Heavyweight Mark Hunt, who has an ongoing lawsuit against UFC, expects Saturday’s bout to be his last with the promotion.
Hunt (13-13-1) will face Justin Willis at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Adelaide, Australia, in what is the final fight of his UFC contract. According to Hunt, neither side has brought up the possibility of an extension — even though the 44-year-old has no plans to retire this weekend.
“There was no conversation about that, and there won’t be any conversation about that,” Hunt told ESPN. “I’m not for it, and neither are they. I’m good with it. I’ve made peace with it.”
Saturday will mark the end of an awkward two-year relationship between fighter and promoter. As one might expect, Hunt has not particularly enjoyed the latest chapter of his career.
In January 2017, Hunt filed a civil lawsuit against UFC, president Dana White and Brock Lesnar, accusing them of knowingly allowing Lesnar to dope before facing Hunt in July 2016. The lawsuit is still playing out in Nevada court.
Since filing the suit, Hunt has gone 1-3 in the Octagon. His prefight interviews have centered almost exclusively around criticizing the anti-doping efforts and punishments in mixed martial arts. Although every case was different, seven of the 16 opponents Hunt has faced in his UFC career have failed a drug test at one point in their respective careers.
“I haven’t enjoyed fighting this last year,” Hunt said. “The sport’s been diminished, taken away. It’s been that way for a while now. It kind of sucks to be honest, but what can I do?
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy fighting. I don’t enjoy the circumstances around fighting. I love fighting. Fighting has been a part of my life for my entire existence. There is nothing wrong with fighting, but when you’re fighting an uphill battle on an uneven playing field, that’s what I don’t like.”
UFC has a different view on the situation. UFC is the only MMA promotion to invest in a multimillion dollar drug testing program. Despite the active lawsuit, UFC has seemingly booked Hunt into appropriate matchups, and he is one of the higher-paid athletes on the roster.
Hunt said he intends to fight at least five more times but doesn’t know for what promotion.
UFC originally acquired Hunt’s contract when it bought out Pride Fighting Championship in 2007 and initially wanted to buy Hunt out rather than book him fights.
Hunt refused to be bought out and went on to become a perennial top-10 heavyweight in the company.
“There was a lot of pride, being one of the elite fighters in the world, in the best promotion in the world,” Hunt said. “That’s what I was proud of. To be called a UFC fighter, that was important. It doesn’t carry much weight these days, with all the cheaters running around. It’s not legitimate.
“I was an unwanted fighter, and I had to prove myself to be in the best crew of fighters in the world. It was the best click in the world.”