Fresh off another walk-off KO win, UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt wants to fight a top-5 opponent next, and he’s willing to step in as a last-minute replacement in the interim.
In 2010, Mark Hunt (12-10-1) had a below .500 MMA record and a submission loss to Sean McCorkle in his UFC debut. Today, he stands as the #8 ranked UFC heavyweight contender, having knocked out former UFC title challenger Antonio Silva and former UFC champion Frank Mir in his last two fights. Where does Hunt go from here? Better put, who does Hunt want to fight? In an interview with The MMA Hour, Hunt didn’t specify any singular fighter, but he does want someone highly ranked.
“Any of them is fine,” Hunt said. “Any of the top-five guys would be fine.”
The current UFC heavyweight rankings (aside from Fabricio Werdum as champion) consists of Cain Velasquez, Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, and Junior dos Santos. Of those 5 fighters, Hunt has faced 4 of them, losing to Miocic, Overeem, and JDS, and winning against Rothwell. All of those top-ranked guys are booked for other bouts, but just in case something happens to any of them, Hunt is ready to step in on a moment’s notice.
“If someone pulls out, I’d rather fight sooner,” Hunt said. “So if someone pulls out, I’m your man. Give me a call.”
This isn’t anything new from Hunt, of course. He took on Werdum on less than a month’s notice for the interim HW title after Cain Velasquez withdrew due to injury. Ditto for his fight against dos Santos in 2013, which was supposed to be JDS vs. Overeem before an Overeem injury nixed that bout. Hunt lost both times but performed quite amicably in defeat.
In the meantime, it’s a waiting game for “The Super Samoan” as the division sorts itself out over a pivotal next several UFC events.