TOKYO – Five months ago, heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Mark Hunt were sucking air together in the elevation of Denver.
Present for a training camp that concluded with Hunt’s meeting with Ben Rothwell and Quinton Jackson’s fight with champ Jon Jones, Kongo wasn’t particularly close to the New Zealand native in the weeks before UFC 135.
He was surprised, nonetheless, when the Kiwi came up as his next opponent at this weekend’s UFC 144 event. It didn’t occur that he might have to fight Hunt.