Mark Hunt

[RedHawk]

He's a newcomer to the sport of MMA. How do you think he's doing so far?


In his fight against Yoshida (although he lost) I thought he did very well. He had a serious size advantage over Yoshida. We all guessed that Yoshida would pull off the armbar. But Hunt made Yoshida work to get it!


In his fight against Bobish, I still think he did OK. Dan is a big, strong guy. He's got some good wrestling skills. Being held down by Dan Bobish is really nothing to be ashamed about. I was hoping to see a better developed ground game from Mark Hunt.

Mark got lucky that Bobish gassed. Dan was putting a beating down on Mark's head. If that continued much longer, there could have been a stoppage.


Mark has a ton of potential in MMA. He's got a great chin and good endurance. I say he should use the "go 4 what u know" technique. Sure work like crazy on his ground skills. But when the fight begins, MAKE YOUR STRIKES COUNT. He's a world class striker, yet in 2 MMA fights, he's yet to land a memorable shot.


I know he's worried about being taken down. This is why he hasn't opened up. His sprawl wasn't too bad for a big guy. I believe if he works on his sprawl and is more aggressive with his strikes, he will have greater success in MMA.


What do you think about Mark Hunt's MMA skills?

[( o Y o )]

I think Bobish may disagree about Hunt not landing a memorable shot. Maybe not a photogenic one, but he cut Dan open with a nice uppercut.

Overall I think he has done very respectably. If he gets to fight someone about his size and a similar style, he'll shine, and I think with him confidence is a huge factor to how he performs...meaning he needs a decent win or two under the belt before taking on the big guys.

I think if he were still around, Big Daddy would have been the perfect match up for Hunt. Someone that'll bang and not is not to slick on the ground.

[RedHawk]

I think Bobish may disagree about Hunt not landing a memorable shot. Maybe not a photogenic one, but he cut Dan open with a nice uppercut.


Yes, that was a good shot. I forgot about that one. Also the liver kick wasn't bad. I guess I'm trying to compare Hunt's arrival to MMA to Mirko's and that's just apples and oranges. :-)


But in Hunt's defense, he has been fighting better competition. But I'm still waiting for that one shot KO.

[( o Y o )]

But in Hunt's defense, he has been fighting better competition. But I'm still waiting for that one shot KO.

See, thats where I'm coming from here too.

Mirko fught some tough guys, but he also got some comfortable fights against B and C guys while getting used to MMA. THATS what I think Hunt needs too.

Debut against a Gold Medalist and next fight against experienced fighter that outweights him by 100lb. Not the easiest way to start a new career.

I know what you mean though,......I'm really waiting for him to connect a big one. It could well happen against Tamura too....though it could cause some serious damage against such a small guy if it lands flush.

[Arne]

Well...
if you look at Hunt in K-1...
you can see that he has good punches... but one of his favorites is a Knee..
he has good tech but... usualy in k-1 he was fighting bigger guys...
so.. we may get to see the knee..
and he looks in way better shape then I have seen him in for a long time..

[Raziel]

What about the rumors of him replacing Saku against Silva in NYE? That would be something to see, at least more interesting than a japanese can.

[brazilianshiva]

Silva x Hunt would be a sweet match up.
As a side note, the japaneses who are considered as replacement of Saku are Kikuta and TK up to now, both of them are not in the can division.

[( o Y o )]

Hunt is/was supposed to be injured.

[brazilianshiva]

It seems Wand x Hunt is going down. Do you have more information on Hunt's injuries ( o Y o )?

[( o Y o )]

Unfortunately nothing now, but I should be able to have something with 24 hours and will let you know then.

[Dormath]

you figure if hunt was fighting Wandy he would already be in japan NO

[Arne]

Pic of them both..
dont know how old...picked it up at IL

[Titan]

It's from today:

http://forum.kakutougi.info/showthread.php?t=412

[Dormath]

Hunt looks very good for a MMA newbie vs Silva so i think he is progresssing very well and will be a force with time to come

[Grant Ellis]

He looked good, but he has miles to go before he is a complete MMA fighter.

He has the talent, but what he needs to do now is rest and heal, then get back in the gym and continue his ground training.

In two years we won't just see him avoiding the takedown, we'll see him taking other people down. TKO's.

[-=[DM]=-]

I think Hunt looks very promising, my only concern is that Pride and Hunt's management will build him up slowly and not throw him to the wolves to early.

While Hunt and Mirko has nothing in common besides being former k-1 fightes it is tempting to compare Hunt's mma performance this far with Mirko's while he had as many fight under his belt that Hunt has now.

Hunt has faced Yoshida, Bobish and Silva in his first three fights while Mirko fought Fujita, Nagata and Takada. Mirko's first win against Fujita was impressive even though Fujita at that time only was a big takedown and Hunt vs Bobish could easily have ended in the same fashion after that big knee in the begining of the fight.

Hunt did a lot better against Silva than Mirko, he was willing to engage standing up and didn't seem afraid of the ground (even though he probably would ended the fight by KO if he hadn't dived into silva's guard when he had him rocked). Silva's was able to take both mirko and hunt down at will so I would say that their takedown defence was pretty similar at this point with a slight edge to mirko.

If Hunt will evolve at the same rate as Mirko who can imagine where he will be at after a couple of year.

His next couple of fights should be mediocre submission fighters or wrestlers with little or none submission ability, I think either rulon gardner or Coleman would be good next fights for Hunt, and then upping the challenge with somone like Karithonov.

[Grant Ellis]

I don't think Coleman would be a very good opponent choice for Hunt if they want to build him up.

Coleman hasn't gassed out since 1996.
He would take Hunt down easier than Silva did, but he wouldn't try submissions, and he would not be able to be forced off.

Coleman would be 250 pounds of Olympic wrestler on top of Hunt, not 217 pounds of Thai boxer.

However, Coleman's partner, Kevin Randleman, would be a good choice.

[-=[DM]=-]

I don't think Coleman would be a very good opponent choice for Hunt if they want to build him up.


When I mentioned Coleman I though of an opponant that presented a challenge and would force Hunt to really improve his takedown defence. It is important for Hunt to not only fight bums but people that presents a reasonable challenge and will give Hunt valuable experience.

And Coleman has been beaten by kickboxers before so I think Hunt would have a decent chance. Mirko has been talking lately that he wants to fight Coleman, but I would much rather see Coleman vs Hunt because it would be a more competetive fight which both fighters has a chance to win and their career will benefit from the win.

However, Coleman's partner, Kevin Randleman, would be a good choice.
I don't know about that, for Hunt it would be great but I would rather see Randleman fight some easier opponants and get on a winning streak after his latest losses.

[Amron]

i just would like to know how mirkos 'win' against Fujita was impressive??!! he got the win from a cut, Fujita not being out for one second, if the fight would have gotten on, cro would have been eaten alive on the ground by Fujita.

Yeah, the knee was spectacular as hell, but it wasnt a knockdown...

[-=[DM]=-]

i just would like to know how mirkos 'win' against Fujita was impressive??!! he got the win from a cut

A cut is a win to, Fujita wasn't able to continue the fight with that cut regardless of how much he wanted to. And landing a fight ending knee like that in your first mma fight is impressive to me.

And I don't know if Fujita would have eaten crocop alive on the ground. Look at Fujita's fight with Yvel, there wasn't much eating going on there if you don't consider laying on your opponant as eating.

[Grant Ellis]

Fujita passed out as soon as he got into the locker room.

[Amron]

iam not saying it wasnt a win...i just dont consider it as an impressive one...back then Crocops groundgame was more or less inexistent, Fujita would have ate Crocop like he ate Sapp

[mega_man]

He will do just fine imo.

[-=[DM]=-]

iam not saying it wasnt a win...i just dont consider it as an impressive one

you consider it a win, but rendering fujita incapable of continuing the fight in under a minute in your first mma outing isn't an impressive one? Many people had Fujita in their top 10 HW list at that time with wins over mark kerr, ken shamrock and Gilbert Yvel. If a win like that in a couple of seconds in your first mma fight isn't impressive, I would like to know what kindo a win is impressive?

Fujita would have ate Crocop like he ate Sapp

would, could, should.. doesn't matter, all that matters is what actually happens in the fight. And Fujita wasn't much of a finisher back then.

[KicknPunch]

I would say Hunts fight against Silva was considerably more impressive that Mirco vs Fujita II.

Now THAT was a pretty boring fight. Other than all the background and info they showed about Brain Johnson.