Mark Hunt

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Mark Hunt
Statistics
Real Name	Mark Hunt
Nickname	Super Samoan
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	Super heavyweight
Born	23 March 1974
Fighting out of	{{{home}}}
Town of birth	New Zealand
Fighting style	Kickboxing
Boxing Record
Total	42
Wins	29
By knockout	13
Losses	12
Draws	1
No contests

Mark Hunt (born March 23, 1974) is a kickboxer and mixed martial artist from New Zealand. He won the K-1 WORLD GP tournament in 2001 and was the first non-European kickboxer to do so. Mark Hunt is commonly said to have the best chin in mixed martial arts (MMA) and kickboxing, being unanimously voted as having the best chin in kickboxing by a panel of experts in International Kickboxer, with some panelists also citing fellow fighter of Samoan descent Ray Sefo.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Kickboxing career
- 1.2 Mixed martial arts career
2 Kickboxing record
3 See also
4 External links

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Biography

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Kickboxing career

Mark Hunt is relatively short for a heavyweight kickboxer, standing 5'10" (177 cm) tall and weighing 127 kg. He was first asked to compete in muay thai after bouncers witnessed him in a streetfight.

Mark Hunt began his career in K-1 by winning the 2000 Oceania qualifying tournament. As Oceania champion, he was invited to fight in Japan against the world elite for a chance to go on to the K-1 World Grand Prix. His first opponent was highly regarded French fighter, Jerome Le Banner, who decisively beat him in three rounds. Undeterred, Hunt returned to K-1 the following year, again winning the Oceania tournament. During the 2001 Melbourne tournament, he beat Japanese boxer Hiromi Amada but then lost a close points decision to then-champion Ernesto Hoost. However, because of his exciting style, Hunt was granted a wildcard spot in the repercharge tournament to be held at the end of the year, which would allow the two top fighters to go through to the World Grand Prix Finals. Hunt gained this spot after then-wildcard entry, Mirko Filipovic had to pull out due to injury. Once again, Hunt was drawn against another top fighter this time in New Zealand's Ray Sefo, who outpointed Hunt to win the bout. However, Sefo had injured his eye during the contest, so Hunt was allowed to progress in his place. He then TKOed Australian boxer Adam Watt to earn his place in the World Grand Prix Finals at the Tokyo Dome alongside Brazilian karate fighter, Francisco Filho.

During the matchmaking for the Finals, Hunt surprised the crowd in attendance by choosing the fighter whom many considered the most dangerous opponent in the tournament, Jerome Le Banner. Le Banner, whom Hunt had lost to the previous year, was the favorite going into the fight but Hunt again surprised the crowd by knocking out Le Banner in the second round to go onto the semi-final where he would face then-champion Ernesto Hoost. Hoost had to pull out with an injury sustained in his quarter-final match. Instead, German fighter Stephan Leko, whom Hoost had already beaten, was given the go-ahead to battle Hunt. Hunt knocked Leko down two times to take a unanimous decision victory. The stage was set for the final battle against Brazilian Kyokushin Karate champion Francisco Filho who had been the other fighter to qualify in the repercharge tournament alongside Hunt. In the final, Hunt defeated Filho by unanimous decision to become the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion.

In 2002, Hunt was outpointed by Croatian kickboxer, Mirko Filipović at the Nagoya Grand Prix event. He then went to Paris to fight Le Banner again in a highly anticipated match. Le Banner, fighting in front of his hometown audience, knocked down Hunt in the second round but was in turn knocked down a few seconds later. In the final moments of the round, Hunt was finally knocked down again by the powerful Frenchman. Between rounds the towel was thrown in as Hunt could not continue.

Hunt returned to defend the Grand Prix crown, beating highly regarded South African hard-hitter, Mike Bernardo in a unanimous decision. He was then matched against Stephan Leko in the quarter-final, who was eager to avenge his loss. It was not to be, however, as Hunt, (behind on all the scorecards going into the final round), suddenly hit Leko with a right cross that knocked the German fighter to the canvas and out of the fight. In the semi-finals Hunt again came up against his nemesis Le Banner, (who was already 2-1 going into the fight). Despite knocking the Frenchman down, Hunt was himself knocked down and outclassed. It was to be his last Grand Prix.

Hunt went on to have a final superfight in Las Vegas against Canadian fighter, Gary Goodridge. Although he gave a poor showing, (which he claimed was due to jetlag), he comfortably beat the Canadian on points.

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Mixed martial arts career

Hunt is currently competing in mixed martial arts events in PRIDE, and lives in Sydney. His first fight was a submission loss to Hidehiko Yoshida. In his second fight, he defeated American wrestler Daniel Bobish by TKO. In his next fight, he stunned the fighting world by defeating then-undefeated middle-weight world champion Wanderlei Silva. Silva, renowned for his brutal punching and Muay Thai clinch game, was neutralized by the hard hitting Samoan and knocked down several times in the fight, before going on to lose a contentious split decision. At the Shockwave 2005 event, Hunt defeated Mirko Filipovic via split decision, avenging his earlier loss to him in K-1. Also of note in his last fight, Cro Cop connected with several of his infamous left high kicks to Hunt's head; however where every other fighter had been knocked down or unconscious from the blow, Hunt appeared unharmed by them. At PRIDE 31 Unbreakable, Hunt defeated Yosuke Nishijima in the 3rd round. In an interview before the match, he humorously stated he had learned the flying armbar, a difficult move for a man of his size. Unsurprisingly he did not attempt the technique during the match, instead both fighters engaged in a striking battle.

Hunt's next fight was in PRIDE's 2006 Open Weight tournament on May 5, 2006. His first match at the Total Elimination Absolute event was against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, which he won by TKO in the second round.

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