Mark Hunt Starts Fighters Association: We’ve Lined UFC’s Pockets With Our Blood

UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is not a happy man right now. The events leading up to and after the July 9 UFC 200 card have left him bitter and disillusioned with his employers. He faced Brock Lesnar in the co-main event of UFC 200, but just one week after the fight was officially announced ‘The Super Samoan’ already had grievances. USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) granted a waiver for the WWE star to be able to compete at UFC 200 without the standard four-month testing window leading up to the event.

Hunt blasted the decision and claimed Lesnar would probably come in to UFC 200 ‘juiced to the gills.’ The pro wrestler turned up to the weigh-ins looking noticeably more shredded than at UFC 100, when he was closer to 30 than 40, but still we hadn’t heard of any failed drug tests at this point.

Lesnar showed up looking better than ever before, holding down and pummeling Hunt for the three-round duration of their bout. Wow, what a result, at least we thought at that time, until the USADA tests came back dirty. Lesnar had failed a dope screen on both the day of the event and on June 28. All of a sudden Pandora’s box was open again, and the overflow of anger and resentment from fans, fellow fighters and Mark Hunt himself has been unprecedented.

Not only was the legitimacy of the already waning UFC 200 thrown in to disrepute, but so was that of the promotion’s handling of Brock Lesnar’s return. Were they aware he’d be tanked up on illegal substances? What were we witnessing here? Out of all of this comes the pertinent question of what happens if a fighter gets seriously injured at the hands of someone who later fails a drug test.

During an interview with MarkHunt.TV, the legendary ‘Super Samoan’ is still absolutely furious about this whole saga. He is now starting a fighters union because he feels mistreated and neglected by the UFC, claiming that fighters have lined the promotion’s pockets for too long now:

“The way I see it, the Brock Lesnar doping thing is just another reason why we need a fighter’s association,” Hunt said via phone interview. “These guys are just making up the rules as they go.

“First the Reebok thing, then Brock’s 4 month testing exemption. Conor gets pulled off a card for not going to a press conference that me or Brock didn’t go to anyway. Work that out. There’s probably a heap of others.”

“You just have to look at how Ariel gets his media pass taken away cause he broke a story about Brock, then he gets it back when other media stood up for him and called out the UFC.” He said. “These guys are just making sh*t it up as they go.

“Yet fighters refuse to support other fighters when they f*ck us over.

“They say they are cleaning up the sport, yet I’ve risked my health two times against guys cheating since this USADA thing started. I was told Brock was gonna be tested when I took the fight, he comes in looking fricken juicy as hell and then I find out he’s popped after the PPV has already been sold.

“It’s ridiculous. The fact that they haven’t even bothered to make contact with me since all of this happened just proves they don’t care.

“I don’t even know how he made 265lbs that guy, he looked about 500kgs. I mean shucks, look at the pictures and tell me this guy passed the smell test that Jeff guy talks about. I mean even the other passport stuff, which is supposed to be important for testing, they woulda had none of that from Brock because of the exemption.

“If you ask me the whole point of the four month testing period should be to make sure someone doesn’t pop back in, juiced to the gills, and beat the crap out of the guys who are clean and have been clean and tested this whole time.

“I’m pretty sure all of this stuff is just there to look good for the sale if you ask me.”

“Once they decided they were gunna cut Conor out, they didn’t care, they just needed a name to make 200 big.” he said. “Exemptions for Brock but not for Conor, I don’t know how you can just do that.

“These guys have lined there pockets with our blood if you ask me. I mean they deserve to get paid no doubt, they took the UFC from nothing into what it is today, but come on, most of the guys fighting, get paid nothing and have no benefits.

“If you ask me there needs to be a system where they at least run things past the fighters before making these decisions and the fighters can look out for each other. We need an association where we can have our voices heard. We are massive reason why fans watch the sport and we risk our health to do it.”

“I’m not worried about the UFC,” he said. “Shucks, I’ve been fighting my whole life. Fighting to survive in my home, to the ring and now cage. These guys didn’t even want me in the UFC but here I am. I’m not scared of them.

“I’m not sure what its like in the states, but in Australia workers stick together to make sure their voice is heard. Lots of guys have talked about this, but someone needs to make this happen and I’m happy for it to be me.”

“I mean shucks I’m not an expert on all this, but me and my team have been talking to the experts about how to make this a reality,” he said.

“To the fighters listening to this I want them to get in touch with me via my Facebook page and we can get thing going. I won’t name anyone until we sort it all out, but get in touch and lets make this happen.”