Mark Hunt has become a legendary figure in the mixed martial arts world for his toughness.
Saturday night, the 41-year-old Samoan proved to be too tough for his own good.
Hunt absorbed a brutal beating from Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC Fight Night 65 in Adelaide, Australia.
Miocic (13-2) set a UFC record in landing 361 strikes, and outstruck Hunt 361-46, but referee John Sharp inexplicably let Hunt continue far longer than necessary before finally waving off the fight at 2:47 of the final round.
Miocic set the tone for the fight over the first two rounds, as he picked his spots in the standup while also respecting Hunt’s knockout power. Tellingly, Miocic established early that he could take Hunt down at will and then wear him down on the mat.
By round three, Hunt was completely gassed. Miocic took him down early and rained down uncontested punches for the bulk of the round, while Sharp watched on.
Round four was a repeat of round three. After the fourth, the cageside doctor checked out Hunt’s battered face and cleared him to continue; Hunt’s corner opted to send him back out and take more damage.
Finally, after a few more minutes of uncontested carnage on the ground, Sharpe waved things off.
“He was telling me he was going to knock me out, so why not take him out of his own game,” Miocic said of his takedown strategy.
Miocic rebounded from his December decision loss to Junior dos Santos and won for the fourth time in his past five fights. Hunt (10-10-1) dropped to 1-3-1 in his past five fights.
In the co-feature, New Zealand’s Robert Whittaker electrified the crowd with a 44-second finish of Brad Tavares (13-3). Lays on him for half the round. Trying to get up but so gassed.
The TUF: Smashes welterweight winner, who now competes at middleweight, tagged Tavares with a left hook in the fight’s first big exchange. The impact sent Tavares to the mat, but he popped right back up. Tavares then was met with another left hook and went right back to the mat. This time, Whittaker pounced and landed a right hand which stiffened Tavares and ended the fight. It was the second stoppage loss of Tavares’ career.
“Everyone knows I have power,” said Whittaker, who is 2-0 since bumping up to 185. “It’s just a matter of landing it. If you get caught, you’re just unlucky.”
In a light heavyweight bout, Utah’s Sean O’Connell made short work of veteran Australian Anthony Perosh. O’Connell landed a couple solid shots at the outset, then swarmed the 42-year old and unleashed a flurry. Perosh was out on his feet against the fence when the referee stepped in and stopped the bout at 56 seconds.
“Anthony’s a very tough guy,” O’Connell (17-6) said. “If you want to beat him, you have to finish him. I knew I was going to have to finish him. I was fortunate enough to get him with a couple hard ones and finish it earlier. I just punch them ’til they fall down, man. That’s the goal out there.”
O’Connell won his second consecutive bout, while Perosh (15-9) lost for the second time in his past three.
The main-card opener was a battle of unbeaten lightweights which was won by the less hyped of the two.
Texan James Vick (8-0) stunned the crowd by turning up the heat and finishing Australian up-and-comer Jake Matthews, finishing the 20 year-old with a guillotine choke at 4:53 of the first round.
Matthews (8-1) came out strong in the opening round, tagging Vick with a couple big right hands and landing a big slam. Late in the round, though, Vick nailed Matthews with a running knee. Seconds later, he sunk in the guillotine choke for the finish in the round’s closing seconds.
“That kid is tough, super explosive,” said Vick, who improved to 4-0 in the UFC. “I had to weather a storm, I knew I had good cardio, I kicked it in another gear. I think I rocked him with the knee. We’d been timing that because I know he was going to try to catch the low kick, so we switched it up and went with the knee up the middle.”
New Zealand featherweight Dan Hooker (11-5) put a memorable cap on the undercard with a knockout of Japan’s Hatsu Hioki.
Hioki (27-9-2) physically dominated Hooker for much of the fight. Late in the second round, though, Hooker turned things up in the standup and landed a head kick which caused Hioki to faceplant to the mat. The time of the finish was 4:13.
Hioki has now dropped five of his past six; while Hooker scored his 10th finish among his 11 career wins.
Team Quest middleweight Sam Alvey continues to make a name for himself for both his actions in the cage and his mouth out of it.
Alvey made short work of Australian Dan Kelly, using a pair of right hooks to score a 49-second knockout. Then he called out cocky Canadian Elias Theodorou and challenged him to put up his locks.
“Elias Theodorou, I’m going to knock you out,” said Alvey (26-6), who has scored three straight KO wins. “He brags about his hair, I’ll tell you what, if you beat me, I’ll shave my head, and if I win, you shave yours.”
A pair of strawweight fighters from Australia gave the crowd something to cheer on the undercard, as they both went home with submission wins.
First, Sydney’s Alex Chambers (5-2) rallied for a thrilling victory over Kailin Curran. After coming out on the wrong end of the first two rounds, Chambers knew she needed a finish, and spent the final round hunting for submissions. She got it at the 3:15 mark with an armbar.
Then “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings (10-4) got back in the win column with a first round finish of Lisa Ellis. Rawlings dominated the round before she used a rear-naked choke for the finish at 4:09. The Brisbane resident snapped a two-fight losing streak.