Mark Hunt - New Zealand Champion

The world of martial arts is literally full of different stars. However, in this galaxy there are guys who need to pay more attention. Especially it deserves fights without rules. Mark Hunt in these fights was one of the pioneers, so we'll talk more about him.

Biographical information

Super Samoanets (this is the nickname of this MMA fighter) was born in a rather troubled area of Auckland on March 23, 1974. Initially, Mark Hunt did not plan to associate his life with professional fights, but after one night knocked out several opponents near the nightclub, his life changed dramatically. One of the guards of this entertainment institution invited the guy to work out in the gym. Since that moment, Mark Hunt started a new life, in which the main place was occupied by training in the best martial arts halls in the world.

Fighting career

Initially, the New Zealander was not considered a very promising fighter and received small fees. But everything changed after K-1 Oceania Mark Hunt literally took his opponents off the ring and got the right to go to Japan to take part in the K-1 qualifying battles, where he lost in the first fight.

But the next year was successful for our hero. In 2001, he again won the right to go to the land of the rising sun, where he not only won the tournament K-1 World Grand Prix, but also avenged his last year's offender Frenchman Jerome Le Banne, sending him into a heavy knockout in the second three-minute fight.

In 2002, Hunt held one of the most vivid and brutal fights in the history of K-1. Again, his opponent was Le Bann. The battle proved to be full of reciprocal knockdowns, but in the end the victory fell to the Frenchman, as Mark's corner threw away the towel.

The return of the New Zealander to K-1 took place in 2008, when he fought for the title of champion with then-leader of the division Sammy Schilt. Unfortunately for Mark, he lost, with a knockout after kicking the liver and turning.

Going to MMA

In 2004, Mark Hunt, whose biography is full of both bright victories and insulting defeats, played his debut in the already legendary Pride promotion.

It should be noted that the New Zealander is not as outstanding a fighter of a mixed style as, for example, Emelianenko or Barnett, whom he lost. And all because Mark did not pay too much attention to the struggle in the stalls and protection against transfers into the fight. In this regard, in his career there are quite a lot of losses precisely by surrender. However, there were bright victories, in particular, over the Dutch Stefan Struve, to whom Hunt broke his jaw with a lateral blow, receiving a bonus for the best knockout of the evening. Also very bright was the battle of Mark with the Brazilian Antonio Silva, for which both fighters received a bonus of $ 50,000.

In the last time, at the moment, for the fight, which took place in July 2016, the Super Samoan lost by the referee's decision another legend of MMA, the American Brock Lesnaru.

As for his private life, Mark is married and has six children with his wife.