by Mark Hunt
It’s taken four decades, but my struggle might be over soon, too. That’ll probably nicely coincide with the end of my fighting career. I’ll be surfing that wave right onto the beach.
When I do finish fighting, I’m not going to be one of those guys still in the gym, pounding protein shakes and beating up the twenty-something tough guys. When I’m done, I’m going to be done.
I’m going to be a dad. I’m going to eat what my kids eat. I’m going to be large, unfit and with a smile on my face that you can’t budge with a jackhammer. Yeah, my days of making 120 kilograms are numbered.
I remember when I was a little kid I used to cry sometimes when Mum and Dad were out in the car eating their dinner, because that meant there wasn’t any for us. Victoria would sometimes console me by telling me that one day there would be a time in my life when I would eat as much as I wanted, and different things every day. I couldn’t quite believe her then, but I used to fantasise about her being right. Now I live that fantasy.
If my UFC career finishes because I can’t make weight anymore, that’d be a happy ending. I still reckon I’ve got a few weight cuts left in me, though. I’ll learn from that Adelaide fight. There’s still some fight left in this old warhorse.
I just saw Fab beat up and then submit Cain in Mexico City. Things are pretty open at the top of the heavyweight division. He’s the new champ, Fab – two for two at altitude. He beat me fair and square, but on another day …
I look at Werdum and I know I could take him out. It’d require a little work to get into the kind of shape I’d need to be in for one last run, but I feel like, at the end of the race, I still have a bit of a sprint in me.
People have counted me out before so there’s no reason they wouldn’t count me out now, but if the UFC sends me a bloke with two arms and two legs, I’ll back myself.
I know I have a long, happy life ahead of me after fighting, so I reckon I’m good for a little bit more hard work, a little bit more pain.
I’m almost done, but not yet. Let’s see what you’ve got for me, Dana.
Gummon.
Gummon.
If you would like to find out more about Mark Hunt you can follow him on Facebook or Twitter:
Twitter.com/markhunt1974
Facebook.com/therealmarkhunt
You can also check out Mark’s Juggernaut apparel and fight gear on Facebook or the website:
www.jugnt.com
My father and mother moved from Samoa to Auckland in 1965. This is one of the only family photos I have and if you’ve read the book you will understand why. When I was born in 1974 I had an older sister, Victoria (far right) and two older brothers, Steve (bottom left) and John (bottom right). That’s me on my mother’s lap. The photo looks serene but ours was a house of hunger and abuse. As I grew up, I didn’t love school but I did like playing rugby league for the Mangere East Hawks 1989 under-sixteen team (I am third row, second from left). Any chance of making the Junior Kiwi team disappeared when they found out I’d been in prison.
I won my first K-1 Oceania title in Melbourne in 2000. Lucy Tui (bottom left), my first manager, was the most ecstatic at the result. Alex Tui (bottom, second from right) and Tokoa Mervin were also there. It was only a few years since I’d unknowingly turned professional (top left) and started mixing with fighters like Peter Graham (top right) and now I was heading off to fight in Japan. (Courtesy of Lucy Tui)
Sometime in 2001 the Japanese adopted me as one of their dudes. It all started after a fight with Ray Sefo, the undisputed king of the region, and the love affair hasn’t ended yet. My 2001 K-1 Grand Prix win led to McDonald’s commercials and presenting at the Japanese MTV Music Awards.
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In 1999 I fought Chris Chrisopoulides. I may have lost the first five rounds but I kept getting back up and knocked Chris out in the sixth round. From back then to now, I never give up.
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In UFC 135 in 2011 I went up against Ben Rothwell in Denver, USA. Rothwell was a fighter, an athlete and a talent, and I got over him through sheer bloody hard work.
Dutch fighter Stefan Struve is a full foot taller than me. On 3 March 2013 in Saitama, Japan, I literally had to jump up with my left hooks to hit him in the face, but I did manage to land a few good ones. I won the fight and Stefan later tweeted an X-ray that showed a jaw so broken you could put your little finger through it.
After the Struve fight, the UFC asked if I’d fill in and fight Junior dos Santos, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. They only had to ask me once. I thought about the legendary battles that had taken place there – Tyson versus Holyfield, De La Hoya versus Mayweather, Pacquiao versus Hatton, now Mark Hunt against Junior dos Santos. The surrealism reached its peak when I met Tyson at the weigh-in and saw him in the crowd.
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My fight in Brisbane on 7 December 2013 against Antônio ‘Big Foot’ Silva was epic. When I finished the third round I felt heat in both hands. I had three possibly broken limbs, a cut-up face – my blond hair had turned pink – and there was one more round to go. The fight ended in a majority draw but Dana White tweeted, ‘Both Hunt and Silva win FON [Fight of the Night] and both get their win bonus and I might buy them both their own private ISLANDS!!!! Sickest HW fight ever!!!’ I’m still waiting on that island.
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Getting pumped before my fight against Roy Nelson in Japan on 20 September 2014. Roy was the one man in the UFC who made me look svelte.
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He’s a big bloke, Fabrício Werdum, tall and experienced. I didn’t have much time to prepare for UFC 180 in Mexico City on 15 November 2014. Some people were saying I wouldn’t be able to hit him. I was too short, and Fab was too good. I was too old, too fat. I took the first round of that fight, but I got knocked out in the second. Clean. Well done, Fab, you got me good.
I love being a dad and I love being a husband. Home is where my life happens now. I never thought I’d find a place where I could be more comfortable than in a ring, standing across from a man with his fists raised, but I’m slowly making my way to other people’s version of normal life. I look at these little smiling kids of mine and I look at my wife and I know I am living a good life.
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Copyright
Published in Australia and New Zealand in 2015
by Hachette Australia
(an imprint of Hachette Australia Pty Limited)
Level 17, 207 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000
www.hachette.com.au
Copyright © Mark Hunt 2015
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be stored or reproduced by any process without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
978 0 7336 3462 8
978 0 7336 3461 1 (ebook edition)
Cover design by Christabella Designs
Cover images courtesy of Getty Images
