UFC Fight Night 65: Miocic vs. Hunt Date: May 10, 2015 Location: Adelaide, Australia Venue: Adelaide Entertainment Centre Broadcast: Fight Pass UFC Heavyweight Stipe Miocic (-160) A Golden Gloves winner and Division I wrestler, Stipe Miocic (12-2) may be the darkest horse in the UFC heavyweight division. He’s been around the Octagon for nearly four years, amassing a 4-1 record over that time span that includes the the likes of Fabio Maldonado, the late Shane del Rosario, Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson, the latter two fights being especially dominant in fashion. Miocic is a well-rounded fighter and he does not nearly as much credit as he deserves He has fantastic wrestling, very technical boxing, and knockout power that stuns most fighters. He uses his range well and doesn’t put himself into too much trouble. We saw in his fight against Fabio Maldonado that he can knock people out so don’t sleep on his power. During his time in the Octagon the only losses he has are to Stefan Struve and Junior dos Santos, which came in his last bout. Miocic showed against JDS that he has the heart, the chin, and the skills to go toe-to-toe with one of the best in the world for 25 minutes, and he’ll look to do the same when he takes on heavy hitter Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 65. UFC Heavyweight Mark Hunt (+120) The great Mark Hunt (10-9-1) 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 up 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 Mriko 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, who submitted Hunt in his UFC debut, but he never gave up on his MMA dream. The UFC wanted to buy out Hunt’s Pride contract, thus paying him not to fight, but Hunt refused and went on to achieve a four-fight winning streak, knocking out Stefan Struve, Cheick Kongo as well as defeating Ben Rothwell and Chris Tuchsherer by vicious KO before he was placed in front of Junior dos Santos in a title eliminator at UFC 160. Hunt would lose the Fight of the Night against JDS in an absolute war, but he bounced back with a Fight of the Year contender against Bigfoot Silva at UFC Fight Night 33, a bout that wound up being a draw. Hunt broke his hand in the fight but after missing most of 2014 he returned to the Octagon late in the year at UFC Fight Night 52 against Roy Nelson and ended up winning by KO in round two. Following an injury to UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, the UFC called upon Hunt to fill in for Velasquez against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180, and although he gave Werdum a tough fight, he ultimately lost via KO. He now returns to the cage in his adopted home country of Australia when he takes on Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC Fight Night 65. Opening Fight Night 64 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Miocic a -160 favorite (bet $160 to win $100) while Hunt opened as a +120 underdog (bet $100 to win $120) at Several Bookmakers. This is a fantastic fight between two heavyweight bangers and the winner of the fight will be placed on the short list for a shot at the heavyweight title. Miocic is coming off of a Fight of the Night decision loss to JDS, but it was a close fight and he looked better in the matchup than most thought. As for Hunt, he was just knocked out by Werdum in his title fight, but he did look good in the fight up until the point of the KO. This is a tough fight to call. Miocic is the more technical striker and throws a greater volume, but Hunt has crazy knockout power and can catch anyone. However, Hunt’s a lot older than Miocic and his chin seems to be on a decline himself, so it shouldn’t shock anyone if Hunt gets finished. Either way, it’s a fight that’s not likely to go the full five rounds, but based on the youth advantage Miocic enters as the slight favorite.
