'Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt' (born
March 23,
1974) is a
kickboxer and
mixed martial artist (MMA) from
New Zealand. He won the
K-1 WORLD Grand Prix tournament in 2001 and was the first non-European kickboxer to do so. In MMA, he holds notable wins over
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović,
Wanderlei Silva and
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.
Biography
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.
Hunt began his career in K-1 by winning the 2000
Oceania qualifying tournament. As Oceanic champion, he was invited to fight in
Japan against the world's 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. Sefo had injured his eye during the contest, however, allowing Hunt to proceed in his place. He then TKO'd
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 a 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. Hunt again surprised the crowd by knocking out Le Banner in the second round to go onto the semi-finals where he faced then-champion Ernesto Hoost. Hoost had to pull out with an injury sustained in his quarter-final match, though, setting up Hunt to face
Germany's Stephan Leko, whom Hoost had already beaten. Hunt knocked Leko down two times and went on to win by unanimous decision. 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-finals, 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. 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, Nevada 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.
Mixed martial arts career
Hunt's mixed martial arts career saw him fight in events in Japan's
PRIDE Fighting Championships. His first MMA fight was a submission loss to
Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist in
judo. In his second fight, he defeated
American wrestler Daniel Bobish by TKO. Hunt then stunned the fighting world by defeating PRIDE's middleweight (205 lb) 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 ''
PRIDE 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 Japanese boxer
Yosuke Nishijima in the third round with a powerful one-two punch.
[1]
Hunt's next fight was in the opening round of PRIDE's 2006 Open-Weight Grand Prix (''
PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute'') on
May 5,
2006. His opponent was Japan's Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, who he defeated by TKO in the second round. He then faced American catch-wrestler
Josh Barnett at ''
PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute'' in the second round of the tournament. Hunt was immediately taken down by Barnett and ultimately lost to a
kimura submission roughly two and a half minutes into the first round.
Most recently Hunt lost to PRIDE
heavyweight champion
Fedor Emelianenko at ''
PRIDE Shockwave 2006''. Hunt controlled Emelianenko most of the fight and even effectively countered an armbar early in the bout. Hunt's greatest chance of winning came when he was able to put Emelianenko in an
americana. Unfortunately for Hunt, Emelianenko was able to fight through it and submit Hunt with a kimura.
Following
Zuffa's (the parent company of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship) purchase of PRIDE, it is currently unknown when or where Hunt will fight next.
Kickboxing championships and accomplishments
★ K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Fukuoka champion
★ K-1 2001 World Grand Prix champion
★ K-1 2001 Oceania Grand Prix champion
★ K-1 2000 Oceania Grand Prix champion
Mixed martial arts record
| Total | 5 Wins | 3 Losses |
|---|
| 8 matches | (T)Knockout | 3 | 0 |
| Submission | 0 | 3 |
| Decision | 2 | 0 |
| Draw | 0 |
| No Contest | 0 |
Professional boxing record
|-
| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #f0f0f0"|'Date'
| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #f0f0f0"|'Result'
| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #f0f0f0"|'Opponent'
| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #f0f0f0"|'Method'
| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #f0f0f0"|'Round'
|-
| 8/21/1998
| Loss
|
John Wyborn
| Decision
| 3
|-
| 4/23/2000
| Draw
|
Joe Askew
| Decision
| 4
|-
See also
★
List of male kickboxers
★
List of male mixed martial artists
References
1. Greatest Pride Fighting Knockouts, Video of Unbreakable, retrieved February 16, 2007
External links
★
Official site
★
Kickboxing record
★
★
Boxing record
العربية
ä¸å›½
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€
Italiano
日本語
Português
РуÑÑкий
Español
