A native of New Zealand, the granite-chinned kickboxer Mark Hunt made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2004 with little prior ground training, losing to Hidehiko Yoshida in the first round by armbar. Following that fight, Hunt established himself as a legitimate threat in Pride for a number of years, defeating standout MMA veterans Wanderlei Silva, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Tsuyoshi Kosaka during his time with the promotion. Hunt went on to fade from prominence after suffering five consecutive losses over the next three years, losing all of them inside of the first round. The memory of Hunt's halcyon Pride days was reignited, however, by news that he will be joining the UFC's heavyweight division in 2010, proving great things are still hoped for from him despite his losing stint.

The gamble seems to have paid off, as Hunt is riding a 3 fight win streak. Over this stretch he has dispatched the likes of Chris "The Crowbar" Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo. The momentum he has gained has resulted in a strong cult following from mma fans alike. When former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem was stripped of his number one contender status due to an elevated testosterone level as well as a subsequent suspension of his fighter's license in Nevada, the mma world took to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to voice their support for Hunt as a replacement. Unfortunately, despite the substantial backing, UFC President Dana named former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir the number one contender to Junior Dos Santos's title. Nonetheless, Hunt was slated to fight fellow rising star Stefan Struve at the same event in UFC 146. However, just 10 days prior to the event, he pulled out of the bout due to injury.

The bout with Stefan Struve was rescheduled to UFC on Fuel TV 8 in Saitama, Japan. Hunt would win once again as an underdog for the 4th straight time with a third round TKO finish of the Skyscraper. Just weeks after his fight with Struve, Hunt expressed interest in facing former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 160. Overeem was originally scheduled to face Dos Santos, but was forced to pull out of the bout with an injured quadriceps, opening the door for Mark Hunt to step into the Co Main Event slot of UFC 160. Dana White also mentioned that should Hunt finish JDS he would have a hard time not giving him the next title shot. However Hunt would be the one who got finished in the third round of a great fight that earned Fight of the Night honors.

At UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia the main event saw two giant Heavyweights, Antonio Silva and Mark Hunt, face off in what may be one of the best fights ever in the heavyweight division. Throughout the fight, both fighters ate numerous shots that would have knocked out most fighters, but neither man quit. Both men knocked down the other while Silva was cut and bleeding so badly that nearly halfway through the 5th round the match was halted to check his cut, but then continued on. By the end, each fighter was coated in blood and could hardly stand, but they kept throwing bomb to try to knock out the other until the final bell rang. One judge (Charlie Keech) scored it a 48-47 win for Hunt, but the other two (Barry Foley & Kon Papaioannou) scored it a 47-47 draw with Silva picking up a 10-8 round in the fifth rounds to make the fight a Majority Draw. Although draws are often lauded as poor examples of what actually happened in a fight, many observers and media members agreed that a draw was the perfect ending to this fight since neither man quit in the face of extreme adversity. 

Reference - UFC Fight Night 33 Score Card

An extremely thick-set fighter known for his powerful and surprisingly technical striking skills—though not necessarily for his conditioning—Hunt has defeated some of the most prominent names in professional kickboxing, including Mike Bernardo, Stefan Leko,Francisco Filho,Peter Graham, Gary Goodridge and Jerome Le Banner. Hunt is known first and foremost for having one of the most solid chins in MMA history. He was considered virtually impervious to being KO’d for much of his career, until he was knocked out by one of the smallest fighters he has ever faced, striking dynamo Melvin Manhoef.