Mark Hunt has put himself within striking distance of a UFC heavyweight title shot by knocking out Roy “Big Country” Nelson.
The two headlined the UFC Fight Night card which took place at the legendary Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Saturday night.
The fight went just like many expected early on with both guys eager to get that knock-out shot. Hunt in particular looked to land the uppercut at the end of his combinations while Nelson attempted to land the big right.
After successfully defending all four takedown attempts in the opening round, Nelson momentarily got Hunt down in the second-round. After briefly taking Hunt’s back, the 40-year-old Sydney based fighter escaped back to his feet. On his feet, Hunt pounced backing Nelson up and dropping him with a powerful short uppercut. The punch ended it as the referee jumped in to halt the contest at 3:00 even.
Hunt was asked who he would like to face next and responded with, “A rematch always good for me, so anyone in the top 10.”
Hunt landed 32 significant strikes compared to Nelson’s 24. With the win, he takes his record to 10-8-1 (UFC 5-2-1). It was only the second time that Nelson has been knocked out in his 29-fight career and the first time in the UFC. Nelson drops to 20-10 (UFC 7-5).
In the co-main event, Myles Jury stayed undefeated with a first-round stoppage over veteran fighter Takenori Gomi. Jury opened his opponent up with a series of jabs before landing big right-hand that dropped Gomi. Jury followed up with further strikes to get the finish only 1:32 into the bout. The win took his record to 15-0 (UFC 6-0)
Sydney based fighter Richard Walsh looked to do enough in his welterweight clash against Kiichi Kunimoto only for the judges to give the decision to Kunimoto.
Walsh came close to finishing the fight, knocking down Kunimoto multiple times in the opening round and successfully defending the takedown attempts from his opponent. The Japanese fighter though, showed great heart to recover from the knockdowns and a bloody nose to work his way back into the fight.
The second round would end up being the deciding round as both battled for position against the cage, with Kunimoto in particular looking to get the takedown.
Thirty three year-old Kunimoto had his most successful round in the third as he secured the takedown and looked to end the fight with a rear-naked choke. Walsh was able to hang in there until the decision.
The decision came back split with judges Kon Papioaannou and Tony Weeks scoring it 29-28 to Kunimoto, with only Mark Collett scoring it 29-28 to Walsh despite the fact that Walsh out-struck him 89-41 according to official UFC statistics.
With the win, Kunimoto moves to 18-5-2, 1NC (UFC 3-0), while 25-year-old Walsh drops to 8-2 (UFC 1-1).
The event started off with New Zealand fighter Daniel Hooker taking on Maximo Blanco in a featherweight clash.
After a impressive UFC debut back in June, Hooker was unable to get the win, losing a unanimous points decision. Both stood toe-to-toe, with Hooker pressing on the front-foot looking to exchange inside the pocket despite having a reach advantage. Blanco though landed more and it wasn’t until the third round that Hooker started to hurt Blanco. Ultimately it was too late though as Blanco walked away with the unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28.
In other notable fights on the main card, Yoshihiro Akiyama returned from a two-year lay-off and dominated Amir Sadollah to earn a deserved 30-27 scorecard on all three judges cards while Miesha Tate gave Rin Nakai her first career loss with a decision win in a women’s bantamweight bout.
Main Card (Fuel TV):
- Mark Hunt def Roy Nelson via KO (Punch), Rd 2, 3:00
- Myles Jury def Takenori Gomi via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 1:32
- Yoshihiro Akiyama def Amir Sadollah via Decision (Unanimous)
- Miesha Tate def Rin Nakai via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kiichi Kunimoto def Richard Walsh via Decision (Split)
- Kyoji Horiguchi def Don delos Reyes via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 3:48
Preliminaries (UFC Fight Pass):
- Masanori Kanehara def Alex Caceres via Decision (Unanimous)
- Katsunori Kikuno def Sam Sicilia via Submission (Rear-Naked Chokd), Rd 2, 1:38
- Hyun Gyu Lim def Takenori Sato via TKO (Punches & Elbows), Rd 1, 1:18
- Kyung Ho Kang def Michinori Tanaka via Decision (Split)
- Johnny Case def Kazuki Tokudome via Technical Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 2, 2:34
- Maximo Blanco def Daniel Hooker via Decision (Unanimous)
