Veteran heavyweight star Mark Hunt has revealed that he plans to end his time in the UFC when his current contract comes to an end.
The 43-year-old is currently set to compete against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 221 in Australia early next year and will then see out the remaining two fights on his deal before heading off into the sunset.
“That will be the end of my career in the UFC,” Hunt said in an interview with Submission Radio. “I have two fights left and that’s it. You probably know the path I’ve had with the UFC, but you know, it’s business. I haven’t done nothing wrong, I just don’t like to be treated like s—t – even if I’m an employee or whatever and I speak my mind about it and, you know, I’ll go from there. So like I said, three fights left and I’ll move on.”
Hunt has had an adversarial relationship with the UFC brass for some time now and is currently in the midst of a civil lawsuit with the company, while he was only recently given permission to fight again after being temporarily suspended over concerns raised from comments he had made suggesting that he may have been experiencing signs of brain damage.
Thankfully a full brain health check-up has given Hunt the all-clear to continue, and by the sounds of things Hunt has no intention of hanging up his gloves once his time in the Octagon is over.
“Well, of course I’m looking at going and fighting global fights for New Zealand, Australia and probably Japan. It depends on what happens. Like I said, I’m still chasing the dream of that world title. I’m in a good position to get a finish in this fight, beat this guy, then move on to the top end. It’s not gonna be easy, but I’ll see what happens and hopefully I get next in line for the world title shot, go from there. So, see what happens.”
