At one point, a bare-knuckle boxing match with Bec Rawlings sounded like Heather Hardy’s idea of fun. Only a contract stood in the way.

With Rawlings – a Bare Knuckle FC champion – headed to Bellator, there appears to be nothing standing in the way of a fight. Now the roadblock is Hardy’s desire to fight Rawlings in MMA.

“She’s got a lot more experience than me. I’ve got to stay in my own lane,” Hardy told MMA Junkie with a chuckle. “I’ve got to learn some things before I jump up that high. I know exactly who I am and where I belong.

“Bare-knuckle boxing, that’s cool, man. Take away some of her tools and put me back in my comfort zone. That’s an interesting fight. As far as going against somebody her caliber (in MMA), that’s a stretch. Not to say it couldn’t happen down the line, but it certainly wouldn’t be the person I’d want to hop in the cage with next.”

For now, an MMA fight opposite Taylor Turner (1-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) next week at Bellator 222 will have to suffice. Hardy (2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) makes her return to the sport after a boxing run that left her with a WBO featherweight title and a bad taste in her mouth.

“When the opportunity from Bellator came, I didn’t even want to hear anything from the boxing world,” Hardy said. “It’s so disappointing. Someone once compared boxing to a bad girlfriend, and that’s just how it is. You put your heart and soul into it, and it’s just one disappointment after another. I just got fed up and said, ‘You know what, I’m going back to MMA.'”

A 16-month absence certainly made things interesting when she started training for Turner, whom she meets June 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. But Hardy is eager to get acclimated and give MMA another try.

The last time Hardy stepped in the cage, things didn’t go according to plan. A winning effort against fellow ex-boxer Ana Julaton turned into an amateur grapple-fest that turned off fans. She’d like to make up for that outing.

Hardy puts in 15-hour days between teaching private lessons at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, training with her boxing and kickboxing coach, and traveling to Long Island to work at Longo-Weidman MMA.

There’s still an infinite amount of things for Hardy to learn before she’s ready to take on Rawlings. But if Bellator ever wants to venture into the bare-knuckle world, she’s ready to go.

For more on Bellator 222, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.