Mark Hunt was supposed to be fighting in Australia on a Fight Night card in Sydney taking place November 19th. After being pulled unexpectedly from the event, Fabricio Werdum stepped in and took his place against Marcin Tybura and no one can tell Hunt why, he says. Hunt told ESPN:
A journalist rings me up and says, ‘You’re not fighting in Sydney. I had to check to see if it was true. I was really upset by that. I’ve lost a lot of money on this camp, and losing this fight will cost me over $1 million. I had plans for that money. I have taxes to pay. To hear it from a journalist – they could have called me themselves. And the thing is, I didn’t know why they pulled me. I still don’t. I’ve passed all the medicals. I’d like to know the reason I’ve been put on the sideline.
Mark says it was shocking when he found it was for his own “safety”, especially since he passed his medicals. The UFC is claiming essentially that he has sustained too much damage in his past bouts and Hunt is angry because he feels the UFC let him fight known PED users, and even referenced Georges St. Pierre’s seeing aliens. GSP is fighting Michael Bisping on November 4th for the middleweight championship in the Canadian’s first fight back since narrowly defeating Johny Hendricks in 2013. Maybe Mark has a point about letting a fighter compete after seeing little green men? He continued:
There’s nothing in the results that says I can’t fight – The UFC says they’re acting for my well-being; why did they put me in the Octagon with all these cheaters, then? Why are they letting Georges St-Pierre fight again when he’s talked about seeing aliens? They just let a guy fight with a staph infection last week. If they’re worried about our well-being, why did they do all that?
Hunt is currently suing the UFC and Brock Lesnar over a loss that was turned in to a no contest due to Brock’s failed USADA test for PED’s. He feels that this is punishment for the lawsuit and that he was treated unfairly.
What do you think? Is the UFC being petty or his Mark’s health really their concern.