Mark Hunt

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Mark Hunt

Statistics
Real name Mark Hunt
Nickname Super Samoan
Weight 290lbs (131.5kg)
Nationality Flag of New Zealand New Zealander
Birth date 23 March 1974
Birth place Auckland, New Zealand
Style Kickboxing
Boxing record
Total fights 42
Wins 29
Wins by KO 13
Losses 12
Draws 1
No contests

Mark Hunt (born March 23, 1974) is a kickboxer and mixed martial artist from New Zealand. He won the K-1 WORLD GP tournament in 2001 and was the first non-European kickboxer to do so. In MMA, he holds notable wins over Mirko Filipović, Wanderlei Silva and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.

Mark Hunt is commonly said to have the best chin in mixed martial arts (MMA) and kickboxing, being unanimously voted as having the best chin in kickboxing by a panel of experts in International Kickboxer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Kickboxing career

Mark Hunt is relatively short for a heavyweight kickboxer, standing 5'10" (177 cm) tall and weighing 127 kg. He was first asked to compete in muay thai after bouncers witnessed him in a street fight.

Mark Hunt began his career in K-1 by winning the 2000 Oceania qualifying tournament. As Oceania champion, he was invited to fight in Japan against the world elite for a chance to go on to the K-1 World Grand Prix. His first opponent was highly regarded French fighter, Jérôme Le Banner, who decisively beat him in three rounds. Undeterred, Hunt returned to K-1 the following year, again winning the Oceania tournament. During the 2001 Melbourne tournament, he beat Japanese boxer Hiromi Amada but then lost a close points decision to then-champion Ernesto Hoost. However, because of his exciting style, Hunt was granted a wildcard spot in the repercharge tournament to be held at the end of the year, which would allow the two top fighters to go through to the World Grand Prix Finals. Hunt gained this spot after then-wildcard entry, Mirko Filipović had to pull out due to injury. Once again, Hunt was drawn against another top fighter this time in New Zealand's Ray Sefo, who outpointed Hunt to win the bout. However, Sefo had injured his eye during the contest, so Hunt was allowed to progress in his place. He then TKOed Australian boxer Adam Watt to earn his place in the World Grand Prix Finals at the Tokyo Dome alongside Brazilian karate fighter, Francisco Filho.

During the matchmaking for the Finals, Hunt surprised the crowd in attendance by choosing the fighter whom many considered the most dangerous opponent in the tournament, Jérôme Le Banner. Le Banner, whom Hunt had lost to the previous year, was the favorite going into the fight but Hunt again surprised the crowd by knocking out Le Banner in the second round to go onto the semi-final where he would face then-champion Ernesto Hoost. Hoost had to pull out with an injury sustained in his quarter-final match. Instead, German fighter Stephan Leko, whom Hoost had already beaten, was given the go-ahead to battle Hunt. Hunt knocked Leko down two times to take a unanimous decision victory. The stage was set for the final battle against Brazilian Kyokushin Karate champion Francisco Filho who had been the other fighter to qualify in the repercharge tournament alongside Hunt. In the final, Hunt defeated Filho by unanimous decision to become the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion.

In 2002, Hunt was outpointed by Croatian kickboxer, Mirko Filipović at the Nagoya Grand Prix event. He then went to Paris to fight Le Banner again in a highly anticipated match. Le Banner, fighting in front of his hometown audience, knocked down Hunt in the second round but was in turn knocked down a few seconds later. In the final moments of the round, Hunt was finally knocked down again by the powerful Frenchman. Between rounds the towel was thrown in as Hunt could not continue.

Hunt returned to defend the Grand Prix crown, beating highly regarded South African hard-hitter, Mike Bernardo in a unanimous decision. He was then matched against Stephan Leko in the quarter-final, who was eager to avenge his loss. It was not to be, however, as Hunt, (behind on all the scorecards going into the final round), suddenly hit Leko with a right cross that knocked the German fighter to the canvas and out of the fight. In the semi-finals Hunt again came up against his nemesis Le Banner, (who was already 2-1 going into the fight). Despite knocking the Frenchman down, Hunt was himself knocked down and outclassed. It was to be his last Grand Prix.

Hunt went on to have a final superfight in Las Vegas against Canadian fighter, Gary Goodridge. Although he gave a poor showing, (which he claimed was due to jet lag), he comfortably beat the Canadian on points.

[edit] Mixed martial arts career

Hunt is currently competing in mixed martial arts events in PRIDE, and lives in Sydney. His first fight was a submission loss to Hidehiko Yoshida. In his second fight, he defeated American wrestler Daniel Bobish by TKO. In his next fight, he stunned the fighting world by defeating the middle weight world champion Wanderlei Silva. Silva, renowned for his brutal punching and Muay Thai clinch game, was neutralized by the hard hitting Samoan and knocked down several times in the fight, before going on to lose a contentious split decision. At the Shockwave 2005 event, Hunt defeated Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović via split decision, avenging his earlier loss to him in K-1. At PRIDE 31 Unbreakable, Hunt defeated Yosuke Nishijima in the third round with a powerful one-two punch[1]. In an interview before the match, he humorously stated he had learned the flying armbar, a difficult move for a man of his size. Unsurprisingly he did not attempt the technique during the match, instead both fighters engaged in a striking battle.

Hunt's next fight was in PRIDE's 2006 Open Weight tournament on May 5, 2006. His first match at the Total Elimination Absolute event was against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, which he won by TKO in the second round. He went on to face Josh Barnett at Critical Countdown Absolute in the second round of the tournament, where he was dominated by Barnett's superior grappling, ultimately losing via Kimura armlock roughly two and a half minutes into the first round.

Hunt lost by a kimura submission to Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE Shockwave 2006. Though he controlled Emelianenko most of the fight, effectively countered an armbar early in the bout and attempted to apply a couple of Americanas he still came short to Emelianenko's superior submission.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

[edit] Kickboxing

[edit] Mixed martial arts record

Total Wins Losses
8 matches (T)Knockout 3 0
Submission 0 3
Decision 2 0
Draw 0
No Contest 0
Result Opponent Method Event Date Round Time
Loss Fedor Emelianenko Submission (kimura) PRIDE Shockwave 2006 2006-12-31 1 8:16
Loss Josh Barnett Submission (kimura) PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute 2006-07-01 1 2:02
Win Tsuyoshi Kohsaka TKO (strikes) PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute 2006-05-05 2 4:15
Win Yosuke Nishijima KO (punch) PRIDE 31 2006-02-26 3 1:18
Win Mirko Filipović Decision (split) PRIDE Shockwave 2005 2005-12-31 3 5:00
Win Wanderlei Silva Decision (split) PRIDE Shockwave 2004 2004-12-31 3 5:00
Win Dan Bobish TKO PRIDE 28 2004-10-31 1 6:23
Loss Hidehiko Yoshida Submission (armbar) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 2004-06-20 1 5:25

[edit] Professional boxing record

Date Result Opponent Method Round
8/21/1998 Loss John Wyborn Decision 3
4/23/2000 Draw Joe Askew Decision 4

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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