Details On Hardy's TNA Contract
Jeff Hardy actually signed a contract with TNA over a week ago. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but TNA officials are asking for roughly...
"I understand -- everyone is quick to downplay anyone who is successful. Let's be realistic: I was 245 [pounds], yes, for the last fight. Two weeks later I was already 260 [pounds] because of what it took me to be 245 [pounds], if you look at my body fat percentage, I dieted down. I had the mentality that well, I'm going to have to be a cardio freak and every extra pound is going to count against me. So if it's not pure muscle it's a waste of my time. [Coming in to the Brock Lesnar rematch] it was the leanest I have ever been for a fight. So like any guy who is cutting weight you skyrocket back up to your natural weight [shortly thereafter]. When I showed up at Mark Phillipe's I weighed in at 261 [pounds]. That's just my natural body weight. I'm not really a 245-pound guy -- that's just me cardio'ed out of my mind and watching everything I ate. If you look at those 10 pounds you have to look at what percentage of that is muscle -- my body fat obviously increased [for the Checik Kongo fight] because I was nowhere near as lean as I was for UFC 100. You put on blood volume because you increased the size. On a fluid level you retain more fluid. It's not really that farfetched for a guy my size. It's just that the average human being is well below 200 pounds so it may be hard for a lot of people to fathom. Mark Phillipe is a huge man himself and he's always been a drug-free athlete. He's never had to use that to compete with and he's in the upper echelon. That's kind of why I chose him because I see guys who are out there that are super strong, but let's face it, the guy is 280 pounds and 6 percent body fat ... and that's probably not natural.... The UFC drug tests the hell out of us. I get drug tested before and after the fight. And I get randomly drug tested all the time because I'm under contract with the UFC. I'm sure there is a way around everything, but that's a lot of stress. That means you're worrying how to get around that and you have to fight in a couple of hours. Fighting is stressful enough as it is, [worrying about a drug test] is just not necessary."
