In one of the more memorable UFC debuts in recent memory, Harry Hardwick was stopped by the surging Kaue Fernandes in the first round at UFC Paris back in September of 2025.
Hardwick came into heavy criticism and trolling after his performance, with some fans calling his performance the worst in UFC history.
Even the likes of UFC legend Cub Swanson questioned Hardwick’s ability after watching his fight in Paris.
Harry Hardwick
Despite all of this, Hardwick has never once let the critics get to him. In an interview with Rob Smith from Pure Digital PR, Hardwick reflected on that night in Paris and discussed his upcoming fight with Marwan Rahiki on March 14th.
When looking back at his debut performance, Hardwick recognised that there is some added pressure coming into this fight. “I was confident and I went into that UFC debut believing I would win, but it was a very strange situation taking a UFC on a week’s notice, whereas for this fight I have had a fantastic training camp!
“It’s a cutthroat business; if I don’t perform, I could be getting sacked but I’m used to pressure and I have dealt with pressure a lot, with having Cage Warriors title fights and headlining shows; pressure is normal.”
Rahiki boasts a record of 7-0 coming into their fight and Hardwick was very complimentary of his opponent, as he said: “I believe Rahiki is a fantastic opponent, he comes to fight, he is borderline needlessly aggressive, which is his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.”
Hardwick sees holes in his opponent’s skillset and he has a gameplan ready to go for Saturday. He stated, “Without going into too much detail, I think his previous opponents have either been too tentative or got too caught up and I think I can exploit his weaknesses. I have got the discipline to stay in the right zone of the fight.”
For his debut, Hardwick had less than five days to prepare for his fight, whereas this time around he has enjoyed the privilege of having a full camp, which he has taken advantage of.
Three weeks prior to his fight, Harry had flown out to Vegas with his brother, the former Cage Warriors lightweight champion George Hardwick and Cage Warriors featherweight contender Leon Armes.
The three of them have been enjoying life in vegas getting training at the UFC Performance Institute and linking up with fellow North East born fighter Davey Grant at Syndicate MMA.
Hardwick had plenty of good to say about Grant and his training, “Davey has been class, he has really looked after us, it has been great. Camp this time around has been a lot less chaotic.
“Everything has been clicking into place and it feels right. I was thinking the other day of being in Vegas, I have been here for five times the amount of time that I knew about that last fight.”
With the pressure on, many will be tuning in to Hardwick’s fight on Saturday to see if he can silence the doubters and claim his first UFC victory.