When our interviewer, D**k Grayson, told Mark Hunt computer games were nerdy dude got heated. Really heated. He proclaimed video games weren’t nerdy and if he said it again he would shoot him. Luckily, Mark Hunt was located on the opposite end of the planet. After D**k Grayson changed his urine soaked boxers, he eventually pushed on with the interview and revealed that Mark Hunt is a fan of Twilight (which is actually really nerdy). To call Mark Hunt anything other than a legend would be selling the 300lber short. Dude shocked the world in December 8, 2001 where he defeated Jerome Le Banner via second round KO, grabbed the W of Stefan Leko and eventually beat Francisco Filho to win the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix. After his win, Pride threw him in the MMA world where he scored wins over Mirko Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva. Mark Hunt is also known for giving Fedor one of his toughest fights in his career. Hunt admits that his career ‘is at the bottom right now’ but he plans to climb the MMA mountain and eventually rise to the top, and when he does…we’ll beat him at Counterstrike. Check out our exclusive interview with Mark Hunt only at MiddleEasy.com – Because MMA is Everything.
What kind of kid were you growing up?Um…mischievous kid.
When you’re not training, what do you do in your spare time?What I do most is uh play video games.
Oh no way…Computer games.
Which video games?I play a lot of Counterstrike, Age of Empires, a lot of strategy…first person shooters.
What system do you have?Just a normal one. I’ve done a few tweaks to change it to make it run faster of course.
You were born in New Zealand, but you are of Samoan descent?Yes sir. That’s me. That is correct.
I look at you and you look like my uncle. You look pretty Asian. Well I am good looking!
You look Asian, but you’re not Asian. What race do you identify with?What do you mean by that? I’m a Kiwi actually. I’m a New Zealander.
K-1 or MMA, which one do you prefer?MMA of course. I mean I followed K-1 for a long time. I started my career as a K-1 fighter. Like I said, I progressed through the ranks and won the world title in K-1. So I’ve climbed that mountain and it’s time for MMA. I haven’t had a good year and it hasn’t been pretty good for me at all. MMA is where I’m focused at right now and I’m climbing this mountain. I’m just at the bottom right now.
That’s a good perspective to look at it at.There’s only one-way to go: up.
In the future are there any specific focus as you continue on in your career?Uh…just getting my head straight and um doing some proper, good training. That’s all. Getting my head straight that’s all.
Now who are you training with right now? Who is your coach and your camp?Well I have a team. My team is called Team Liverpool. I have a gym in Sydney. I’ve been training with a few guys. I just got a new wrestling coach. I have a muay thai coach. I few a trainers…um that help with my training and um just training with some guys that are pretty good guys. It’s hard to find people with full time training partners because everyone has to work. It’s not really mainstream in Australia. But it’s good. I’ve got a few guys to help and it depends on their work schedule. I think there is only one who is a full time professional at the moment so…
Name one camp that impresses you other than your own camp. Um for K-1 I like the Golden Glory team because they’ve got a lot of top class fighters out of there and for MMA I like of course the Red Devil team because that’s where the champ is at so
Brock Lesnar versus Shane Carwin, who do you think will win?Um…I’ve only heard of Brock Lesnar. Shane Carwin is the up and comer isn’t he?
Yeah he’s fighting him. Ok so … I don’t know uh…I’d have to say uh….I don’t know how…probably Brock Lesnar. I don’t know much about Shane Carwin.
Pretend Brock Lesnar asked you to corner him in a fight with Fedor…Well how much money would he pay me first?
You’ll be compensated quiet well. Well if I was compensated quite well, I would tell him whatever he wants to hear.
Any tips or advice or anything like that. I’ll give it all to him if he wants it. It’s gonna cost him but…
Have you heard about the Shogun versus Machida decision? I was told that at the gym. Some of the guys from my gym were pretty upset about the decision and they just said ‘well these UFC judges forgot their glasses or what fight they were watching’. They said Shogun dominated the fight and it was given to Machida, but I don’t see the fights so that’s all they were saying to me. They were quite upset and they are kick boxers.
What’s your opinion on the scoring system if you do have one?I do not know how the scoring system works. I like the way Pride used to run their scoring systems to be honest. I like a lot of things that Pride had in there but its just my opinion.
This is the last prediction, BJ Penn versus Diego Sanchez.Great fighters. BJ Penn. I’m a big fan of BJ Penn, so Penn.
What’s your take on Mirko Cro Cop’s career? I mean Mirko is a great fighter—a top fighter. Everyone has their mental issues they have problems with. So I mean of course he is one of the world’s best fighters. It just depends on how he gets through it all. It depends on how he gets through his losses and how he gets his mind straight. That’s all. It’s just entirely up to him. Its not that he’s a crap fighter he’s just—things aren’t going his way and…I think its probably mental. To be honest with you.
I’ve been reading some interviews and you mention Jon. Jon Olav Einemo? Yep.
What are your thoughts on him getting back into MMA?Well he was a great fighter. When he came out training with me, he showed me a lot of stuff. I was like ‘Wow. You guys train this hard over there? Wow.’ He’s got a lot potential he just needs to….just take it easy on the training sometimes you know? Instead of over training. Well yeah, he’s a great fighter and hopefully he gets back in the MMA circle and starts banging again.
You guys seem like you are good friends in the interviews I’ve read. Is that true? He’s a good guy. I’ve spent a lot of time around him. I ain’t got nothing bad to say about him. I don’t want to rag about people…Nice guy.
What is your favorite country to fight in?It’s got to be Japan of course. That’s why I was um…that’s where I do my fighting in Japan. That’s where my work is. I’ve only fought a couple of times in—I think I fought once in America. Once and that was K-1.
Why Japan?Oh cause they pay the most money! Japan is where I started my dream. Its great now to fight in Japan because…you know…yeah.
Can you describe the fight culture in New Zealand and Australia. Um, Australia’s getting better. There are a couple of good shows there have grown—that are getting bigger. New Zealand has got zero of anything. There’s no fighting or nothing. Only boxing. That’s pretty much all there is down here. There’s no big shows coming through, so that’s about all down these ways. I mean CFC is going well in Australia.
What is the nerdiest thing you are in to? Is it video games?Well I read comic books as well, but listen man…computer games aren’t really nerdy you know? I don’t know where you got that one. And uh…I will shoot you on my computer if you say that again. I don’t think computer games are nerdy and I love computer games. They are just a different world you know? They’re great.
We’re always playing shooter games when we should be working on the site. I should be training, but I’m always playing video games.
Lord of the Rings and Whalerider, what’s the next big thing to come out of there? Um…shucks…to be honest, I have no idea. My blog is going to come out of here, so hopefully this
Do you plan to manage careers and put on shows later in your career?Well I’ve already done that I’ve put on a couple of shows. I was trying to get Pride through to Oz. I was trying to help all the fighters that train with me to become pro-fighters. But a few things happened that…I didn’t see happening and I just lost a lot of money. But I’ve done my bit to try to help MMA, I’ve tried my bit at promoting but there are a lot of crooks out there…so fuck em.
Samoans are known as bad-asses in sports, why is that?To be honest I don’t know. It’s just how the…I have no idea. It’s probably all the kererū they’re eating. The kererū and the corn-beef.
Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf?Vampire.
Why a Vampire?Can’t kill a…well I guess you can kill a vampire. I probably would like to fly, drink people’s blood…live forever. I’ve been watching that movie Twilight and he’s got some superpowers in their as well. It’s pretty cool.
What would you be doing if you were invisible?Probably peeping through windows.
You said you relate to Kimbo, do you have a background in street fighting?Well that’s how I started in this fighting sport, with a street fighting incident I had. That’s where I met my first trainer.
Will we ever see you preform a Haka before a fight?To be honest…I’m a Kiwi, I’ve had a couple of guys perform a Haka before my entrance which was really good. I don’t want to do it, it’ll probably waste all my energy. I’ll probably lose because I’m so tired. It takes a lot of energy to do a Haka. It’s not only a physical thing, it’s a spiritual thing too and you lose a lot of energy from it.
Any shout-outs?Check out my blog, http://www.markhuntfighter.com. Come and check me out.
