UFC and Dana White obliterated by Mark Hunt in raged rant ahead of Sonny Bill Williams boxing bout
Mark Hunt lashed out at the UFC in a profanity-laced rant ahead of his upcoming heavyweight boxing match. The combat sports veteran will take on Sonny Bill Williams on November 5th at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Speaking on his personal experiences of dealing with the UFC, Hunt said at the pre-fight presser:
"In MMA and UFC, everyone that pays bucks to buy the UFC [pay-per-view] to support their fighters, whether it is Volkanovski or whoever, from this side of the world, they get whatever deal they made with Dana White. They don't get half of the pay-per-view."
Hunt further shed light on his history of competing with fighters who were heavily under the influence of banned substances:
"They gave me Overeem [after the Lesnar fight], the worst cheating guy. And I said again,' Put a clause in my contract.' They said,'No. If you don't take this fight, we're going to fire you. I said, 'How are you going to make a guy starve because of my stance on this unfair playing field?' So I said I'll take the fight and drop the lawsuit. That was seven years ago."
Joking that the UFC might find ways to silence him, Hunt added:
"If I don't make it back from Vegas from putting a boot, you know who did it. Those little c***suckers, pardon my French."
Watch the press conference below:
Mark Hunt has a long-standing legal dispute with the UFC top brass, which originated from his matchup with Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 in July 2016. Hunt lost the fight via unanimous decision, but the Nevada Athletic Commission later changed the verdict to a no-contest after learning that Lesnar had tested positive for clomiphene.
The Samoan-Australian mixed martial artist has lambasted the UFC for intentionally covering up the results of Lesnar’s drug tests. He additionally demanded that a zero payout clause for an opponent who tested positive for steroids be added to his contract.
Hunt's challenge took a major blow when the former UFC heavyweight contender was ordered to pay the premier MMA organization $388,235 in legal fees and costs by the United States District Court in Nevada. He called for a fight against Dana White and the Fertitta brothers after being compelled to pay the UFC around $400k in legal fees.
Mark Hunt compares the unfair pay disparity between Alexander Volkanovski and Canelo Alvarez
Following his upcoming boxing match against Sonny Bill Williams, Mark Hunt will travel to the US to explore alternatives to tackle the lawsuit and resolve the long-standing dispute with the UFC.
Instead of nipping the lawsuit in the bud, Hunt opted for litigation with the intention of bringing the UFC's unfair pay structure to the forefront.
Speaking with Jai-Marcus McAllister, Mark Hunt compared the pay structure between UFC's No.1 men's pound-for-pound fighter Alexander Volkanovski and boxing icon Canelo Alvarez:
"Canelo Alvarez get $45 million while Volkanovski is making chump change. How does that work? He's [Canelo] the No.1 guy in the sport in the world, but so is Volk and so is Izzy [Israel Adesanya]. Why aren't they getting that kind of money? Because this grabby little dogs are taking all that money."
Catch Mark Hunt's comments below: