In this free fight offered by UFC.tv, heavyweight Mark Hunt battles the tallest UFC heavyweight ever, Stefan Struve, at UFC on Fuel TV 8 in 2013.
Mark Hunt made his UFC debut in September of 2010 after Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, purchased rival Pride FC. Hunt was given the option to be paid out, but instead wanted to test himself inside the UFC Octagon. Hunt lost his UFC debut to Sean McCorkle at UFC 119 by arm bar submission.
Hunt would win his next four UFC fights, including TKO’s over Chris Tuchscherer, Cheick Kongo, and this brutal knockout of Stefan Struve.
The fight began with the much shorter Hunt trying to figure out how to deal with the height of his 6’11” opponent. Hunt spent much of the first round trying to keep distance and lunge in at his opponent at times. Struve tried to use his height advantage to land shots at distance. A minute in a half into the first round during a clinch, Hunt took Struve down and was effective on top before Struve was able to sweep him. Struve landed some of his own ground and pound, but ended up on bottom again after a failed arm bar attempt from a scramble. Hunt spent the rest of the first round on top.
The first half of the second round played out like the first with Struve trying to land at distance and Hunt trying to close the distance with lunging attacks. Hunt secured another takedown, spent some time on top, and was again swept. Struve again tried another arm bar and ended up on his back to end the round again. He again was able to transition to the top after a scramble took them to their feet for a short moment.
Finally in the third round one of Hunt’s lunging attacks landed solid, a huge left hook that broke the jaw of Struve. When Struve didn’t respond to the referee, the fight was ended and Hunt declared the winner.
