UFC making progress on Mark Hunt visa issue

By Evan Stoumbelis (@MMAEvan)

The UFC has been working tirelessly to get Mark Hunt back to the United States in time for his co-main event bout with Junior Dos Santos a week from Saturday. Hunt was in New Zealand, and encountered some trouble with his visa when trying to fly to the states due to a prior arrest, Hunt was never charged in the incident. However, while the UFC isn’t worried, Hunt says he doesn’t want to encounter acclimatization issues in Las Vegas. Quotes courtesy of today’s UFC conference call.

“I’m running out of time to acclimatize, I fought once in Vegas before. I went out four days before the fight and it was quite tiring. It was a bit of a problem.”

Dave Sholler, the UFC’s director of communications isn’t worried about Hunt not being back in time for his fight.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve had a visa issue or a travel issue. Our team is working through the issue and we’re confident Mark will be making his way to the U.S. this weekend.”

Sholler went on to say:

“We’re pretty confident that he’s going to get out of there by this weekend. As for a Plan B, we haven’t even gotten to that point because we’re confident this situation is going to get worked out. As of right now, the UFC 160 co-main event is Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt.”

Mark Hunt will be facing former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos next Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot II. The winner is expected to receive a shot at the title.