Mark Hunt: UFC “forced” me to take fight with Alistair Overeem

Fan favorite UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt’s recent spat with the UFC brass over the past 6 months has certainly been a public one. After Hunt’s UFC 200 scrap with Brock Lesnar, Hunt was extremely critical of the promotion for allowing Lesnar to fight despite being granted an exemption from the first several months of random drug testing leading up to their scrap.

Hunt put the UFC and Lesnar on blast on numerous occasions over the situation, and even turned down two fights following UFC 200 after he and the UFC were unable to reach an agreement on putting a provision in all future contracts that protected both Hunt and his opponent in the event that one man tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

Last month, news surfaced that Hunt would be stepping into the Octagon at UFC 209 on March 4th to fight Alistair Overeem. While the news came as a bit of a surprise given Hunt’s public feud with the promotion, the ‘Super Samoan’ was quick to shut down the reports, stating that the fight was not official.

Ultimately, after revealing that he would be suing the UFC, it was confirmed that Hunt and Overeem would be fighting on March 4th. Now, in an interview on The MMA Hour, Hunt explained why the promotion essentially “forced” him to take the fight:

“They put me in a position, like well what am I supposed to do? They forced this fight on me, pretty much. I couldn’t go anywhere else. If I couldn’t work anywhere else and I’m still trying to get my fair deal in this thing, what am I supposed to do? If they’re going to let me go, let me go. At least I can go work somewhere else. I’ve gotta look after my family and my commitments as well. And they can’t just sit me at the back of the bus without having any work. You can’t do that.”

on 1/17/2017