By Chamatkar Sandhu

It's been four years since we last saw Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy compete in the Octagon.

In early 2013, Hardy was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a disorder of the heart's electrical system. As a result, he was pulled from his scheduled fight with Matt Brown at UFC on FOX 7. Four years later, Hardy is determined as ever to make a comeback.

"I've still got the drive to compete," Hardy said. "Nothing much has changed. I've made contact with the doctor that I'm going to be doing the testing with and I've sent over my old test and old paperwork from when I did the test in Vegas. So progress has been made, but it's been small. Everything will happen at the right time."

Unfinished business

If a return is possible, it would allow Hardy to finish the journey he started a long time ago to compete at the elite level in this sport.

"If I was to return to competition now, it would be for me, to live out a few more opportunities that I would like to take in my competitive career," Hardy said. "I never felt like it was finished. I was halfway through training, and I never lost that momentum. It kind of stays with you, and because it's taken away, it feels like it's unresolved."

Over the past few years, Hardy has spent countless hours watching others fight for the "Inside the Octagon" breakdown videos alongside fellow UFC commentator John Gooden. Much like Dominick Cruz did while he was out for three years, Hardy believes this work has made him a much better fighter.

"The last few years of studying the sport from a different perspective has really helped me understand the sport a lot more," Hardy said. "Basic movements that I used to have to drill are now second nature to me just from watching so much of it. It's crazy how much my mind has developed over the last three or four years. I look back at some of my fights, and I can't connect with them because it doesn't feel like me, look like me or move like me. I don't feel like that's a good account of who I am and what I'm capable of."

Not too late

"I've just turned 34--I'm healthy and able," Hardy said. "I'm training at hotel gyms and doing a lot of conditioning. A lot of my technical training is from watching. Like, I'm watching Jacare, and I'm in the gym the next day throwing arm triangles on people and I've never drilled that move in my life. It's like I'm absorbing it with my eyes. I'm moving at my own pace, but not at the pace of people that would like to see me fight again."

Although making it to the top of professional MMA was an achievement for Hardy, he'd feel even more accomplished if he could return to the sport while no-one is expecting it.

"Just getting to the UFC in the first place was one of the highlights of my career but coming back, more than anything, I'd like to surprise a few people and just show up on a card one day when no one is expecting me to," Hardy said. "It may be a case of top-secret, I'm going to show up on a card and nobody is expecting it and no news would have been broken. I'd maybe like that to happen."