At UFC on ESPN+ 8 on Saturday, former NFL All-Pro Greg Hardy competed in his second co-main event in as many UFC appearances, easily dispatching Dmitrii Smoliakov by first-round TKO at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla.

It was a nice rebound victory for Hardy, who was disqualified in his UFC debut back in January. At the UFC on ESPN+ 8 post-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White – likely unintentionally – took away some of the shine from Hardy’s victory when he was highly critical of Smoliakov. That struck many observers as odd since the consensus opinion seems to be that the UFC wants Hardy to become a star, despite his checkered past, and therefore has started him off with easy fights intentionally.

Our question now: How should the UFC book Hardy moving forward? MMA Junkie’s Ben Fowlkes, Fernanda Prates and John Morgan sound off in this week’s edition of “Triple Take.”

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Ben Fowlkes: Put him in a fight he might actually lose – and stop trying so hard to control the narrative

Regardless of what Dana White might say to the contrary, the UFC clearly has a plan it’s trying to execute with Greg Hardy. That plan goes a little something like this: feature him prominently on fight cards, give him fights he can win, and pump him up at every opportunity with an emphasis on his athleticism and raw potential.

On Saturday, we saw all those elements of the plan in action, and the result was utterly underwhelming. Hardy became probably the first guy in UFC history to co-headline a card after getting disqualified in his debut, then rolled over a former teammate who did absolutely nothing before celebrating to scattered boos.

Then he showed up at the post-fight press conference and compared himself to Michael Jordan. Seriously.

There’s a disconnect at work here. The UFC is telling us that Hardy is something special, but treating him like a fragile prize that must be protected, all while ignoring the fact that fans aren’t buying it. You want to fix that? It’s simple: put him in a real fight against a real UFC heavyweight. Let him sink or swim on his own. Stop trying so hard to control the narrative.

And I can already hear the objections. Hey, he’s still a novice! He’s just 4-1 as a professional! Who do you want him to fight, Stipe Miocic?!?

But see, you can’t have it both ways. He can’t be a special talent but also not ready for a tough opponent. He can’t keep fighting in the co-main event against people who would never come close to one otherwise. Is this guy a good fighter, or isn’t he? Because it seems like the UFC is actively resisting finding out.

Enough. Give him an opponent who stands a good chance of beating him. Admit that a sizable portion of your fan base, if they’re willing to watch him at all, would enjoy seeing him get beaten up. Let him earn some of this attention. You know, the way any other fighter would have to.

Next page – Fernanda Prates: Take him out of prominent spots while he clearly hasn’t earned them