How video games influenced an MMA champion to start his career
Written by Rob Smith on 17th October 2024
For a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world champion, Harry Hardwick is quite the unassuming figure. He looks like your everyday guy from Middlesbrough who enjoys the simple things in life such as video games.
I recently went to Middlesbrough Fight Academy (MFA) to speak to Hardwick who is the current Cage Warriors featherweight world champion, Cage Warriors is the biggest European-based MMA organisation.
Right away in the interview, Harry was discussing video games from his childhood and how they had a massive impact on his decision to start fighting.
MMA fighters start their careers for many different reasons, some stories can be quite sad and heavy-hitting. Hardwick was just a young boy who enjoyed playing fighting games, he recalled: “The first video game I ever played was Tekken 2. I always liked Tekken and Martial Arts movies.”
Little did he know how big of an impact playing Tekken and other fighting video games would have on his life. He went on to tell me about the moment he decided to make the jump into combat sports.
Photo Credit – Robert Smith
“When I was 15 years old the UFC Undisputed 2009 demo came out on the PS3 and there were two fighters you could choose from either Chuck Liddell or Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. ‘Shogun’ Rua’s style was listed as ‘Muay Thai'”. Muay Thai is a form of combat also known as Thai Boxing.”
Playing this game influenced him to go to his local Thai boxing gym and this decision would start a butterfly effect to him becoming the fighter he is today. Fast forward 12 years later and now Harry is a Cage Warriors champion preparing for a title defence at Cage Warriors 181 which is taking place November 23rd in Newcastle.
A win for Hardwick would have a huge impact on his goal of reaching the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). But this road was not so simple as he won a few fights and is now on the verge of breaking into the UFC. Harry had a slow start to his career having a record of five wins and three losses. He stated: “I wasn’t active early in my career and I lost a good amount of time.”
He even told me that due to injuries there was a period where he stopped training completely and his brother had to convince him to start training again. Hardwick does not fit the description of your typical MMA fighter. He was very friendly and constantly laughing and joking around all night. MMA is viewed by a lot of the public as a brutal sport and a lot of fighters are viewed in a negative light.
But my experience with Hardwick and the whole of MFA could not have been any different, the gym has a real family feel to it and you can see how much pride they all take in the gym. He and his brother George Hardwick, the current Cage Warriors lightweight world champ, run classes throughout the week at MFA.
When I asked him what career he thinks he would have done if he was not an MMA fighter his answer was quite telling for how his MMA career has gone. He explained to me that he could never see himself in a job where he did not enjoy himself or have an interest. The two career paths were the Military (RAF) and a barista, because he loves coffee, this answer I believe showed his personality perfectly.
There is no ego with Harry he does not pretend to be someone he isn’t, even now that he is a champion in the interview he surprisingly reveals that the belt that he worked so hard for “sits on my bedroom floor”. He just loves what he does and loves being involved in and around the sport that he has dedicated his life to.
Check out my exclusive interview for Spark where Hardwick told his story and how he believes any everyday person can be a world champion.
