As a former Pride Fighting Championships fan (started in 1999, ended in 2007), I became absolutely enthralled with certain fighters. Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop, the Noguieras, Rampage Jackson (begrudgingly, long after his feud with Wanderlei was over) and many, many others. One fighter that was a must see fighter was Mark Hunt. Hunt entered Pride straight off of a K-1 championship and was immediately thrown into the deep end of Pride. He recorded decision victories over Cro Crop and Wanderlei (the win over Wanderlei has always been heavily disputed but a win is a win) before he ran into trouble.
"The Super Samoan" then quickly lost 4 straight fights. This sounds unforgivable until you look at whom he lost to: Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem (pre-Ubereem) and Gegard Mousasi. Pride was then bought by the UFC and Hunt went to K-1 for a match with Melvin Manhoef. Two things of note here: Hunt was known for having an IRON chin in his Pride days. Secondly, Manhoef was/is known for hitting harder than sh**. Well, Manhoef won this round and KO'd Hunt in well under a minute. This would obviously make it 5 losses in a row at this point.
If this was a movie, here's the scene where our conquering hero wanders off into the abyss, searching his soul and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. In September of 2010, the UFC announced that Hunt was set against Sean McCorkle (really, really funny guy outside of the cage). Everyone gave a collective "HUH?" before Dana acknowledged that Hunt's Pride contract was so iron-cladden that he wasn't able to ignore Hunt's contract demands and had to honor the existing contract. The fans shrugged their shoulders and wished for the best. After a McCorkle victory by armbar, the majority of old Pride fans sighed but realized that Hunt was no longer the wrecking machine he had been in Pride. In February of 2011 for UFC 127, again Hunt was announced as a UFC participant (facing Chris Tuchscherer) and (again) Dana said he was obligated to give Hunt fights.
Going into the Tuchscherer fight, most fans were very concerned. Tuchscherer had shown above adequate wrestling ability in the cage and had shown a decent chin. Hunt was coming off of six consecutive defeats. Hunt had never been out-struck (aside from Manhoef) and had lost all other fights via submission to better grapplers and submission artists. Well, Hunt stuffed multiple takedowns, was able to get up after being taken down and gave us the most anti-climactic KO victory in history. He landed a quick uppercut, glanced down briefly at his opponent, saw the damage he had caused, nonchalantly put his hands in the air and walked away. Tuchscherer was clearly out on his feet and the Australian crowd went wild! Hunt had given us one memorable knockout for old time's sake.
Fast forward to September of 2011. Hunt is doing battle against Ben Rothwell on the undercard of Jones/Rampage, a monstrous heavyweight known for his iron chin, good wrestling and size. Hunt and Rothwell both survive the Denver altitude and Hunt wins a unanimous decision. Hunt even got Joe Rogan and the Denver audience to go crazy due to his arm bar attempt in the second round. Crazy stuff. Side note here: absolute respect is a must to Rothwell here. Rothwell survived multiple Hunt BOMBS and was able to go the full three rounds. Warrior. Any other heavyweight with the possible exception of Roy Nelson would have been KO'd in this fight.
Now, here's where things get a little surreal. I knew (absolutely KNEW) that Hunt was going to win against Cheick Kongo. Let me explain why: Hunt was a much better striker, had a better chin and hit harder. Kongo had shown a tendency to wrestle strikers in the past but he secured takedowns mostly from the clinch. Well, Hunt out-weighed Kongo by more than 30 pounds so I felt Hunt would be able to shrug them off. Anyways, I felt so confident on it that I debated all week about placing a $100 bet on Hunt. Hunt closed at +280 odds which means (for people who don't know much about gambling) I would have received my initial $100 back, with an additional $280 in profit with a Hunt win. Being the genius I am, I didn't bet on the fight. Hunt wins via thunderous KO in round 1, I yelled "I knew it!!", silently cursed myself for not betting and a legend is re-born.
To recap: Hunt started off his career 5-0. He then loses 6 in a row. He is only given fights in the UFC because the UFC couldn't pay him off. Rallies back to win 3 fights in a row over an increasingly difficult schedule in the UFC for an overall record as of right now at 8-7. He has momentum in his favor, iron chin, iron fists and what looks to be an ever improving ground game and improving takedown defense skills. He can stand with anyone in the division....this includes Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez. But what if they look for the takedown? Can Hunt get up? Can he avoid submission attempts from guys like Fabricio Werdum, Barnett (if they fight again) and Noguiera? Honestly, I have no idea. It's just been nice to see a guy lose 6 fights in a row, steady the ship and get right back in there and find success. He has re-dedicated himself to MMA and is training his ground game and wrestling religiously with an eye on a UFC title. Rumors are swirling that he'll face off against Stefan Struve next (** edit: this has been confirmed by the UFC for May of 2012). Struve is known for great grappling and a questionable chin. Can Hunt land a bomb before Struve is able to take him down and bring him into the grappling world?
Will Hunt win or even challenge for the UFC heavyweight title? Probably not but we do know that he'll either win or lose by going down swinging and looking to entertain the fans. In this era of point fighting and winning by all means (even if it involves zero risk taking and boring the heck out of the fans), it'd be nice to have a challenger and/or champion like Hunt.
