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Mark Hunt goes down with guns blazing

Mark Hunt will be in action at UFC 193.
Roar Pro
16th November, 2014
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UFC180 represented the organisation’s first foray into Mexico, and though the first choice main event between champion Cain Velasquez and challenger Fabricio Werdum was scratched due to an injury to Velasquez, Mark Hunt stepped in on short notice.

The talk before the bout was if Mark ‘The Super Samoan’ Hunt could do the seemingly impossible and defeat Werdum.

When the dust had settled the answer was no, but damn it was close.

From the outset the odds were stacked against the Australian-based New Zealander. He had taken the fight on short notice, needed to cut a large amount of weight and had had no acclimatisation training to prepare him for fighting at the altitude of Mexico City.

What Hunt did bring to the table, however, was a never-say-die attitude, a chin of rock and some of the best striking skills in the UFC Heavyweight division.

From the very start Hunt looked sharp, dropping Werdum with punches at the beginning of the first round, before allowing the Brazilian to rise back to his feet. From this point to the end of the fight Hunt was controlling the action, stuffing every takedown attempt and forcing Werdum to fight the New Zealander’s fight.

As Round 1 ended it was clearly all Hunt. Another knockdown followed in Round 2 as Hunt again allowed his man to stand back up, not wanting to engage the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt on the floor.

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Werdum at this point had resorted to throwing single strikes in the form of head and body kicks which were clipping but not hurting Hunt, however a flying knee from the Brazilian sent the Super Samoan crashing to the canvas while Werdum swarmed in with punches.

Referee Herb Dean gave Hunt plenty of time to intelligently defend himself but felt he had seen enough and waved the bout off at 2:27 of Round 2.

In what was a hugely impressive performance, Hunt unfortunately has allowed a golden opportunity to slip through his grasp. However, there are positives. He proved he can hang with the best heavyweights the UFC can throw at him so with one or two victories he could fine himself fighting for the title again.

Either way, Fabricio Werdum will fight Cain Valasquez at some point in 2015 for the unified title.

In the co-main event Kelvin Gastelum scored a mild upset when he submitted Jake Ellenberger by a rear naked choke late in Round 1. Despite weathering strikes early in the fight, Gastelum took his man to the mat.

He stuffed an Ellenberger takedown later in the round and Gastelum span to the back and locked up the choke as he sunk in the hooks. Ellenberger tapped out at 4:46 of Round 1.

In other action Ricardo Lamas guillotined Dennis Bermudez, Augusto Montano TKO’d Chris Heatherly in the opening round and Hector Urbina submitted Edgar Garcia via guillotine.

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It was a night of fights to remember, but in Australia it will be remembered as the first time Mark Hunt contested a UFC title.

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