Going from a street fight outside a nightclub in New Zealand to becoming the winner of the K-1 World Grand Prix in 2002, Mark Hunt carries with him a great story of turning a bad situation into a career in the growing world of MMA. He is a veteran of Pride Fighting Championships having faced some of the best fighters in the world, such as Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Fedor Emelianenko.
But like so many fighters, he was left in a state of limbo after Zuffa bought Pride. Eighteen months later, Hunt is ready to step back into the ring against an old rival under the Dream banner and giving the MMA world another taste of the Oceania Super Fighter.
Hunt spoke exclusively with MMAWeekly.com recently to give his thoughts on his return to K-1 and Dream, his opponent, the landscape of the heavyweight division and what was happening with the UFC and his contract.
MMAWeekly: Thanks for talking with us. How has training been?
Mark Hunt: Training is going fine, happy to get back in and train for MMA.
MMAWeekly: After the demise of Pride and a long lay off, you made your return to K-1. Now you’ll have your first MMA fight in over 18 months. You will be fighting old rival Jerome LeBanner. How confident are you going in to this fight?
MH: Yes, fighting LeBanner. He fought not long ago against Semmy Schilt (under K-1 rules), but that’s not my problem. (laughs) I’m feeling good, looking forward to the fight and being back in MMA. Looking forward to hopefully get my first submission.
MMAWeekly: So you will be looking to take him down and work from there?
MH: Yeah, that’s my intention. As I said, we’ll see. I’ll try to get my first submission.
MMAWeekly: Ok. Let’s talk about your new contract with FEG. What opportunities does that allow you as far as fighting around the world? Is there anyone out there you would like to fight?
MH: My contract allows me to fight anywhere; it’s a really good contract. I’d like to fight anyone, any of the top guys. There are a lot of companies starting up, so it’s good, it gives the fighters a bit of freedom to pick and choose where they go.
MMAWeekly: You showed improved ground skills in your last fight with Fedor. How is your ground game coming along?
MH: I’ve been training with Marcello (Rezende) at Gracie Barra in Sydney. My jiu-jitsu is coming along well. I am really looking forward to putting it into practice.
MMAWeekly: You’re already an amazing striker and you are a hard man to knock out. Couple that with your improved jiu-jitsu; how do you see your all-round game coming along?
MH: My ground game is coming along. I’m moving a lot better on the ground in training. Going from being a stand up fighter to learning the ground game, I’m just trying to make it harder for people to take me down and submit me on the ground. But we are talking about the best fighters in the world, so we’ll have to wait and see. It’s hard to say how my skills actually have come along. We’ll just have to see how it goes when I’m in there with the other fighters.
MMAWeekly: How do you see yourself fitting into the Dream roster?
MH: Well I got this fight, and I’m hoping to get another one in August. Hopefully try and fight every month, got to pay the bills (laughs). It’s just kind of starting over you know. I’m looking forward to getting back in there.
MMAWeekly: You have said that you want to focus solely on MMA. Can we expect to see you at all in K-1 again?
MH: Well, it wasn’t really my call fighting (Semmy) Schilt, but it was something I was willing to deal with. It was a great opportunity for me. It was a win-win good opportunity. I hadn’t fought in kickboxing for five years and to get a shot at their title… it was a great shot and it was good to get back into fighting.
MMAWeekly: How would you like to fight Semmy Schilt again in MMA?
MH: Yeah, it would be good. Especially in MMA, you got the takedowns as another option. With big guys like that… if you take them down, you take away that height and equalize it a bit.
MMAWeekly: After the Pride sale it was believed your contract was held by the UFC. Tell us about that period and maybe clear up a little about what exactly was happening there?
MH: Well, after the sale of Pride, I thought I was unemployed. Apparently that wasn’t the case. I wanted to get work elsewhere, but I couldn’t because (the UFC) had my contract and said I couldn’t go anywhere while they had it. But they said they were going to put on a show in Japan that I could go on and all that stuff.
I don’t know what happens in the office, but what I was told was that I couldn’t go and do (professional) wrestling because it would be considered as one of my fights. So you know I just had to wait it out. And the thing was that I waited it out for a year and a half and I got nothing for it. At first they denied my contract being with them, but my manager showed them some things that showed my contract followed over to them.
MMAWeekly: So they really pushed the no fight clause?
MH: Yeah, well, the worst thing about that no fight clause is that I got no money for the contract. So I sat out waiting for no real reason. And even if I could have got a fight, they have the weight limit and I couldn’t have made that anyway.
MMAWeekly: On the topic of your weight, people like to talk about it when it comes to you. How is your weight going or is it not really that big a deal?
MH: Well, the thing about me, the reason people talk about it, is that people just think I look fat. (laughs) But you got guys like Jerome who are only a bit lighter, but they look like body builders. But the weight is fine. I’m about 126-127 kilograms (277-279 pounds). But I’m just happy to be back in fighting man.
MMAWeekly: Out of the guys at heavyweight, is there anyone in particular you would want to fight? Guys like Fedor, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia or even Kimbo Slice?
MH: There is a great list of guys out there. They have all gone to different companies and I think good for them; good for them for going out and trying to get a bit more money you know. If I had a chance to go out there and get a contract with more money I would, but that all comes with time doesn’t it? But the pay is good in Japan at the moment.
MMAWeekly: A rematch with Fedor must be tempting though?
MH: Well, in my current contract, it was said that it was going to happen, but I’m not sure now with Fedor in Affliction. That’s business for you though.
MMAWeekly: So we’ll just have to wait and see what comes your way?
MH: Yeah well that’s it. I’ll get a few wins under my belt and go from there. But the MMA game has grown so much; more companies make it better for the fighters to pick and choose. It’s about opportunities.
MMAWeekly: You are 34 years old now. How long do you see yourself staying in the game?
MH: As long as I can keep squashing these monkeys. (laughs) Yeah, just as long as I can keep going injury-free and hopefully pick up a title or two along the way.
MMAWeekly: One last little one… Kimbo Slice. He seems to be one guy that people would like to see you fight. How would you feel about that given his reputation as a backyard fighter?
MH: Yeah, I always hear the stories about Kimbo. He got his name through fighting, but I heard he has a degree or something? I have no idea. He made his name through shoot fighting, or street fighting on YouTube, which is pretty good exposure for him. But we’ll have to see what happens. He has gone and trained sort of how I did you know. If the opportunity comes it would be a good fight, a good money earner.
MMAWeekly: Be the money that would push you to that fight?
MH: Well it would be good for money, but it would be good exposure to the American public, and that would be a good opportunity. The money in Japan is good, so I’m happy to stay where I am for now.
MMAWeekly: Hopefully those opportunities come your way. Well, thanks Mark for taking the time to talk to us. Hopefully you can get those wins and start taking those opportunities!
MH: Yes sir, that’s what it’s all about. No problems!
