Mark Hunt

Mark Hunt (born 23 March 1974) is a New Zealand former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer.

In the beginning of his career, Hunt was used by the promoters as a stepping stone for their up-and-coming fighters, taking up fights at short notice, until Tarik Solak promoted K-1 Oceania tournament in February 2000.

With a record of (15–4, 3 KO's) Hunt entered his first K-1 tournament as a heavy underdog.

He won the K-1 Oceania title by knocking out "The Coconut Crusher" Aumitagi in quarter finals, Rony Sefo in semis and Phil Fagan in the finals.

After this he was invited to Japan for K-1 qualifications.

He lost his first international fight by unanimous decision against Jérôme Le Banner.

In 2001, Hunt returned to K-1 by winning the K-1 Oceania tournament for the second consecutive year.

After that he took part of K-1 World GP 2001 in Melbourne, where he beat Japanese boxer Hiromi Amada, before suffering a close unanimous decision loss to reigning champion Ernesto Hoost.

However, because of his exciting fighting style Hunt was granted a wildcard spot in the repercharge tournament for the K-1 World GP 2001 Finals, when Mirko Cro Cop had to pull out due to injury.

He was drawn against Ray Sefo, who won the bout by outpointing Hunt.

After the fight however, Sefo suffered an eye injury and was not able to continue, allowing Hunt to proceed in his place.

Hunt then TKO'd Adam Watt to earn his place in the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals at the Tokyo Dome.

During the matchmaking for the K-1 Finals, Hunt surprised the crowd by choosing Jérôme Le Banner, whom he had just lost in the previous year, as his quarterfinal opponent.

Hunt won the rematch by knocking out Le Banner in the second round and advanced himself onto the semi-finals facing Stefan Leko.

Hunt knocked down Leko two times in the first round and went on to win the fight by unanimous decision.

The stage was set for the final battle against Brazilian Kyokushin karate champion Francisco Filho.

In the final Hunt defeated Filho by unanimous decision to become the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 champion.

In 2002, Hunt went to Paris to fight Le Banner again for the third time what turned out to be one of the biggest battles in K-1 history.

Le Banner, fighting in front of his hometown audience, knocked down Hunt in the second round but was in turn knocked down himself a few seconds later.

In the final moments of the round, Hunt was knocked down for the second time again by the powerful Frenchman.

In between rounds the towel was thrown in as Hunt could not continue.

On 17 December 2002, Mark Hunt returned to defend his K-1 World Grand Prix Championship.

In quarter finals, entering the third round and behind on all scorecards, Mark was able to connect with a right cross that knocked out Stefan Leko and advanced him to the semi-finals against his career long nemesis Jerome Le Banner.

Despite knocking down the Frenchman at the end of the third round, Hunt lost the fight by decision.

It would to be his last K-1 World Grand Prix appearance.

In April 2008, FEG announced Hunt's return to K-1 and nominated him as the challenger of K-1 Super Heavyweight Championship held by Semmy Schilt.

The match was held on 13 April 2008, in Yokohama, Japan at the K-1 World GP 2008 in Yokohama.

Hunt lost the fight at the end of the first round by spinning back kick to the body.

Hunt's mixed martial arts career saw him fight in events in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships.

His first MMA fight was a submission loss to Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist in judo.

In his second fight, he defeated American wrestler Dan Bobish by TKO.

Hunt stepped in as a late replacement for Sakuraba, and won a split decision against an outweighed PRIDE middleweight (205 lb) champion Wanderlei Silva.

Hunt competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) until 2018 and was the winner of the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix.

He is known as "King of Walk-Offs" due to his popularization of walking away and stopping attacks before the referee officially ends the match.

Hunt was born in South Auckland, into a large Samoan family, and was a troubled child eventually leading to two jail terms for violent offending.

He had no intention to be a professional fighter until a late night altercation outside a nightclub just after getting out of jail for the second time in Auckland changed the course of his life.

The brawl did not last long, and Hunt knocked out multiple people.

Sam Marsters, one of the bouncers at the door was impressed by the young man's knockout power and invited him to his gym to take up formal training, and a week later, Hunt won a Muay Thai kickboxing match via knockout.

Hunt received a six-pack of beer as a reward for the fight.

Later that year Hunt moved to Sydney, Australia (residing in Campbelltown), to train with Alex Tui, and few years later he settled in Liverpool Kickboxing Gym under Maori instructor Hape Ngaranoa.