Mark Hunt (now 8-7 with four wins by KO) and Cheick Kongo (now 17-7 with 10 KO wins) are two of the most powerful strikers ever in UFC history, and when they collide, someone’s got to fall.
And so it happened, one came crashing down to the canvas, utterly unable to recover immediately to return the favor on the same night of UFC 144 in Saitama, Japan.
Hunt hunted in the Kongo and returned speechless. Well, we can be certain that he himself was awed by his own devastating performance, but it also appeared he “ran out of words” during the post-fight interview with announcer Joe Rogan mainly because he’s just like that.
Here’s how the Super Samoan’s brief hunting foray went in the first and only round of his main card fight inside the Octagon last night.
The Frenchman scored the first significant strike with a low kick, then rushed the Samoan against the mesh wall. Hunt managed to reverse their position and Kongo broke free. Hunt attempted overhand rights while Kongo kept throwing leg kicks. A left hook landed on Kongo, followed up by a low kick. Then, Kongo fell down from Hunt’s counterpunch, but he was able to stand up again sans any follow-up attack from the Samoan. However, that was Kongo’s last chance to stand, literally and figuratively.
Next, Hunt cornered him against the fence and pounded on him with right hands till he slumped to the canvas, and Herb Dean mercifully stopped the fight and punishment at 2:11 of the first round.
Hunt now successfully notched his third straight UFC win. It would be interesting to see how he’ll fare with another heavy-handed fighter with whom he shares the same “chubby” build: Roy “Big Country” Nelson, who scored nine KO wins in his 16-7 MMA record. (We have to admit, though, that Nelson’s been working on it and getting sexier by the minute. See the emerging abs here, no?)
And, indeed, Hunt’s “a pretty strong person, ya know?“
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