Mark Hunt Reacts To Dana White’s Open Letter About His Removal
UFC heavyweight star Mark Hunt is still upset with the promotion and President Dana White.
Hunt was set to take on Marcin Tybura in the heavyweight main event of UFC Sydney (UFC Fight Night 121), which is slated to take place on Sunday, November 19th, 2017 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
However, the promotion announced that “The Super Samoan” has been removed from that booking due to “medical concerns” and he will be replaced by former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum.
The promotion is claiming to be looking out for the best interest of the former title contender. However, that doesn’t mean that Hunt agrees with it or is pleased about its latest decision regarding his career.
Hunt spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and during the interview, he made it known that is not sure what his future holds with the promotion following his removal from the event.
“As soon as we pinpoint what the issue is, we can fix it,” Hunt said. “I’m willing to take more tests. You tell me what I need to do. They’re not saying exactly what’s wrong with me, why they pulled me.”
It’s well known by now that White wrote an open letter to the Daily Telegraph earlier this week to explain the reason for not letting Hunt compete at the upcoming event. White noted that the promotion asked Hunt to fly to Las Vegas to get tests done at the Lou Ruvo Brain Center, but Hunt refused to do so.
Hunt gave his side of the story by stating that he didn’t want to fly to Las Vegas for tests. Thus, the reason he asked if he could just do them in Sydney. The UFC informed him that he could, and that is exactly what he did. Hunt mentioned that the tests came back negative of any issues and White’s letter was “rubbish.”
“I did do it in Australia and they still pulled me from the card,” Hunt said. “They didn’t use the doctors results that they got. They still pulled me. They didn’t listen to the doctors’ reports. … Why should i have to fly all the way out to Las Vegas for? Why?”
Hunt stated that if the promotion told him that he had to fly to Las Vegas, which is where the UFC headquarters are located, and if he didn’t then they wouldn’t let him fight at the event then he would have done it willing. At the end of the day, he stated that the lawyers he was in contact with never said that.
The hard-hitting heavyweight is still willing to fly to the states for tests now. He also thinks that the main reason the promotion is taking these actions is due to his separate lawsuit against them.
White refuted that statement in the letter by stating that they have booked Hunt in two fights since that lawsuit was filed. As a result of those two fights, Hunt has made $1,645,000 from the UFC.
“That’s money I worked for,” Hunt said. … “You haven’t paid me nothing. I’ve earned that money.” They don’t like people telling the truth. You want the truth? You can’t handle the f*cking truth! There are three fights left on his contract. He either wants to fight or he wants to be compensated for those fights. They’re got three fights to honor. Either pay me out of the contract or give me three fights.”
“If there’s things they want me to do to compete, then fine,” Hunt said. “I’ll do that. I need to do these three fights and move on. … I’m still waiting for what they want me to do. I’m still waiting to here what it is that I need to do to fix this.”
