Mark Hunt Turns Down UFC 206 Rematch With Junior dos Santos

UFC and Pride FC veteran heavyweight Mark Hunt has experienced a rough time in 2016. Starting off the year with a vintage one-punch KO of Frank Mir, ‘The Super Samoan’ was paired with Brock Lesnar at UFC 200. Undoubtedly the biggest fight of his career, Hunt faced the former champion in the milestone pay-per-view event. Unfortunately for Hunt, Lesnar came to wrestle, and the bout ended up being one-sided in the favor of the WWE crossover. Humble in defeat, the former K-1 champ looked forward to returning in the near future.

Once USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) revealed Lesnar’s failed drug test, Hunt’s attitude towards fighting took a 180. Suddenly irate with his employers and USADA, ‘The Super Samoan’ went on a series of scathing rants. Furious that Lesnar had been allowed to fight at UFC 200, Hunt pointed out the pro wrestler’s four-month USADA exemption during his tirades. The disgruntled knockout artist accused the UFC of knowingly harbouring a drug cheat, and revealed he’d be putting in action steps to create a fighters union.

Lawsuit & JDS Snub

Earlier this week Mark Hunt revealed he’s considering a lawsuit against the UFC for alleged racketeering. An interesting report surfaced later in the week that suggested a long-told fairy tale about Dana White offering to pay Hunt to ‘ride off in to the sunset’ was actually BS. Hunt’s attorney, Christina Denning, claims her client actually successfully sued the UFC for breach of contract when he crossed over from Pride.

As the history of beef between Hunt and the UFC grow, his attorney told Sirius XM’s Luke Thomas Show, as quoted by Bloody Elbow, ‘The Super Samoan’ turned down a big fight at UFC 206.

Mark Hunt Says No

“I flew out to Vegas — I believe it was in late September — and met with three attorneys on behalf of the UFC to try to talk about a resolution, because [Hunt] wants to fight. Mark turned down the upcoming UFC 206 fight against Junior dos Santos because the UFC wouldn’t agree to the terms that we had proposed.”

“The UFC folks, they haven’t shut any doors on us, they haven’t said, ‘We’ll never talk to you about a provision like this in the contract,’” Denning said. “I’m waiting for my phone to ring, for the UFC to call us and come up with a resolution. Normally, I’d just file a lawsuit. Or I’d just wait for the Lesnar hearing to file a lawsuit. But we’re coming down and talking about it, because we want to resolve it and he wants to fight. He just wants fair fights.”

‘JDS’ famously knocked out Mark Hunt with a spinning wheel kick at UFC 160, a loss which the K-1 legend has since expressed interest in avenging. UFC 206 continues to lose out on some monster opportunities, as both Hunt and Georges St-Pierre remain at loggerheads with the promotion.

Stay tuned!