rear naked choke within a minute.

The Darlington-born talent had remained in superb condition following his Shock N Awe 28 win at Portsmouth Guildhall three weeks earlier.

And he was determined to punish Wolfe for disrespecting Hoye.

Hardy said: '˜The guy turned up late for the weigh-in and we actually joked about it beforehand. I said that'd I'd fight him.

'˜Brian (Adams) then turned round to me and asked me if I wanted to fight.

'˜I had relaxed a little bit after my last fight. After I couldn't get another fight, I wasn't dieting as hard but was still eating healthy.

'˜I'm always training and pretty much always ready to go anyway.

'˜In my head, I just wanted to hurt him for weighing in 6kg over.

'˜It's not nice for anyone. If Elliott didn't have a fight a few weeks ago then he might have had a full fight camp.

'˜So to waive someone's opportunity by coming in overweight was wrong. It wasn't even like he was close.

'˜He didn't look tired like he'd tried to carry out his weight cut '“ he just looked like he'd got out of bed.

'˜So, to be honest, I just wanted to hurt him.

'˜Elliott works his absolute socks off. He's one of the hardest lads in the gym, so to see his face drop when the guy came in that much overweight wasn't nice at all.

'˜So it was good to go in there and do that one for Elliott.'

Having started 2018 with a 0-1 record, Hardy won each of his five bouts this year in barnstorming fashion.

And with bigger things on the horizon in 2019, the 24-year-old is relishing his return to the cage.

Hardy added: '˜At the start of the year when I came back, Brian said I should aim for five or six wins in 2018 so it was good to hit that.

'˜The fight was easy, to be honest. The only thing was I stepped into the unknown again as I hadn't watched any footage of him.

'˜I caught him with a hard leg kick and I think he thought 'What am I doing here?'

'˜I rocked him with a head kick and we got into a little clinch before taking him down.

'˜He gave me his back and I put the rear-naked choke on.

'˜Now I want a big 2019. I just want to step up in competition and fight on big shows.'