TOKYO – Were it not for such things as medical suspensions and pre-booked fight cards, Mark Hunt would fight at UFC 144 and one week later at UFC on FX 2.
“I’m a fighter, that’s what we do,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If I could do both, I could hopefully try and ask for the Aussie card.”
For now, Hunt (7-7 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will have to be satisfied with facing Cheick Kongo (17-6-2 MMA, 10-4-1 UFC) at UFC 144, which takes place Saturday at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The bout is part of a seven-fight main card that airs live on pay-per-view. Preliminary-card fights air on FX and stream on Facebook.
With back-to-back wins on his recent resume, Hunt is enjoying the kind of career resurgence most fans didn’t see coming. Five consecutive losses greeted newer UFC fans not familiar with his work in PRIDE and K-1, and even his octagon debut, which came at UFC 119 against Sean McCorkle, wasn’t looked at as anything more than a favor. Four years after of the UFC’s purchase of PRIDE, Hunt’s contract with the defunct promotion emerged as a remnant of the takeover.
The thinking was that rather than pay the balance of the contract, which entitled New Zealand native Hunt to a single fight, the UFC gave him a booking in the UFC with an eye, presumably, on discarding him in the event of a loss.
But after his stumble against McCorkle, Hunt fought again. The next time out, he sent Chris Tuchscherer packing with a highlight-reel knockout at UFC 127. Then he outpointed Ben Rothwell in a sloppy, oxygen-deprived affair at UFC 135. Then he signed a new contract which included a bout against Kongo, a longtime standout thought by many to be a gatekeeper to top-tier opponents.
A 13-year veteran of
