On paper, Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson resembles a heavyweight death match between an armed nuclear warhead and The Hulk.
With chins made from an outer-space, extraterrestrial metal, Hunt and Nelson each hold the ingredients to combine for one of the …
On paper, Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson resembles a heavyweight death match between an armed nuclear warhead and The Hulk.
With chins made from an outer-space, extraterrestrial metal, Hunt and Nelson each hold the ingredients to combine for one of the best heavyweight tilts we’ve ever seen.
As each knockout artist comes into UFC Fight Night 52 this Saturday securely positioned within the division’s top 10, the victor may very well reap the spoils. A decisive finish for Hunt or Nelson could propel either fighter close to title contention.
Here is a head-to-toe breakdown to get you ready for one of the more anticipated slugfests in recent memory.
They always say you can’t go home.
Unfortunately for Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, he was the case study for such a fact Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 51.
The native of Brasilia, Brazil, returned to his hometown as a headliner against Andrei Arlovski an…
They always say you can’t go home.
Unfortunately for Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, he was the case study for such a fact Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 51.
The native of Brasilia, Brazil, returned to his hometown as a headliner against Andrei Arlovski and spent a few minutes looking lethargic before being violently knocked out by the Belarusian.
It’s a crushing loss for Silva, who has been on the fringe of the heavyweight super-elite basically since his UFC run began but is now not likely to reach such heights again.
34 years old, coming off of a suspension for testosterone and at 0-2-1 in his last three, it could be time for a late reset on his career. Here are three guys who could offer that reset.
StipeMiocic
After being booked with Junior dos Santos, who pulled out with an injury, Miocic made a pay cheque by wailing on the fearless but overmatched Fabio Maldonado in May.
Miocic is a hot property at heavyweight these days, coming into his own with a blend of mean spirits, good wrestling and impressive boxing. He’s ranked in the Top Five (and will probably move up now thanks to Silva’s loss) and could use a veteran scalp to shoot him into title talk.
Silva might have something to say about that, so lock them in the cage and let them work it out.
Josh Barnett
Barnett has been on the sidelines since a loss in December to Travis Browne, but he recently won a grappling match against Dean Lister at Metamoris and looks like he’s probably primed to get back in the cage soon.
If he is, a battle with Bigfoot would be fairly appealing, as both men are absolute animals with skill sets that match up nicely.
Bigfoot probably has more straight-up knockout power on the feet, but Barnett is a better grappler and is more dangerous there with strikes. Both are veterans of the game, perennial contenders everywhere they’ve ever fought, and it could be a fight to hammer out which one will remain relevant and which will become fodder for up-and-comers going forward.
Plenty to like here.
Mark Hunt/Roy Nelson Loser
Who wouldn’t want to see Silva in there with either of these guys?
His first bout with Hunt was a draw turned to a no-contest in late 2013 and was one of the greatest fights in the history of heavyweight MMA combat. The two beat each other from pillar to post for 25 minutes, producing (and absorbing) a bewildering amount of violence in that time. Doing it again would make everyone happy.
And if you couldn’t get Hunt? Well, is there anyone closer than Roy Nelson?
Nelson has the same heavy hands as Hunt only with a better understanding of grappling and how to execute it. That said, it’s been a long time since ol‘ Roy tried to put someone away with anything other than his vicious overhand right, so there’s a good chance he and Silva would put on a show.
It almost doesn’t matter who wins or loses next weekend in Japan. The fans would come out on top either way.
(Once again, our reaction to this news can be summed up thusly.)
When I was 8 years old, I got lost in the woods for two days while playing hide and go seek with my cousins. I did not eat for some 34 hours, and only survived thanks to a blackberry bush I stumbled upon on night 2, the water from a nearby creek (which in turn gave me beaver fever), and the coyote-poking stick I fashioned out of a regular stick. When the cops found me, I was apparently asking a willow tree for directions to Pallet Town while urinating on myself, my sustenance-deprived mind on the brink of total collapse.
The point is, starvation can have a wide variety of effects on the brain to differing degrees of amusement. Take Mark Hunt, for instance, who dropped a bomb on the MMA world last week when he tweeted that he had been fired by the UFC for no apparent reason (other than a potential “bailed hug rest” as I speculated). The thing was, Hunt hadn’t been fired, as Dana White quickly confirmed via a series of curse words and insults to other people’s intelligence.
So why the ruse then? Was Hunt trolling us? In the depths of an ether binge, maybe? Nope, it turns out that The Super Samoan was just…hungry.
“Looking forward to japan sept 20 troops sorry about unemployment tweet I was hungry no carbs,” Hunt tweeted in attempt to clear up the confusion.
(Once again, our reaction to this news can be summed up thusly.)
When I was 8 years old, I got lost in the woods for two days while playing hide and go seek with my cousins. I did not eat for some 34 hours, and only survived thanks to a blackberry bush I stumbled upon on night 2, the water from a nearby creek (which in turn gave me beaver fever), and the coyote-poking stick I fashioned out of a regular stick. When the cops found me, I was apparently asking a willow tree for directions to Pallet Town while urinating on myself, my sustenance-deprived mind on the brink of total collapse.
The point is, starvation can have a wide variety of effects on the brain to differing degrees of amusement. Take Mark Hunt, for instance, who dropped a bomb on the MMA world last week when he tweeted that he had been fired by the UFC for no apparent reason (other than a potential “bailed hug rest” as I speculated). The thing was, Hunt hadn’t been fired, as Dana White quickly confirmed via a series of curse words and insults to other people’s intelligence.
So why the ruse then? Was Hunt trolling us? In the depths of an ether binge, maybe? Nope, it turns out that The Super Samoan was just…hungry.
“Looking forward to japan sept 20 troops sorry about unemployment tweet I was hungry no carbs,” Hunt tweeted in attempt to clear up the confusion.
So there you have it, Nation. I guess. Blame Canada The Zone Diet.
That this tweet was followed by three straight tweets reading “[18+ VIDE0] You Will Never Use Garnier Products After Watching This Shocking Video” leads me to believe that Hunt either had his Twitter hacked or is elaborately trolling his followers in some sort of Kaufman-esque experiment. Or he’s been lost in the Australian wilderness for the past few days and is completely losing his sh*t. Yeah, it’s probably that. In that case, REMEMBER TO BOIL THE CREEK WATER BEFORE YOU DRINK IT, MARK.
Meanwhile, Hunt’s opponent on September 20th, Roy Nelson, just ate his third Mushroom & Swiss Burger of the day without a care in the world.
Hunger can create confusion, and apparently Mark Hunt’s empty stomach got the better of him.
On Tuesday morning, the heavy-handed knockout artist baffled the MMA community when he took to social media to announce that he was now unemployed. While the f…
Hunger can create confusion, and apparently Mark Hunt’s empty stomach got the better of him.
On Tuesday morning, the heavy-handed knockout artist baffled the MMA community when he took to social media to announcethat he was now unemployed. While the former K-1 champion did not specify what had inspired his tweet, he did post another message that referenced his fighting career and how the situation at hand was not of his choosing.
Hunt’s messages caused an immediate uproar across the MMA landscape, as they left the fanbase wondering if he had been cut from the UFC and his scheduled bout against Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 52 in Japan on Sept. 20 had been canceled. UFC President Dana White doused those fires quickly when he announced on social media that The Super Samoan had not been released by the organization.
Although White confirmed that Hunt’s employment status with the UFC was still very much intact, the true meaning to the former Pride veteran’s tweet remained a mystery. As a result, on Thursday, Hunt returned to Twitter to offer an explanation for the confusion caused by his previous messages.
While Hunt directly addressed the “unemployment” tweet, his motivation had nothing to do with the organization he competes for. As it turns out, a lack of carbs put the 40-year-old New Zealand native in a state of confusion, and his messages on Twitter apparently reflected that condition.
With Hunt’s situation cleared up, the attention will now swing to his upcoming showdown with Big Country on Sept. 20. The matchup will feature two of the premier knockout artists in the history of the heavyweight division and promises to be a highly anticipated affair.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
Whether you’re of the brand who only tunes in when Anderson Silva steps into the cage or the type that watches every single MMA event regardless of the shape of the cage, one thing is almost certain: most fight fans prefer their cage wars to be t…
Whether you’re of the brand who only tunes in when Anderson Silva steps into the cage or the type that watches every single MMA event regardless of the shape of the cage, one thing is almost certain: most fight fans prefer their cage wars to be the standup kind.
Most fans don’t want to see the LyotoMachida who picked his spots during the first three rounds in his title fight against Chris Weidman at UFC 175; they want to see the guy who threw caution to the wind in Rounds 4 and 5. They want the Machida who knew the only manner in which he could possibly walk out of the Octagon with Weidman’s gold would not come by way of an official’s objectivity, but by the most subjective method any ultimate fighter knows: the finish.
Really, there’s a reason most casual fans would rather watch any of the following fighters than sit through Demetrious Johnson’s next bout. For as undeniably skilled as Johnson is in every facet of the MMA game, he simply doesn’t have what it takes to captivate fans on a consistent basis.
Scroll on to see what fighters prefer to bite down on their mouthpiece and move forward than sit back and pick opponents apart.
They always say you can’t go home.
