UFC-contracted heavyweight Greg Hardy (1-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will not be able to call himself an American Arena League champion.

Hardy played this year for the indoor football league’s Richmond Roughriders, though the team came up short on the season’s final day, losing 58-50 to the Atlanta Havoc in Saturday’s championship game.

Hardy did not play in the championship game. According to his manager, Abe Kawa, Hardy was with the team during the game but decided earlier in the week he would sit out. The decision did not appear to be related to any concern of injury from an incident in the previous week’s semifinal matchup, with a UFC official telling MMAjunkie Hardy was “fine.”

That echoes the sentiment of Roughriders owner Greg Fornario, who previously told MMAjunkie Hardy was “healthy as can be” after briefly leaving the field in the previous week’s contest.

Greg Hardy

At June’s Dana White’s Contender Series 9 event, Hardy picked up a spectacular knockout win over fellow NFL veteran Austen Lane. The bout was Hardy’s professional debut, and while UFC President Dana White (and just about everybody else) was impressed with the result, the burgeoning knockout artist was just making his professional debut, and the company ultimately elected to sign him to a developmental deal rather than welcome directly to the biggest promotion in the sport.

Hardy’s connection to the UFC remains a highly contentious affair given the former All-Pro defensive end’s criminal history, including a conviction for domestic violence that was later overturned on appeal when the alleged victim failed to appear in court to testify in a trial.

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