Infamous striker “Merciless” Melvin Manhoef recorded perhaps the biggest win of his MMA career when he knocked out the fan favourite Mark Hunt on DREAM and K1’s joint New Year’s Eve event back in 2008.

Hunt was expected to meet decorated kickboxer Jerome Le Banner in an openweight fight but Le Banner was forced to withdraw just a day before the bout due to illness. Manhoef stepped in as an extremely late replacement to challenge Hunt, giving up a huge amount of size and strength to the “Super Samoan.”

Hunt weighed in at 130.4 kilograms (roughly 288 pounds) while Manhoef has weighed in as light as 170 pounds in the past. Despite the size disadvantage Manhoef dropped the granite chinned Samoan only seconds into the contest, stopping his opponent with follow up punches shortly after. This marked Hunt’s first loss by way of knock out.

Manhoef has since stated that he was tricked into taking the bout by his manager:

“I said, ‘Man, that guy is like 140 kilos (300-plus pounds) or something. I’m 88 kilos. How do you want me to do that?’” he remembers. “(My manager) dropped the subject, but five minutes later, he said, ‘You know, I was working in a bar, and one of my friends was there with his wife. And this big huge guy touched his wife, her butt and her t-ts. And my friend did nothing. What would you do?’

“I said to him, ‘Man! I would really f-ck that big guy up if he touched my wife!’ And (my manager) said, ‘Yeah, that guy is Mark Hunt! So you can fight him.’ Then he called the promotion and told them that I’d be fighting. He tricked me into taking that fight.”

Manhoef would go on to win the fight via KO in just 18 seconds.

“The left punch hit him so hard that his whole back and everything was shaking,” he said. “That fight is very memorable to me.”

source: bloodyelbow.com