Dan Hardy talks surgery and retirement following 'Wolf Heart' diagnosis that kept him from UFC on FOX 7!

It wasn't that long ago when former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight number one contender Dan Hardy talked about hanging up the gloves at the conclusion of his 2013 fight campaign.

See why here.

Now that he's been diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (also known as "Wolf Heart"), a condition that knocked him out of his UFC on FOX 7 scrap opposite the "Immortal" Matt Brown, he may have already seen his last fight.

Or has he?

Hardy tells Steph Daniels the decision could ultimately come from his employer.

"I've been thinking about it, and I don't want to think for a second that I'm done fighting, because I still love training and fighting. At the same time, I also feel that there are lots of other things that I should be doing, things that I should be concentrating on in different areas of my life. What it comes down to, though, is what the UFC is going to have to say on it. I certainly don't know where the UFC stands on using me to fight in other states, because obviously now, this will be on my medical record. I've got a wolf heart, and now everybody knows it [laughs]. Then you have to wonder if the UFC can use me on shows in Europe or Australia, or things like that. Those are also options to consider. I just know that, at this point, I'm not going to have the surgery, because I don't think I really need it. If, at any point, I start to feel like it might be necessary, I'll start considering it. As of right now, I'm good, and I don't want anybody messing with me."

Hardy (25-10), who turns 31 in May, will have to convince athletic commissions he's okay to compete.

Wolf Heart is a heart condition in which there is an abnormal extra electrical pathway of the ticker, leading to episodes of rapid heart rate, according to people much smarter than me. Complications include heart failure and low blood pressure, two things that could be problematic when you're in a fistfight.

Surgery often corrects the problem, but it doesn't sound like Hardy is in a big hurry to go under the knife.

Until he makes a decision, or a decision is made for him, "The Outlaw" will keep his career on hold. The good news is, if this is his last hurrah, he can at least go out with a win, having decisioned Amir Sadollah in front of a Nottingham crowd back in late 2012.

Anyone think we've seen the last of the mohawk?