Hunt will ‘wreck’ Lesnar, says UFC analyst

GIO Stadium, Canberra 4pm Sunday Jared Maxwell, Chris Sutton Raiders $1.09, Knights $6.50 Barlow Park, Cairns 6pm Sunday Gerard Sutton, Peter Gough Rabbitohs $3.00, Cowboys $1.35 Kiwi Mark Hunt will ‘‘wreck’’ Brock Lesnar when he faces the WWE sensation in Las Vegas next week, according to UFC star turned ESPN analyst Chael Sonnen.

Former heavyweight champion Lesnar is returning to the octagon for the first time since 2011 after the WWE granted him a ‘‘one-off opportunity’’ to feature as the comain event at UFC 200.

The bout is being billed as a matchup between Lesnar’s superior wrestling ability and the devastating knockout power of Hunt, who has finished his last two fights in the first round.

However, Sonnen, who had title fights in both the middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions in a UFC career that stretched between 2005-13, says Lesnar’s grappling ability is over-rated and believes he will struggle to take the ‘Super Samoan’ down to the canvas.

‘‘He was an effective wrestler, but you know, he had some size and he had a lot of other things to help him get his hand raised,’’ Sonnen said on his podcast.

‘‘So I don’t think that a guy as short as Hunt is just gonna get bum-rushed and taken down. You gotta understand, Brock hasn’t been in the ring in five years, Hunt was the number one contender within the last calendar year.

‘‘So no, you don’t have to be exactly an MMA expert to be able to see how this fight goes. Hunt’s gonna wreck him.’’

Hunt has been doing the media rounds in the United States ahead of the landmark event, which also sees Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones square off for the light-heavyweight title.