"I’ve got the anger back that I used to have when I was at Cage Warriors, which is a good place to be because that’s when I enjoyed hurting people. I spent my whole career trying to get to the UFC, but then a lot of changes in my life, personal things and the media attention – it distracted me from being a mixed martial artist. I’ve never put the time aside to get back to that place. I’ve made alterations, but I’ve never completely changed my training camp. After the losses to GSP and [Carlos] Condit, I was too eager to get back in there and get a win. I over-trained big time, the last two fights don’t even look like me. I can see it in the expression in my face, the [Anthony] Johnson fight and [Chris] Lytle fight, I was exhausted before I even stepped in the cage. I was not in a good situation, I was ready to fight Lytle three weeks too early – I was exhausted. Now I’ve got a system where the coaches take all responsibility away from me, all I have to do is show up to the gym." – Via Espn.Co.UK
A lot of things change for a man when they start winning in the UFC. Money, fame, media obligations all grab a hold of a popular fighter and work as a distraction to what actually got them to the big show.
For Dan Hardy his brash, trash talking persona elevated him from virtual unknown to a household name in a very short period of time. That apparently is part of the blame to his recent lack of success in the cage.
He better hope the "fire" is back, or he'll be sent packing with a lose here just can't see the UFC holding on to him if he loses 5 straight fights, maybe he could be sent to Stikeforce but even that doesn't seem all to likely to me.