Mark Hunt to get UFC title shot at Fabricio Werdum

Mark Hunt

Called in at the last minute by UFC boss Dana White, Hunt replaces champion Cain Velasquez who pulled out of the bout against Werdum with a knee injury suffered in training. The 40 year old leaves for Mexico today and has just three weeks to lose 20kg ahead of the November 15 showdown.

Currently tipping the scales at about 137kg, Hunt weighed 120kg in his last fight, an impressive second round knock-out of Roy Nelson in September.

Nicknamed The Super Samoan, Hunt became the first fighter to ever score a knock-out over Nelson who won the Ultimate Fighter 10 television series.

His fame in the UFC world hit an all-time high after his brutal five round draw with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva last December. The bloody battle will go down in history as one of the UFC’s greatest fights and prompted White to bizarrely promise to purchase each fighter and island.

Based in Minto, Hunt has lived in Australia for 20 years but still considers himself a Kiwi.

“I'm always going to be a New Zealand fighter,'' he told the New Zealand Herald last year.

"I'm a Kiwi of course and I've still got my New Zealand passport.''

The NZ Herald recently listed Hunt 17th in a New Zealand sporting rich-list, to which Hunt responded via Facebook: “Don't know why my picture is on this list ufc fighters get paid average unless u are the champ.”

It’s been a long road for the former K1 kick-boxing champion, but he’ll get his chance to really jump up the rich-list in a couple of weeks’ time.

The response was mixed, but there’s plenty of support for Hunt. Here’s some of the reaction on Twitter.
 

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