Mark Hunt has seen a lot in his fighting career, but even he couldn’t believe the situation he found himself in recently.
Ahead of a planned return to action following a short-lived retirement, Hunt appeared on The MMA Hour where he claimed that he was recently asked to throw a fight in exchange for a sizeable paycheck. According to Hunt, the offer was in the seven figures.
Despite the massive number, Hunt didn’t even consider going along with the proposal.
“I’ve always been one that says if things aren’t right, they aren’t right,” Hunt said. “I was offered three or four million dollars to take a dive in a fight here in Australia and I said, ‘Are you serious?’
“I said no because that’s just not me. Although I could have done with the money, I was going through some hard times with the separation and s***, but I could have done with three or four million dollars. It’s just not my character. It’s not me. I’d rather just go out on my shield and then lose or die, but that’s not what I’m about.”
Hunt, 49, has competed sporadically since an acrimonious departure from the UFC in 2018. He has competed in boxing twice, most recently scoring a fourth-round TKO of Sonny Bill Williams in 2022 that was followed by Hunt announcing a retirement.
Over the course of his 24-year combat sports career, Hunt has boxed, kickboxed, and had memorable runs in MMA with both the UFC and PRIDE, including a run in the UFC’s heavyweight division that culminated in a shot at an interim belt. Through it all, Hunt had never been asked to take a dive.
“It is [the first time I’d been asked to do that], it blew my f****** mind,” Hunt said. “It blew my f****** head right off my f****** shoulders. I’m just like, ‘Holy s***, how does it work?’ Anyway, I just left it in the past, it’s kind of negative s***, but it’s real. I didn’t come upon that until then.”
Hunt did not say what promotion this rigged fight was supposedly to take place in, nor who made the offer, but he’ll be the first to tell you that it’s not the first time he’s glimpsed the dark side of the fight game.
“The Super Samoan” was recently embroiled in an ugly, years-long legal battle with the UFC after initially suing the promotion in 2017. Hunt alleged that the UFC, CEO Dana White, and UFC 200 opponent Brock Lesnar all colluded to allow Lesnar to fight him while on performance enhancing-drugs. The case was struck down in federal court this past September.
Though he has no regrets about taking on the most powerful fight promotion in the world, does Hunt worry that his willingness to stand up for himself has blackballed him from the MMA industry?
“I don’t know,” Hunt said. “To be honest, what I do now is that I’m right about it. What I do know is I ain’t scared like everyone else. I’m not a person who has fear of anything apart from God. These people—I said I wouldn’t get into this, and I won’t—I’m just saying my choices and what I did was right. I’ve always said that about standing up for what’s right and all I’ve asked for is an even playing field.”
