Hunt outlasts Lewis at UFC Fight Night 110 in NZ
NEW ZEALAND mixed martial arts fighter Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt had a winning return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Octagon yesterday, beating American Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis by technical knockout in the fourth round of their headlining bout at “UFC Fight Night 110” in Auckland.
Lost in his previous fight, hometown bet Hunt made sure not to disappoint the local fans as he fought Mr. Lewis to exhaustion to hack out the victory.
Mr. Hunt was dominating right from the opening bell, throwing solid shots to the body and legs which he sustained all throughout the fight that eventually took a toll on Mr. Lewis.
In the fateful fourth round, Mr. Hunt, sensing that he has his opponent to his limit kept up the pressure.
Mr. Lewis connected on a solid leg kick but that was the last of the significant hit he would throw as Mr. Hunt would go for the finish after.
A double jab and straight right from the New Zealand fighter wobbled the American after which Mr. Hunt throw mixes of punches to the body and head.
Evidently gassed up, Mr. Lewis hardly gave resistance, prompting the referee to step in and stop the fight at the 3:51 mark of the round, sending the partisan crowd to a celebration.
With the win, Mr. Hunt improved to 13-11-1 while Mr. Lewis dropped to 18-5 and saw his winning streak halted to six.
Mr. Hunt gave praise to Mr. Lewis after the fight, saying the latter was a tough opponent.
“I knew it was just a matter of time. Derrick’s a tough guy and I respect him…” said Mr. Hunt as he addressed the crowd at the Spark Arena in Auckland.
“Anybody above me is good and I’ll take any of them. I only got a few more fights left. For me if it ended here for me tonight, then so be it… But it looks like it’s still continuing,” added 43-yearold Hunt as he talked about what lies ahead for him.
For his part, Mr. Lewis hinted that the fight could be his last.
“That’s probably my last fight,” said Mr. Lewis, who also shared that he is getting married and that he does not want to subject his family to the rigors of MMA life.
In other fights in the main card, middleweight Derek Brunson knocked out Dan Kelly ( punches) in the first round, lightweight Dan Hooker won by knockout ( knee) in the second round over Ross Pearson, light heavyweight Ion Cutelaba KO’d Henrique da Silva ( punches) in the first round, flyweight Ben Nguyen defeated Tim Elliott by submission ( rear- naked choke) in the opening round, and featherweight Alexander Volkanovski won by unanimous decision over Mizuto Hirota ( 30- 27, 30- 27 and 30- 27).
Next for the UFC is “UFC Fight Night 111” on June 17 in Singapore that will be bannered by the women’s bantamweight clash between Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm of the United States and Bethe “Pitbull” Correia (#11) of Brazil.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country's foremost direct-to-home ( DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms.