UFC FIGHT NIGHT 33: HUNT VS. SILVA Date: Dec. 7, 2013 Location: Brisbane, Australia Broadcast: FOX Sports 1 UFC Heavyweight Mark Hunt (-125) Profile: The great Mark Hunt (9-8) may not have the most impressive record at first glance, but he has fought a murderer’s row of MMA hall of famers in his career. This K-1 Grand Prix winner had a great career in kickboxing, until he made the transition to Pride where he would pull of the biggest upset of 2004 with a win over Wanderlei Silva. He also defeated a prime Cro Cop in 2005. Hunt would then go on to lose six fights in a row to the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, Melvin Manhoef and Sean McCorkle, once Hunt made his UFC debut at UFC 119. The UFC wanted to buy out Hunt’s Pride contract, thus paying him not to fight, but Hunt refused and went on an extremely fun 4-fight winning streak, knocking out Stefan Struve, Cheick Kongo as well as defeating Ben Rothwell and Chris Tuchsherer, before he was placed in front of JDS in a title elimination fight. Hunt would lose the Fight of the Night against JDS at UFC 160 in an absolute war. But now, his formidable fists, improved conditioning and ground game will meet Bigfoot Silva at UFC Fight Night 33. UFC Heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (-115) Profile: Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (18-5) couldn’t have fought much better in his last two bouts after losing to heavyweight champ Velasquez via first-round TKO in his UFC debut at UFC 146. First, Silva rebounded from that loss to Velasquez by knocking out Travis Browne in the first round at UFC on FX 5. Then, he stunned Alistair Overeem with a third-round KO at UFC 156 to earn the right for a rematch with Velasquez, only this time for the title belt. Unfortunately for Bigfoot, Cain destroyed him even faster in the second match, finishing him with strikes in 81 seconds. After taking six months off, the BJJ black belt will have his hands full when he takes on Mark Hunt at Fight Night 33. Bigfoot is a good striker with heavy hands, but challenging Hunt on the feet is a tough test for anyone. Opening UFC Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Hunt a slight -125 betting favorite (bet $125 to win $100), while Silva opened as a -115 near Pick ’em underdog (bet $115 to win $100) Several Bookmakers. Both of these men have ridiculous knockout power and either can stop anyone in the division with their brutal fists and kicks. That’s what makes this such an interesting fight. Both men are also coming off of brutal KO losses at UFC 160, Hunt to Junior Dos Santos and Bigfoot to Cain Velasquez, and it will be interesting to see how they rebound against each other on Dec. 7 in Australia. Although I feel that Hunt has the superior chin and striking, Bigfoot definitely has the better ground game and if he can take Hunt down, he can win by submission. But his chin is a huge question mark, and if Hunt connects, this will be lights out. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
