Hunt choked in first round
Kiwi UFC fighter Mark Hunt has suffered his second loss in as many fights in 2018, after a quickfire round-one defeat to Russian Aleksei Oleinik in Moscow yesterday morning.
In what was the first UFC event to be held in Russia – taking place at the Olympic Stadium – the ‘Super Samoan’ was forced to tap out after only four minutes and 26 seconds, as hometown hero Oleinik won by submission with a rear-naked choke.
The man known as ‘‘The Boa Constrictor’’, for his choking ability, was at it again. He’s become famed for his use of the Ezekiel choke of late, but this time he made it 12 wins apiece by both that method and the rearnaked one, taking his overall record now to 57-11-1.
The 41-year-old is 11th in the UFC heavyweight rankings, and was a slight underdog against 44-year-old Hunt, who’s ranked eighth.
It was set to be a clash of styles, this main event of five five-minute rounds, with Hunt known for his knockout ability, and Oleinik being a master choker and able to get himself out of trouble in that way.
And so it proved in quick time, with Hunt managing to land a couple of kicks, as well as a vicious right hand, before suddenly suffering a couple of punches and being taken down with 1min 20sec left in the round.
From there he was toast. Hunt’s ‘thick neck’ had been talked about in the lead-up as being a problem for Oleinik to be able to perform his chokes, but the Russian in the end had no issues in getting the job done.
Hunt’s record now sits at 13-13-1-1, in what was a third loss in his past four outings. It was also the quickest defeat he has suffered since 2010, when he had a string of six first-round losses.
His sights are still seemingly set on one more UFC bout to round out his career, with the Adelaide event in December likely to be a swansong for the man who lives in Australia.