Mark Hunt Says He Was Forced To Fight Alistair Overeem

Veteran heavyweight slugger Mark Hunt lost a unanimous decision to former champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 last July, but it was revealed in the aftermath of the bout that Lesnar had failed a drug test. Hunt clearly wasn’t happy with the situation and he has consistently voiced his frustration over the last few months. He even went as far as to file a lawsuit against the UFC as well as Lesnar.

For a time, it appeared as if “The Super Samoan” would never step foot inside the Octagon again, but he will indeed rematch Alistair Overeem at this weekend’s (Sat., March 4, 2017) UFC 209 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hunt, however, claims that he was ‘forced’ to accept the bout with “The Reem”:

“I was forced to be here,” Hunt told MMAjunkie at today’s UFC 209 media day. “I was told, ‘If you don’t take this fight it’s against your contract.’ Why should my family suffer and miss out on my hard work? They deserve to have the better things in life because I’ve gotten beaten up to get here, so why should they miss out? I haven’t done nothing wrong here, so why should I be the outsider here? The other guy is the guy that cheated. All these other guys that cheat should be put on a pedestal like, ‘That guy’s a cheat. He shouldn’t be here.’”

“I didn’t want to be in this position,” Hunt said. “They gave me no choice. What am I supposed to do? Keep coming to work and fighting steroid cheaters. How would you feel going to work losing to guys? And it is losing. Because if you do lose, you lose. You don’t get no benefit from it. This is supposed to be the best fighters in the world, not the best cheaters in the world or the best guys that can hide it with doctors. The reason I’ve done this is because it’s been a pattern of things that happened.”

Hunt has been very vocal against fellow heavyweight fighters who he feels are ‘cheaters’, and it’s clear that he isn’t holding back against Overeem.

Do you see Hunt taking out the Dutck kick boxer, and how do you expect his situation with the UFC to play out?