Mark Hunt scored an impressive technical knockout of Derrick Lewis, who hinted toward potential retirement, Sunday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 110 at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand.
Derek Brunson, Dan Hooker and Ion Cutelaba, who all earned knockout victories, were the event’s other big winners. Ben Nguyen and Alexander Volkanovski also picked up wins on the main card, which only saw one fight go the distance.
Let’s check out the complete set of results from New Zealand. That’s followed by a closer look at the much-needed triumph by Hunt.
UFC Fight Night 110 Card Results
Main Card
Mark Hunt d. Derrick Lewis by fourth-round TKO
Derek Brunson d. Dan Kelly by first-round KO
Dan Hooker d. Ross Pearson by second-round KO
Ion Cutelaba d. Henrique da Silva by first-round KO
Ben Nguyen d. Tim Elliott by first-round submission
Alexander Volkanovski d. Mizuto Hirota by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Vinc Pichel d. Damien Brown by first-round KO
Luke Jumeau d. Dominique Steele by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
John Moraga d. Ashkan Mokhtarian by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 30-27)
Zak Ottow d. Kiichi Kunimoto by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
JJ Aldrich d. Chan-Mi Jeon by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Main Event Recap
Hunt faced a lot of pressure heading into Sunday’s bout. Not only was he coming off a loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 209, his third defeat in his past six trips to the Octagon, but he received the opportunity to fight professionally in front of his hometown fans in Auckland for the first time.
It never turned into the hard-hitting, quick-ending battle most expected. Instead, the 43-year-old veteran known as the Super Samoan controlled a vast majority of the action against Lewis, who struggled to keep pace physically in the heavyweight clash.
Finally, after a sustained stretch of one-way offense by Hunt in the fourth round, the referee stepped into to prevent the New Orleans native from suffering any unnecessary injuries as his offensive forays had become few and far between in the latter stages.
FOX Sports UFC highlighted the fight’s final moments:
Former UFC star Kenny Florian provided his take on the bout:
Although the highly anticipated collision didn’t live up to expectations, it was still named Fight of the Night to earn both fighters an additional $50,000, per MMA Fighting.
Afterward, Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie passed along comments from Hunt about the emphatic triumph and what he’s got planned for the future.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” he said. “I know Derrick Lewis is from the ‘hood, but this is my ‘hood. I run this town.”
Hunt added: “Anybody above me is good. I stepped down for Derrick because he was No. 6, but anyone above me, I’ll take. I’ve only got a few more fights left, so for me, if it ended here tonight, so be it. I’ve had a good run. I’ve had a lot of fun, traveled the world. But it looks like it’s still continuing.”
Meanwhile, Lewis admitted he could be done with MMA as he gets prepared to take a major step in his personal life following the loss, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.
“I’m getting married next week and I don’t want to keep putting my family through this,” Lewis said. “… Most likely, this will be my last fight in the UFC.”
If he does walk away from the Octagon for good, he’ll finish his career with a 18-5 record, including 16 knockout wins and one no-contest. Sunday’s loss ended a six-fight winning streak.
Hunt improved to 13-11-1 with one no-contest thanks to the win, which was his 10th knockout victory.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see whether Hunt is given a chance to slow the momentum of Francis Ngannou. The Predator is coming off three straight first-round wins, two by knockout and one by submission, to move himself toward the heavyweight title conversation.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com