Hunt: I’m not #1 on paper, but …
Mark Hunt: “I have the worst record of just about any of the UFC fighters (11 wins, 10 lseess, one draw) but on my night I believe I can beat anyone.”
UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt recently did an interview with Australia’s Courier Post’s Grantlee Kieza, ahead of his fight with Frank Mir in the main event of UFC Fight Night 85 on March 20, 2016 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia.
Hunt is ranked #9 in the UFC heavyweight division, Mir is #10.
Grantlee Kieza: You’ve said that when your father died, the devil took him. Does it hurt to talk about him?
Mark Hunt: No, it doesn’t hurt. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it wasn’t for him. He made me the way I am today, a survivor. I don’t want to use my circumstances to make excuses. I know I made a lot of mistakes in life.
We’re all sinners and I’m probably the worst. But I’m striving to be better. But, shucks every day is a struggle. This guy will be irritating me, blowing his horn in the traffic. We all struggle — we’re all close to the edge if you push the right buttons. I’ve had many issues but psychiatrists helped me by telling me to “change hats.’’ Every time I get into an issue I say “okay I’m wearing the fighter’s hat.’’ I’ll take it off and put on the father’s hat or the good citizen hat and I work it out that way.
It was hard constantly walking around with the fighter’s hat because I was so angry it was making me tired all the time
GK: Your aim is to prove you’re No. 1?
MH: Yes. But, I feel I am No. 1 already. In my mind and in my heart I am but on paper I’m not. We don’t have perfect records unlike in boxing where you get to pick and choose your opponents. In the UFC we are fighting the best all the time. I have the worst record of just about any of the UFC fighters (11 wins, 10 lseess, one draw) but on my night I believe I can beat anyone.
GK: What is your typical week in training?
MH: Monday, Wednesdays and Friday mornings I spar — that’s MMA sparring, grappling, kickboxing. In the afternoons I do hard cardio work on an Airdyne machine. Minute on, minute off with striking drills breaking it up. So it’s punches in the face in the morning and fitness at night. The other days I do grappling practice and recovery with a pool session. I’m 41 now and my body can’t recover the way a younger person can.
The grappling aspect makes it so tough when you get older. I consider my biggest victory the fact that I’m still competing at my age against the best fighters in the world. People ask me when I’m going to quit but I’ve worked so hard to get here I don’t want to stop now. I’ve taken so many beatings why would I want to throw it away when I’m back in line to fight for the world title? I’ve tried to use my sport as a way of bettering myself. I had a pretty bad upbringing and I’ve been able to turn it around through my sport. When a fighter goes out there to compete in front of millions of people the excitement is better than any drug.
GK: How many weeks go into a campaign for a big fight?
MH: It depends on my fitness level when I start. I started this one at 130-something kilos (285 lbs+). This has been an eight-week camp. The longest one I did was 16 weeks but I started at 152kg (335 lbs). I like to eat.
GK: You’d like to become a vegan one day?
MH: I am going to become vegan. I can’t do it now because it would mean too big a change in my diet while I’m training. But the change is coming. I don’t like cruelty to animals and I don’t like where our food comes from. Every time I look at a piece of meat or chicken, I think “oh my gosh, some poor animal has had to die’’ and I think about the way it died.
