Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva waged a pretty doggone memorable fight at UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Australia.
For five rounds, the two heavyweight behemoths dished out their best, most powerful strikes. Punches, low and high kicks, knees, elbows and even ground-and-pound—nothing was held back over 25 minutes. Both men were reeling, bleeding and exhausted down the home stretch, but neither gave an inch. It wasn’t a masterpiece from a technical standpoint, but it made for a very compelling fight because of the heart and unadulterated violence involved.
In the end, two of three judges had even scorecards (the other had it for Hunt). The result was a majority draw. While draws are typically a highly unsatisfying way to end a match, it made sense in this case, given the even nature of the match and the remarkable toughness displayed by both combatants.
Despite its crowd-pleasing nature, neither the fight nor its result probably held major implications for the top of the UFC heavyweight division. However, that probably would have been the case regardless of the outcome. Both men are solid UFC heavyweights, but they don’t appear to pose threats to the top competitors in the weight class.
The 39-year-old Hunt, a former professional kickboxer, is now 9-8-1 in pro MMA, including a 4-2-1 mark in the Octagon. In May of this year, Hunt suffered his second career knockout loss when Junior dos Santos put him down with a thunderous head kick.
The 34-year-old Silva is now 18-5-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the UFC. Both of those losses, however, came at the hands or reigning champion Cain Velasquez.
Not surprisingly to anyone involved, their effort at UFC Fight Night 33 netted Fight of the Night bonus honors. It was Silva’s second Fight Night bonus. For Hunt, it was his fourth bonus overall and third straight.
Missed the action? Here are some video highlights of the five-round battle, courtesy of our friends at Fox Sports.
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