Mark Hunt Landed A Huge Knockout At UFC 193

The original Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva fight will go down as one of the most entertaining heavyweight battles in all of mixed martial arts history let alone the UFC which tabbed the showdown as the main event of UFC Fight Night 33. Hunt also moved off his right in favor of sweeping left hooks that had Silva wobbled on numerous occasions.

The last time these two heavyweight sluggers met was in 2013, when both fighters went for a draw after five rounds of a blood bath bout. Unlike the first fight, which saw a combined 200 strikes landed, Saturday’s bout did not feature many back-and-forth exchanges. The 41-year-old admitted he is in the best shape of his fighting career after losing as much as 22 kilograms.

“It was pretty satisfying”, Hunt said of the win. “I’m fit as a fiddle”.

“I want to thank Mike Swick and AKA Thailand”, he said. It was hard, (and) that’s why I had to (make) a few changes.

“A fight is a fight and anything can happen”, he said, “but I’m sure we both will get inside the Octagon going for the win and the knockout all the time, like the first time”.

Hunt (10-10-1), a former K-1 Grand Prix champion, has scored a knockout victory over Roy Nelson, but the “Super Samoan” enters his second fight with Silva on the heels of two consecutive defeats against Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic. On the other side, Silva, 36, continues to struggle when it comes to taking punches. Ninety percent of the time, fight fans go nuts when judges can’t come up with a final verdict.

Noke, who hadn’t fought in the UFC for two years until May, put the welterweight win down to self belief. He tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone following the 2013 draw to Hunt and was forced to serve a nine-month suspension. Hunt, of New Zealand, received a nice pop from the Melbourne crowd.

Meanwhile, Auckland-born Australian Robert Whittaker (15-4) continued his rise up the UFC’s middleweight pecking order with a unanimous decision victory over Uriah Hall (12-6). Whittaker was originally supposed to fight Michael Bisping, who fell off the card due to injury.