Mark “The Super Samoan” Hunt is a very exciting fighter to watch, but he can’t be considered a serious threat to UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez or No. 1 contender, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos.
Hunt’s inability to compete with the latter was brutally proven on Saturday at UFC 160.
He is a one-trick pony with his heavy hands and solid chin. Cigano could have made Saturday night’s bout easier and more boring by taking Hunt to the mat and controlling him there.
Instead, he beat Hunt at his own game.
Hunt was up to the challenge, but clearly overmatched. Cigano knocked him down with a spinning heel kick and finished the job with a punishing lunge punch once his opponent hit the mat.
Couple this impressive and vicious finish with Velasquez’s dominant win in the main event and there is no doubt who the two best heavyweights in the world are.
If Hunt faced Velasquez, he would have a better chance in the stand up, but Velasquez would be insane not to take him to the mat and pound him out. The champion’s ground game is perhaps the best in the sport.
The only way Hunt would have a chance is if he could get Velasquez to fight his fight—that’s not a very good plan.
I believed Hunt was going to be outclassed by dos Santos all along, but now that the world has seen it, where does that leave Hunt?
On the outside looking in; and at 39 years old, that’s not a good place to be.
Hunt is short on time and he has no chance to beat either of the elite fighters in his weight class. Chances are, this was his last run as a serious contender for the title.
The Super Samoan is not alone. A few other losers from UFC 160 are in tough situations after failing to get it done on Saturday night.
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva
The big man from Brazil is in a position very similar to Hunt’s—only a little worse. Silva is only 33 years old, but he’s limited athletically and let’s be honest; he’ll never be better than he is right now.
Velasquez has made it painfully obvious, Silva’s best isn’t good enough.
After two straight beatings from Velasquez, who would buy Bigfoot in another title fight with with the champion. At least Hunt can say he was competitive; Silva looked like he should have been fighting in a Facebook preliminary match.
Could he have more luck against dos Santos? It is possible, but I doubt it.
Bigfoot is stuck in a role as a secondary fighter in the heavyweight division. Unfortunately for him, there is nothing he can do about it.
Gray “The Bully” Maynard
Maynard found the perfect opponent to make him look good in Frankie Edgar. Edgar and Maynard’s style combination made for a great two-fight rivalry.
However, the KO loss in the second fight with Edgar seemed to break the Bully. It was his first loss and obviously the first time he’d been knocked out—unless you count the time he DDT’d himself against Rob Emerson in 2007.
Maynard defeated Clay Guida by controversial split decision in June 2012, but he didn’t look the same as he did before the wars with Edgar.
Losing to TJ Grant is nothing to be embarrassed about. He is one of the fastest-rising fighters in the world. But the way he disposed of Maynard proved the Bully’s days as a player in the lightweight division are over.
Maynard seemed to get the stand-up battle he wanted against a fighter whose specialty is submissions. Yet, within 2:07, Maynard was stopped for the second time in his career.
At 34 years old, there is no realistic scenario where Maynard could compete with the likes of Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis.
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