Mark Hunt interested in bare-knuckle boxing after brief retirement: “God has put me to be a fighter”

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Mark Hunt will be returning to combat sports.

‘The Super Samoan’ has had an odd last few years. Following a 2018 loss to Justin Willis, Mark Hunt parted ways with the UFC. The defeat was his third in a row, and his exit from the Dana White-led promotion was far from shocking. That partially has to deal with his lengthy lawsuit against them.

In 2016, Brock Lesnar famously fought Mark Hunt, scoring a unanimous decision win. Following the loss, however, it was revealed that the WWE star failed a drug test. Hunt later filed a lawsuit against the UFC, alleging that the company was aware of the positive test, but let him fight anyway.

After six years in federal court, Mark Hunt formally lost the lawsuit in September. Now, just a few months removed from that situation, he’s looking for a return to the ring. However, not the boxing ring. Last fall, Hunt famously retired following a knockout win over Sonny Bill Williams. As it turns out, that was just his retirement from fighting with gloves.

Instead, Mark Hunt would like to fight in bare-knuckle boxing. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour, the former UFC title challenger teased a move to BKFC. While he doesn’t really love fighting these days, he believes that’s what he was put on this earth to do.

Well, that, and the money is really good. According to Hunt, a comeback to combat sports largely provides financial stability. Given the paydays that names such as Mike Perry have spoken of, a signing with BKFC makes a fair bit of sense.

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Mark Hunt confirms plans to return to fighting after brief retirement

“I’m kind of keen on doing some bare-knuckle,” Mark Hunt stated on The MMA Hour earlier today, formally ending his combat sports retirement. “I’ve been talking to the company, talked to the company before a while ago. But we just didn’t get a deal at all. So, I’m keen on doing some bare-knuckle… Nobody says fighting is good for you anyway, so it would be tough to say ‘fighting is good for me [but bare-knuckle is too much’.”

He continued, “What it provides is financial stability, which is something else. I don’t fight because I love to do it. I fight because God has put me to be a fighter. It provides me good money, and it’s an honest living. I’m not going to sit here s*itting my pants saying that I love doing it. Fighting, it is what it is.”

“…It’s been over three decades,” Mark Hunt concluded, “I’m still going. Of course, the motivation from the start is money. It’s always been money, I’m not going to sit here and tell you lies… Everyone has to have a job!”

What do you make of these comments? Do you want to see Mark Hunt fight again? Who do you want to see ‘The Super Samoan’ fight in BKFC?