Mark Hunt

Mark Hunt
Born	Mark Richard Hunt
Nickname	Super Samoan The Doctor
Nationality	New Zealander
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	127 kg (280 lb; 20 st 0 lb)
Style	Kickboxing
Fighting out of	Minto, NSW, Australia
Team	Oceania Super Fighter Gym Liverpool Kickboxing Gym Tony Mundine Boxing Club
Trainer	Hape Nganoroa Marcelo Rezende Tony Mundine
Years active	12 (1995-present)
Professional boxing record
Total	2
Losses	1
Draws	1
Kickboxing record
Total	40
Wins	29
By knockout	13
Losses	11
Mixed martial arts record
Total	8
Wins	5
By knockout	3
Losses	3
By submission	3
Other information
Boxing record from BoxRec
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt (born March 23, 1974) is a New Zealand born Samoan kickboxer and mixed martial artist, currently living and fighting out of Sydney, Australia. Hunt is known for his raw strength, KO power and having one the toughest chins in the world. As a kickboxer he shocked the world on December 8, 2001 by winning the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Final.

In MMA, he holds notable wins over Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, Wanderlei Silva and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.

Biography

Early career

Mark Hunt was born into a large, tight knit Samoan family in a tough suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand. He was a troubled kid and had no intentions to be a professional fighter, until one late night altercation outside a nightclub in Auckland changed the course of his life. The brawl didn’t last long, Hunt knocked out his adversary. One of the bouncers at the door was so impressed by the young man’s knockout power and invited him to Sam Marster's Gym to take up formal training. A couple of weeks later in 1995 in Otahuhu, New Zealand, Hunt was in the ring on his professional debut and knocked out his opponent Gary Hart in the second round. Mark got a six-pack of beers as payment and the bouncer became his first muay thai coach. Later that year Mark moved to Sydney, Australia to train with Alex Tui. Few years later he settled in Liverpool Kickboxing Gym under fellow Samoan instructor Hape Nganoroa.

K-1 career

In the beginning of his career, Hunt was used by the promoters as a stepping stone for their up and coming fighters, taking up fights at short notice, until Tarik Solak promoted K-1 Oceania tournament in February 2000. With a record of (15-4, 3KO) Hunt entered his first K-1 tournament as a heavy underdog.

He won the K-1 Oceania title by knocking out "The Coconut Crusher" Aumitagi in quarter finals, Rony Sefo in semis and Phil Fagan in the finals. After this impressive performance he was invited to Japan for K-1 qualifications. He lost his first international fight by unanimous decision against Jérôme Le Banner.

In 2001, Hunt returned to K-1 by winning the K-1 Oceania tournament for the second consecutive year. After that he took part of K-1 World GP 2001 in Melbourne, where he beat Japanese boxer Hiromi Amada, before suffering a close unanimous decision loss to reigning champion Ernesto Hoost. However, because of his exciting fighting style Hunt was granted a wildcard spot in the repercharge tournament for the K-1 World GP 2001 Finals, when Mirko Filipović had to pull out due to injury. He was drawn against Ray Sefo, who won the bout by outpointing Hunt. After the fight however, Sefo suffered an eye injury and was not able to continue, allowing Hunt to proceed in his place. Hunt then TKO'd Adam Watt to earn his place in the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals at the Tokyo Dome.

During the matchmaking for the K-1 Finals, Hunt surprised the crowd by choosing Jérôme Le Banner, whom he had just lost in the previous year, as his quarterfinal opponent. Hunt won the rematch by knocking out Le Banner in the second round and advanced himself onto the semi-finals facing Stefan Leko. Hunt knocked down Leko two times in the first round and went on to win the fight by unanimous decision. The stage was set for the final battle against Brazilian Kyokushin karate champion Francisco Filho. In the final Hunt defeated Filho by unanimous decision to become the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 champion.

In 2002, Hunt went to Paris to fight Le Banner again for the third time what turned out to be one of the biggest battles in K-1 history. Le Banner, fighting in front of his hometown audience, knocked down Hunt in the second round but was in turn knocked down himself a few seconds later. In the final moments of the round, Hunt was knocked down for the second time again by the powerful Frenchman. In between rounds the towel was thrown in as Hunt could not continue.

On December 17, 2002, Mark Hunt returned to defend his K-1 World Grand Prix title. In quarter finals, entering the third round and behind on all scorecards, Mark was able to connect with a right cross that knocked out Stefan Leko and advanced him to the semi-finals against his career long nemesis Jerome Le Banner. Despite knocking down the Frenchman at the end of the third round, Hunt lost the fight by decision. It would to be his last K-1 World Grand Prix appearance.

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 stepped in as a late replacement for Sakuraba, and won a split decision against an outweighed PRIDE 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. At the PRIDE Shockwave 2005 event, Hunt surprisingly defeated Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović via a dubious split decision, after 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.

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.

Return to K-1

After the MMA match against Emelianenko, Hunt did not make any appearance at MMA events. A speculation arose that Hunt halted his MMA career and joined the Japanese Pro-wrestling organization, HUSTLE, and he actually participated in several events in HUSTLE. However, FEG announced Hunt's return to K-1 and nominated him as the challenger of K-1 Super Heavyweight title held by Semmy Schilt. The match will be held on April 13, 2008, in Yokohama, Japan at the K-1 World GP 2008 in Yokohama. Hunt lost to a kick to the ribs by Semmy Schilt in the first round.

Titles

• 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix champion
• 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix in Fukuoka champion
• 2001 K-1 Oceania Grand Prix in Melbourne champion
• 2000 K-1 Oceania Grand Prix champion
• 1999 WKBF Australian Super Heavyweight champion

Kickboxing record

29 Wins (13 (T)KO's, 16 decisions), 11 Losses
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
04/13/2008	Loss	Semmy Schilt	K-1 World GP 2008 in Yokohama, Japan	TKO (body kick)	1
05/02/2003	Win	Gary Goodridge	K-1 World GP 2003 in Las Vegas, USA	Decision	5	3:00
12/17/2002	Loss	Jerome Le Banner	K-1 World Grand Prix 2002, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
12/17/2002	Win	Stefan Leko	K-1 World Grand Prix 2002, Japan	KO	3	1:16
10/05/2002	Win	Mike Bernardo	K-1 World GP 2002 in Saitama, Japan	Decision (Ext.R)	4	3:00
05/22/2002	Loss	Jerome Le Banner	K-1 World GP 2002 in Paris, France	TKO (Corner stoppage	2	3:00
03/03/2002	Loss	Mirko Cro Cop	K-1 World GP 2002 in Nagoya, Japan	Decision	5	3:00
01/27/2002	Win	Tsuyoshi Nakasako	K-1 Rising 2002, Japan	TKO	2	2:55
12/08/2001	Win	Francisco Filho	K-1 World Grand Prix 2001, Japan	Decision (Ext.R)	4	3:00
12/08/2001	Win	Stefan Leko	K-1 World Grand Prix 2001, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
12/08/2001	Win	Jerome Le Banner	K-1 World Grand Prix 2001, Japan	KO (Right hook)	2	2:32
10/08/2001	Win	Adam Watt	K-1 World GP 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan	TKO (Doctor stoppage)	3	1:38
10/08/2001	Loss	Ray Sefo	K-1 World GP 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
07/21/2001	Loss	Peter Graham	K-1 New Zealand GP 2001, New Zealand	Decision	5	3:00
06/16/2001	Loss	Ernesto Hoost	K-1 World GP 2001 in Melbourne, Australia	Decision	3	3:00
06/16/2001	Win	Hiromi Amada	K-1 World GP 2001 in Melbourne, Australia	KO (Left + Right hook)	1	2:52
02/24/2001	Win	Peter Graham	K-1 Oceania GP 2001 in Melbourne, Australia	KO (Right punch)	3	2:10
02/24/2001	Win	Andrew Peck	K-1 Oceania GP 2001 in Melbourne, Australia	KO (Right punch)	1	0:48
02/24/2001	Win	Nathan Briggs	K-1 Oceania GP 2001 in Melbourne, Australia	KO (Referee stoppage)	1	0:57
07/30/2000	Loss	Jerome Le Banner	K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Nagoya, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
05/14/2000	Win	Fadi Haddara	K-1 Revenge Oceania 2000, Australia	Decision	5	3:00
02/27/2000	Win	Phil Fagan	K-1 Oceania GP 2000, Australia	KO	2	0:30
02/27/2000	Win	Rony Sefo	K-1 Oceania GP 2000, Australia	Decision	3	3:00
02/27/2000	Win	Clay Aumitagi	K-1 Oceania GP 2000, Australia	KO	2	1:56
10/23/1999	Loss	Nelson Taione	Superfighter 2, Sydney, Australia	Decision	5	3:00

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

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time
Loss	Fedor Emelianenko	Submission (Kimura)	PRIDE Shockwave 2006	2006-12-31	1	8:16
Loss	Josh Barnett	Submission (Kimura)	PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute	2006-07-01	1	2:02
Win	Tsuyoshi Kohsaka	TKO (Strikes)	PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute	2006-05-05	2	4:15
Win	Yosuke Nishijima	KO (Punch)	PRIDE 31: Unbreakable	2006-02-26	3	1:18
Win	Mirko Filipović	Decision (Split)	PRIDE Shockwave 2005	2005-12-31	3	5:00
Win	Wanderlei Silva	Decision (Split)	PRIDE Shockwave 2004	2004-12-31	3	5:00
Win	Dan Bobish	TKO	PRIDE 28: High Octane	2004-10-31	1	6:23
Loss	Hidehiko Yoshida	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004	2004-06-20	1	5:25

Professional boxing record

Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round
8/21/1998	Loss	John Wyborn	Wyong Leagues Club, Wyong, New South Wales, Australia	Decision	3
4/23/2000	Draw	Joe Askew	Bondi Diggers Club, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	Decision	4

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of male mixed martial artists
• List of K-1 events
• List of PRIDE events
• List of kickboxing organizations