Hunt has told of his incredibly tough upbringing - in his soon-to-be released autobiography - that helped to shape him as he grew up in a Mormon Samoan household while living in New Zealand.
The UFC heavyweight contender paints a picture of domestic violence and horrific happenings in his book, Born to Fight.
“Dad would beat us for any little thing, and with any implement. Fists, feet, broom handles, sticks, electrical wires, the hose that went from the washing machine to the tap,” Hunt writes.
However, beatings at the hands of their father weren’t the only harrowing experience Hunt and his siblings were subject to.
“I used to think my older sister Victoria got off relatively lightly. That didn’t mean she didn’t get beaten… We all thought Dad was soft on Victoria. He used to take her into a room with him, but inside we wouldn’t hear the crashes and thumps of a beating, nor would there be blood or bruises when she came out. That s*** wasn’t fair as far as we knew. We knew something odd was happening in that room, but we didn’t know that something was heinous and sinful.”
Despite Hunt’s father going to prison, it seemed as though domestic violence was so commonplace in his childhood, that it was in fact a natural course of his life.
“I wasn’t relieved when Dad was taken to prison… I just knew he was going away and that there’d be even less food in the house.
“We all wanted to see the old man, except Victoria of course. When I first saw him, I felt sorry for him. He had hollow eyes, and a lonely, sad way about him. I’d never seen him like that before.”
Hunt’s autobiography paints a shocking picture, however he himself acknowledges that it shaped him to be the man, and the fighter that he is today.
“At some point as a little kid, I managed to take pain and put it somewhere outside my head. It existed somewhere, but not anywhere it could stop my fight.”