All language subtitles for Mark.Hunt_.The.Fight.of.His.Life.2021.en

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(VIBRANT MUSIC)

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(PEOPLE CHATTER)

-(CHAINS CLINK)
-(PEOPLE CHEER)

COMMENTATOR: He lands
with his full right hand!

(COMMENTATOR SHOUTS EXCITEDLY)
The victory with a hit!

(COMMENTATOR SHOUTS)

It is unbelievable!
Here comes the punch!

(WATER TRICKLES)

MARK HUNT: I do feel pain,
but, you know,

you can always just move it
somewhere else,

to be honest, you know.

(CHEERING)

MARK: Fighting is something
that I like to do,

and I'm one of the
best fighters in the world.

Why would I be afraid of anyone?

I mean, I'm a bit afraid
of sharks.

You know?
Everyone's scared of sharks.

It's a violent sport.
It's, uh, it's a brutal sport.

And you can get
seriously damaged and die.

I think fighting
as long as I have

is the only achievement I have.

I don't consider myself famous,

I just...
Who wants to be famous, though?

And I started at a disadvantage
as a kid.

Some of the best fighters
in the world

have come from bad backgrounds.

My dad was such a...
such a wanker.

(THUMP!)

He's a...he's a real bad person,
you know, I mean...

There was many beatings
that I remember.

To be honest, I was a kid
just surviving childhood.

I mean, everyone should get
a...an equal playing field.

I think it should be like that
in life.

I...I've grown to despise
cheaters and steroid users.

It's not what I signed up for,
it's not what I worked so hard

to get to the top
of the world for.

When you break the law,
you get punished.

So why aren't they doing
the same thing with our sport?

I mean, our sport's the worst
because you're hurting someone.

And that's
an unfair playing field.

So I'm going to do something
about it.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

(CHEERING)

(COMMENTATOR SHOUTS EXCITEDLY)

-(COMMENTATOR TALKS EXCITEDLY)
-(AUDIENCE ROARS)

-COMMENTATOR: Whoa! Hey!
-Oh, my God!

-I can't believe this!
-(BELL RINGS)

Unbelievable!

(CHEERING)

He's on the ground.

MAN: God, we thank you. Thank
you for Mark and his health.

Um, I ask you, Lord, to, um,
give us wisdom in the corner

so we can pass it on

and we give you this glory in
the holy name of Jesus Christ.

ALL: Amen.

Let's do this, baby!

MARK: Fighting fulfils me,
every part of me.

There's a whole different level
of fighting coming here,

and you use your mind and
your...your striking ability.

I love fighting in the Octagon.
There's something raw about it.

(CHEERING)

I love what I do and my job
is to go in there and hurt you

so you don't get up.

COMMENTATOR: Lesnar, Hunt,
we're live. Here we go.

Hunt throwing
some good right hands.

But now it's all Lesnar.

Some hammer fist.

Hunt looks gassed. He's gone.

A hard-fought fight.

Brock Lesnar
just shocked the world.

REPORTER: It's over - UFC 200.

It was all Lesnar -
Lesnar took Hunt down,

was able to...to manhandle him
on the ground.

This is a fight
where a lot of people thought

that Mark Hunt was going to do
a walk-off knockout.

That didn't happen.

MARK: The moment I lost the
fight, I was like, you know, I got beaten by a better man,
he was far stronger than I was.

I accept defeat.

I just wasn't good enough
on the day.

I congratulated him
and that's it.

MAN:

Yeah!

You can take this now.

-I just couldn't get it going.
-Couldn't get it going?

-Yeah, man.
-Not firing, bro.

Fuck. Bummer.

I don't know what happened,
homie.

Just a bad night
at the office, bro.

Ah, fuck.

They're losing face.

REPORTER: Kiwi UFC fighter
Mark Hunt is fuming

after his last opponent, Brock
Lesnar, failed a drugs test.

Hunt's responding with
"Pay me out, or I'm out,"

demanding half of the American's
fight fee of $3.5 million

or he'll tear up
his six-fight contract.

No doubt more fallout
to come on this.

MARK: Oh, I just felt cheated.

You know, I worked my whole
career to get to the top

and then when you get
to the top,

all you find is frickin' crooked
cheats and crooked companies.

Crooked cheats
and crooked companies.

Crooked cheats and
crooked companies.

MAN: He is joining us
right now on the phone.

-Mark, are you there?
-Hey, how are you doing?

-I'm doing... (LAUGHS)
-What's going on?

ARIEL: A pleasure, as always,
to talk to you. Thank you.

OK, so there's a lot to discuss.

You told me late last week

that you have yet to speak
to anyone from the UFC

about Brock's
two failed drug tests.

Has that changed at all?

-No.
-Wow.

Nah, no-one's bothered
to call me

about anything about
those cheating motherfuckers.

It's...it's... So the UFC
don't do shit about it.

They're not doing a damn thing

about this whole frickin'
cheating monkeys.

And the reason
why I'm so upset is,

it's not 'cause
it's the first or second,

this is the third time or fourth
time there's been cheating.

Well, you know what,
motherfuckers, fuck you!

-(GUNFIRE FROM VIDEO GAME)
-(GAME CONTROLLER CLICKS)

When a guy is cheating
and cheats someone,

he...he actually ruins history.

They've not only cheated them,

they've cheated
their family, his family,

and everything that's
supposed to be coming to him

that he's worked hard for,
he doesn't get.

You know, fighting's
hard enough as it is.

You know,
he could have killed me.

I will come back. I'm gonna
smash some of these cheats.

I'm sick of it. I'm sick of...

I've worked so hard to get here

and I'm not...
and I'm not one to give up.

ARIEL: I've been watching
Mark Hunt fight

since before
I was an MMA journalist,

since he was, you know, in K-1,
since he was in Pride.

The Brock Lesnar UFC 200 story,

I feel, like, is one
of the worst black eyes

on the history of the sport.

Why was he allowed to enter
the cage if he failed the test?

They say they didn't get
the results.

I actually believe them.
Why didn't they get the results?

If you're going to go
through the trouble

of drug testing someone
before the fight,

what's the point of doing it

if you're going to get
the results afterwards?

That doesn't make
any sense to me.

And then he...he tests
positive afterwards as well.

And, unfortunately, Mark Hunt's
the one who paid the price.

You know, he lost, he was
humiliated, he was dominated.

Um, and he wasn't fighting
a clean fighter.

It just all kind of felt dirty.

MARK: You know, there's a lot of
boys and girls watching this.

They wanna be like me.

They wanna be like
all these top-end fighters.

But it's gonna come to a point

where they're gonna offer them
these drugs, these steroids,

and say, "Well..."

And they're gonna go,
"Oh, of course I'll take it.

"They're taking it."

It's good being back here.

Sometimes driving around here
you get a bit depressed,

but - ha-ha - it's not bad.

From a certain age, I was out
running around these streets,

it was pretty good, you know,
so it was like an adventure.

This is where I had my first
fight, on this street.

Right...right in the middle
of this thing here.

Right here. Right there.

Good old Aorere College.

I've got a lot of memories
of this place.

I hated school in form two

because, you know,
I had no lunch and everything.

At lunchtime,
everyone had lunches inside.

And it was like...
it was like the worst time.

It was embarrassing. (CHUCKLES)

To be honest,
it was just, um...

There was hardly any food
in the house.

I mean, shucks. It was...
Um, I remember...

Even when I was going to
intermediate, I think it was,

I'd sprained my ankle
and I'd hobbled off home.

You know, we only had...
I think it was like...

I went to the fridge
to get an icepack

and there was only
fucking peas in there.

My family was my dad, my mother,

my older sister
and my two older brothers,

and then me.

It wasn't a big family.

WOMAN: It was a ugly childhood
for all of us.

Mark became aggressive.

And I guess that's the reason
why he is what he is today.

Steve is schizophrenic.
There was voices talking to him.

I think he got
more of the beatings.

John was, like,
in his own world.

He would stay in his room,
but he would study hard.

It's 'cause he wanted
to become someone bigger

than what my father was.

But I think for Mark,
his childhood,

he just doesn't want to know.

But what young kid would want
to remember that?

MARK: We weren't allowed
to see anyone.

I mean,
I only started seeing people

when I started running away.

My mother, she was never allowed

to go hang out with her sisters
and that.

We never got to hang out
with a lot of our cousins.

We never saw them.

VICTORIA: We were isolated.

But it was dad
who was stopping us

from meeting our family

or talking to the family,
'cause if we talked,

probably someone would have
done something for us.

Mum and Dad, they would go out

and you could smell
the fish and chips or the KFC

where they would go and have a
good feed while we were at home.

Yeah, my dad was such a...
such a wanker.

He's a...he's a real bad person,
you know.

I mean, he'd, um,
pretend he was a nice person

for church purposes
and to everyone around.

But who knows why he was angry?

He was just a prick
a lot of the times.

VICTORIA: He would hit us
with anything -

wires, washing machine hose,

those ringers, the belt...

MARK: There was many beatings
that I remember.

Um, I mean, he used a broomstick
out the back there,

whacking us with it.

VICTORIA: Growing up, he...
I don't think he got love.

He had love.

(WHIPS)

I guess that's the reason
why he was a rebel.

MARK: I didn't go here for that
long, I went for about a year

and I spent most of the time
in the school,

um, after school hours.

I got expelled from this school,
you know,

so, um, and to get, uh,
asked to come back

to do the sports awards is
pretty cool, you know, so, yeah.

Yeah.

I spent a lot of time
sitting up here

drinking and shit,
you know, so...

I spent more time drinking
and smoking in here

than...than anything else, so...

Yeah, don't do that.

I used to do whatever I wanted.

We just run amok, me and Jono.

He came into our class
from beating up his teacher

and then we just went...
went stupid.

Then no teacher would
have us in the class, so, yeah.

I wagged a lot and, um, you
know, I went to school one...

I think it was accounting class,

and the teacher didn't know
who I was.

She was like, "Who are you?"

(CHUCKLES)
I said, "I'm Mark Hunt."

She goes, "Oh, you better go
to the principal's office.

"You haven't been here
all year."

-(SCHOOL BELL RINGS)
-Hey, man, how are you?

-How you doing? Good?
-Yeah.

-How are you?
-Good, man.

Oh-hoh!

It was in A block
where I got expelled.

There was, uh...um...

A girl called me a black cunt,
I think it was.

And, you know, I lost my temper
and gave her a hiding.

I didn't give her a hiding.
I whacked her.

And then, um, tried to chase all
her mates around. (CHUCKLES)

And then they, you know,
they called an assembly

and then they, um, they
kicked me out of the school.

Not a good time.

And then it just all
went to the toilet.

I robbed someone
for their shoes.

It was me and my brother
and a mate of mine, Troy.

We went and took their
Doc Martens, just went

and hit them and took
their shoes off and that's it.

And I end up going to Waikeria
and spent my time there.

It was a shock going to jail.

You know,
when the judge sentences you

to nine and a half months

and I was like this...

Uh, it was like, uh...uh...
You know, I didn't...

I never really experienced
prison or do anything like that.

But, um,
it was actually a good place.

You know,
you got, uh, good meals

and, um, it was pretty good.

I actually, uh...

I actually enjoyed it,
the time in there.

I knew it was a waste of time,
but I enjoyed it.

(PEOPLE CALL OUT)

MARK: Yeah, when I got out,
I was...I was playing league.

Yeah, I made it into
the Auckland team.

League was pretty much
like an escape for me.

I always liked to go and
hang out with a group of guys

and play,
and I was pretty good it.

People used to give you respect

'cause you're a pretty good
player and I liked that.

It felt good to have
a clique of friends,

which was good for me, you know.

MAN: First time I met Mark,

yeah, he'd just got out
of Waikeria Prison.

Done a...done a stint there.

Very quiet, you know, young man.

It was like...not much to say,
you know.

It looked, you know, pain...

It looked like pain, you know,
coming...coming off him.

He didn't really open up

till, like, he started
playing football

and we started, you know,
drinking, going out

and things like that, you know.

Getting used to his
surroundings again, I guess.

ROB: Yeah, we had a lot of fun
together.

Yeah, it was a close-knit family
back then, you know.

We only really had each other.

And, you know, on the footy
field, you need each other

and then, uh, yeah,
partying with Mark

was, uh, was a crack-up.

We'd all get dressed.
We'd go out.

OK, and...and the mission
at the end of the day

would be to get drunk
and get girls, you know?

If...if that wasn't
your...your aim,

what was your aim of
going out, to dance, you know?

Like, pretty much
that was the whole thing.

Anyway, that would be the aim.
We would go out.

And that would never happen

because they'd always
get into fights.

-(COMMOTION)
-MARK: That's the way it was.

I mean, in our neck
of the woods, it's OK.

I mean, you compare that
to other neck of the woods,

you know, their reality is,
you know, someone gets smart

and then someone pulls out a gun
and shoots them in the head.

So that's their reality.

ROB: Yeah, it was always Mark.

I was running.

But, uh, it was always Mark,
the last man standing. You know, he always
took care of business.

It was always
the medicine at the end.

It was just like, "Oh, fuck.

"We're not gonna get any
girls now. Fucking hell."

MAN: Trouble came to us.

We didn't really go
and cause trouble.

We're just a rough bunch of boys
growing up in Mangere

and, yeah, we didn't
consider ourselves as a gang

or anything like that.

They all wanted to
come and take him on.

You know, Mark was just
knocking guys out.

MARK: I was
street fighting a lot.

Um, I mean, I wasn't scared
of anyone but my dad,

'cause he was good at beating me
up, beating us up, you know?

That's probably, um,
why I'm pretty resilient.

(RAIN POURS)

You would get hidings normally,
but he used to...

..he used to do extras like
actually, you know, the skin...

I was always, um...
the skin was always ripped,

blue, you know,
with hidings and stuff.

And, um, yeah, he was just...
he took things to extremes.

(DARK MUSIC)

VICTORIA: The sexual abuse
started when I was 6

till the time I was 18.

(DOOR SLAMS)

Over the years,
I just made myself numb.

Yeah, I don't really remember

when it started with her
getting molested and stuff,

I just knew something wasn't
right with her and him.

He wanted to protect me
and he just didn't know how.

He was too young. I don't
blame my brothers for that.

There's a lot of things that
I don't remember about that,

especially with her,
what happened to her

and her being pregnant because
of the old guy, you know.

VICTORIA: I turned to
drugs, as in pills,

and I would sniff petrol.

But...everything was my fault,
especially for my brothers,

you know, they would blame me

because Dad stopped working
and he was in jail.

They were too young
to understand.

Even my mum saw
but she never did anything.

No-one did.

No-one did anything.

Yeah, he was evil.

MARK: To be honest, I was
a kid just surviving childhood,

you know, whichever way it was.

That's how I look at it.

Fighting was his thing

and he's been fighting
pretty much his whole life,

I mean, as a kid up until now.

He was one of those guys

you couldn't look
in the eye, you know.

He had a very serious face
all the time, you know, angry.

(YELLING)

MARK: I was street fighting
outside of a club in Auckland.

A guy called Sam Marsters
pulled me out.

After a few words, he said,

"Well, would you like to fight
in a Muay Thai fight?"

I didn't know, you know,
what that was,

but then I said, "Yeah, OK."

He'd just saved me
from being arrested.

I thought I owed him something.

So, I mean, I was young then.
I think I was 19 maybe.

(CROWD YELLING)

That's how I had my first fight.

That's how I started.

I beat the guy.

He was 30 or 40 kilos
heavier than me,

but I got him, you know,
I got him in the second round.

And I pretty much was just
probably swinging for the fences

like everyone else was
in those days.

I never actually learned,
walked into a gym to train.

I just watched
a few programs on TV,

I used to watch Mike Tyson,
and that's it.

I thought I was cool
afterwards. (LAUGHS)

That was actually the first
proper ring fight I've had.

LOLO: And all I saw was this
young chubby guy coming up,

throwing anything and trying
to hit anything that moves.

And he'd try all the things that

a lot of heavyweight
won't even try,

like jumping knee, flying knees.

And it doesn't matter

how much Ronny hit him
as hard as he can,

he's still coming back
after him.

And he was very raw and untidy.

I said, "Man, if this guy
can get, you know,

"in shape and coached properly,

"he'll be really, really good."

I don't know who I assaulted,

might have been
a taxi driver or someone,

but I got caught for it.

I can't remember who it was,
but I think

I got a couple of weeks
in The Rock, in the Mount.

I just knew I was just
gonna be in...in that...

..keep getting in that circle
and I'll be in more trouble.

I mean, I'd keep getting in jail
and it'd be just like a cycle.

I knew I had to get outta there,
do something with my life.

(LAIDBACK MUSIC)

MARK: I spent the next
two years gambling,

didn't know what to do.

Just...lost.

I started doing security, and
then I got a job sandblasting,

I got paid fortnightly

and, you know, I spent money
just like that.

For me it was hard

because I didn't get taught much
about life skills,

especially learning
to look after yourself.

You know, I'm in
a different country.

You know, you have to learn
all that shit yourself.

You don't know that
'cause no-one's telling you.

Stealing cars and driving around
was kind of exciting.

Then gambling became
one of my addictions.

I don't know, because I've
always liked games and stuff.

To be honest,
it was just something to do.

It was a time killer.

You know, I'd spend money
that I didn't even have

and I didn't even pay rent.

That's how we got
kicked out of the house.

That really...screwed me up.

You guys gonna be footy
players or UFC fighters?

-Rugby.
-Rugby? Oh, rugby.

I'm number five in the world
at the moment,

even though I'm number one
in my mind.

Because I used to train down
at Mundine's Gym 20 years ago.

-It wasn't like it is now.
-WOMAN: I was telling the boys.

Used to be houses
all along here.

And the people used to...
not used to walk down here.

WOMAN: No, they'd be too scared
to walk down this way and stuff.

Had a stigma on it, eh?

Yeah, only the people
that used to

go and train there
was good, so, you know.

-(LIGHT POP MUSIC)
-(THUDS ON PUNCHING BAG)

MARK: I didn't really take it
seriously till I got to Oz,

wanting to win
or do something with it.

It was only a way
to make ends meet.

To be trained, I mean,
when we started

building a team over there,

there was a lot of heavyweights
coming in there.

It was only a dollar to train.

And even if you didn't have
a dollar, you could still train.

Alex was down there.
It was a good place.

ALEX: Yeah, I remember
when Mark came in.

He was on..probably on
the chubby side, you know?

But he was solid.

He had the speed,
short-range speed and power.

I had Peter Graham
and Mark training with me.

They smashed each other
in the gym,

and it was the best sparring,
the best action in the gym.

No-one I've ever met, anyway,
hits harder than Mark Hunt.

I mean, he doesn't look like

a ripped-up, you know,
combat sports athlete.

He's just Mark, you know,
just looks like

your regular Polynesian guy
walked off the street.

"How're you going?"

Straight off the boat from NZ
or Samoa or something.

But, I mean, he just
has bricks in his hands.

I spent hours in that gym.

I mean, hours of skipping,
hours of punching.

It was pretty good.

I remember sometimes being the
last to leave out of this place.

I think I had
one proper fight there,

when I was training
there with Alex.

I was just some guy that
you could easily call up

and fill in for a fight.

He's always going to say yes

because he needs some money
or he needs something so...

I think I was the friggin'
Oceania punching bag. (LAUGHS)

It was a hard two years.

I was living at a halfway house,
went to another halfway house.

A lot of things happened,
then I met Julie at the time,

which was a blessing,
saved me many times.

(DANCE MUSIC)

I used to work at this club.

It was a reggae club,
so it was quite dark in there.

I walked in and
she was in there, you know.

And it looked like she was
sitting in a throne,

she was like all white,
I said, "Wow, look at that!"

She looked like an angel sitting
on that throne, you know.

Maybe that or I was
just freaking wasted.

I mean, it was an African club

so there was only probably
three white people,

so that's probably
why I was glowing. (LAUGHS)

He come up to me and asked,
"Is there anyone sitting down?"

And I said no, and then
we just started talking.

MARK: And she was with
all her friends.

You know, I don't normally...
I'm kind of a person

that doesn't like to talk with
a group of girls, I'm quite shy.

But for some reason,
I just wanted

to go and sit and talk with her,
and that's what I did.

And I realised she was
a good person to help me,

and I was more
comfortable with her

so I started opening up
a bit more to her then,

talking about my issues.

And, well, I didn't think
I had issues,

but just sharing some of the
stuff that I had, with my life.

JULIE: I didn't see it
when I first met him.

I thought he was
quite confident in talking.

And we were just
chatting for hours

and, yeah, he just seemed
really nice.

Only until the second time
when I met him,

I thought, "Oh, my gosh,
what is this guy?"

He tried to jump a taxi.

And I thought he was
coming to see me.

I thought, how nice of him
to travel

all the way from the city
to Campbelltown,

which was a good $80 back then.

And then as I'm calling him,

"I'm over here,"
saying where we lived,

he said, "You shouldn't have
done that

"because I was gonna jump it."

And I just went...loser.

So from then on, I was so rude
to him all day and, yeah.

Then we ended up going home,
I dropped him at the station,

and he got angry and threw a pie
at the car and, yeah.

He thought he was gonna
get something else

but he got a goodbye...
(LAUGHS) ..instead.

(MILD MUSIC)

MARK: I didn't know
fighting was my path,

but it kept coming back to me
every time.

Yeah, I don't know
what happened.

I just wanted to, you know,
train hard and win.

And, you know, well,
it was good for me

because, you know,
Alex took me seriously

and Lucy was
taking me seriously.

They invested their time in me.

So, you know, I thought,
"Why not give it back to them

"and dedicate myself like
they dedicated themselves?"

LUCY: Alex Tui had this boy,
light heavyweight,

fighting for
a South Pacific title.

And I watched him fight,
and he was good!

I was, like, "Wow, where
did this boy come from?

"Hmm."

MARK: But I got into the
Oceania for the first time,

and I took it seriously -

I stopped smoking,
I trained hard.

You know, my day started at
4:30, I think 4:00 -

I went running.

Then I had a full-time job.
I walked to work.

I trained.
I worked for eight hours.

So I did all these things
in a succession.

My day would start at 4:30
and finish at 10:30.

(CHEERING)

I'll show these monkeys.

ANNOUNCER:Ladies and
gentlemen, your warriors!

MARK: I was just filling in,
to be honest.

I was just filling in for Lucy

and then, you know,
no-one expected me to win.

MIKE: Lucy said to me, said,
"Come backstage, Mike,

"I want you to meet this new guy
I've got called Mark Hunt."

So I went backstage
to this little dressing room,

and there was this...

Now, I love Mark,
but I'm gonna say

big fat Samoan sitting there,
out the back, OK,

sitting on a stool,
head between his knees -

I think he was listening
to a Walkman at the time -

and just looked like a big lug.

They brought this guy in here
to make up the numbers.

Looks like he's here
for a free feed and a holiday.

He'll head back to New Zealand -

it'll be the last
we ever see of him.

(YELLING
FROM CROWD)

COMMENTATOR: Working
the body again, Mark Hunt.

Beautiful rapid hand
combinations from Hunt.

COMMENTATOR 2: Clever tactics,nclever tactics as the boys have

a talk to each other
in centre ring.

COMMENTATOR: Bit of talkingtrash in the centre of the ring!

They're mixing it up!
Here comes Mark Hunt!

COMMENTATOR 2: Let's hope
he knows he's gotta stay up.

COMMENTATOR:
He launches a good right hand!

COMMENTATOR 2:
They can sometimes be

a fighter's nightmare.

COMMENTATOR:Big chopping
leg kick there from Ron Sefo.

That'll make Hunt wish
he was someplace else.

MIKE: And the amazing
thing about Mark

is that he was
a guy out of nowhere,

had no martial arts pedigree,
no boxing pedigree,

had gotten into kickboxing

because he got into
a street fight

outside a bar in
South Auckland, you know?

And here he is taking on some of
the best martial artists

in the world,
with zero background himself,

and somehow he's not only

standing up to their best
strikes, he's beating them.

It was just amazing to watch

this phenomenon
of Mark Hunt evolve.

COMMENTATOR:There's a big right
hand to the side of the jaw!

Nice uppercut from Hunt.
Fagan goes down!

-(LOUD CHEERING)
-Fagan goes down!

COMMENTATOR 2:Fagan's gonna
take the count here.

COMMENTATOR: The iron-clad
uppercut of Mark Hunt!

-(BELL RINGS)
-It's over! It's over!

My word! Mark Hunt is
the K-1 King of Kings!

MARK: You know, that for me,
I said, "Oh, I've got to

"put more time into fighting,
take it a bit more seriously."

I made $10,000, which for
me was amazing, you know.

I was like, "Wow, I'm rich,
you know, $10,000?!"

You would've thought
we were billionaires.

We were just, "Oh, my gosh!"

He bought his first TV because
we never had a TV for years.

He went and bought
a brand-new bed suite

and brand-new bed sheeting.

It was just amazing,
at this house that he was at.

Honestly, you would have
thought we won lotto.

ANNOUNCER: Your winner,
and King of Kings of K-1,

Mark Hunt!

LUCY: It was getting
that experience

and getting that momentum.

That's when I started to see

the opening for K-1 Japan.

(CHEERING)

MARK: My first trip to Japan,
I flew business.

It was like, "Whoa, what's
this shit?" you know?

And then landed there
and there's all these things

like cameras
and people know your name,

and I'm thinking,
"Wowzers, what's this rubbish?"

(CHEERING)

MIRO: K-1, in those days,
it was very big.

The stadiums were,
you know, between 40,000

to sometimes 80,000 people
for the bigger events.

It was on prime time TV,
straight after the news.

K-1 was bigger in Japan

than UFC even is now
in the States and Australia.

ANNOUNCER: Fighting out of
the blue corner -

Mark Hunt!

MARK: It was the first time
I experienced

something like
that big a level for me,

from the thousands
of seated people

to the shitloads of people
staring at you,

cameras and everything.

It was...it was the big time,
in kickboxing, you know.

COMMENTATOR: The kisser of Hunt
with the big left hand,

flicks out the front kick
off the lead leg.

MARK: Yeah, I fought the fight
I lost against Jerome,

I mean, pretty good fight.

And he was a guy I saw on TV
once, like, "Wowzers!"

MARK: For that appearance,
it was US$27,000,

which was a lot of money,

especially for the time
that I, you know...

And everything was free.

They looked after everything
and then they paid me as well.

I was like, "Wow,
this is pretty cool."

(JAPANESE COMMENTARY)

MARK: I didn't even fight
for a whole year

because I couldn't get a fight.

I slacked off a bit in training.

But I never had an option
to fight, I didn't get one.

Until the Oceanias.

He started training with me,
so we did a lot of preparation

for the 2001 Melbourne K-1.

I says, "Mark, it's like this -

"if you take their heads off,
their bodies will follow."

(FLOWING STRING MUSIC)

(CHEERING)

MIRO: No-one had seen
that type of fighter before,

again, the natural
brawling style

where he would just
keep coming forward,

and he would keep
throwing punches.

And there was also

that whole
sort of image around,

as I say, Mark being
the natural brawler,

the natural fighter.

And seemed like he just come
off the street into the ring

for every fight that he fought.

COMMENTATOR: Nathan Briggs
in all sorts of trouble!

Briggs copped one in the jaw!

My word, Mark Hunt dropped him!

Whoa-ho, what a start
from Mark Hunt.

HAPE: You're not gonna
believe me if I say this,

Mark was chosen
to be a fighter, OK?

And in a spiritual way -

many are called,
but few are chosen.

And Mark was chosen.

COMMENTATOR: It's all over!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

It is one of
the all-time upsets!

Pandemonium here in centre ring!

COMMENTATOR 2: The easyntransition into the next round.

COMMENTATOR:It is unbelievable!

COMMENTATOR 2: Mark Hunt,
here he comes again.

I think Mark kinda felt it,

that he was probably gonna
get to the finals.

And I thought I was gonna
get to the finals.

And I knew what I had to do

because I may not be
the smartest guy,

but I'm smart enough
to know that

I'm not gonna go toe to toe
with Mark Hunt.

COMMENTATOR: Good leg check
there from Mark Hunt,

bringing home
the bacon now.

COMMENTATOR 2: Oh, there's
a nice uppercut there.

MARK: I have respect for Peter

and I think he has
likewise for me.

And, you know, it's just
what happens in the ring,

you know, that's what happens.

COMMENTATOR: Oh! Graham's gone
down! Graham's gone down!

-Oh, no! Oh, no!
-Three. Four.

-Five. Six.
-He's down. He's down!

-He's down! He's out!
-Seven! We have a winner!

PETER: I made
the fundamental mistake

of stopping inside his range,

and I'd never been hit
that hard in my life.

COMMENTATOR:There it is.
He's set it up.

PETER: The subsequence
of punches after that,

you don't feel them.

But the first one,
it almost felt like

someone was putting their hands
through my hair,

it was like the pain ran,
I was like, "Holy shit, man."

Bang! I could hear the corner.

I was like, "Man,
everything's slowing down."

Peter Graham's taking the trip
down to that blue canvas.

And the next thing I know
I'm lying on my back - "Oh!"

And I went, "Fuck!
I just lost 30 grand."

MARK: I won at Oceania
the second time.

I was taking this shit
seriously.

I'd say, you know what I mean,

"I'm gonna cream these guys,"
you know,

and that's what happened.

He's always very hypocritical
when he wins.

No matter if he knocks
them out first round,

he always rings up and says,
"You know, I won."

I'll be like, "Oh, my gosh!"

He'd be like, "Yeah,
I should have, you know..."

And I'm like, "You won!"

But, yeah, he's always got that
bit of self-doubt like that.

Like he'll always...
I think that's his dad,

you know, where
he always put him down

and always had to say,
"You should've done it here."

So he's sort of got
that little trait too.

(CHEERING)

MARK: Then I got a call
from Vincent,

said, "Would you like to fight

"in about 3.5, 3 weeks
or something?"

And I said, "Oh, yeah, sweet."

'Cause I thought my year
was over for fighting.

And then he goes, "Yeah, but
you're gonna have to fight Ray."

I had three weeks to prepare.

I was drinking and smoking
when I just got off the phone.

So, I mean, it's like,
what do you do?

(YELLING IN JAPANESE)

Oh, yeah, sweet and done.

MIKE: Mark's just there
to make up the numbers.

He won the K-1 Oceania, so
they've gotta have him in there.

"OK, we'll put this New
Zealander-Aussie guy in there,

"but Ray Sefo's gonna beat him,"
because Ray was the golden boy!

Ray, the year before,
was runner-up in the K-1, OK,

was the second best
in the world.

This year, he was maybe tipped
to win the whole thing.

COMMENTATOR:Hunt already
going straight up the centre

with that big
"Goodnight, Irene" right hand.

He does throw a round kick
above the waist.

Sefo forced to guard up
early on.

Ray Sefo now backed into
the neutral corner.

Mark Hunt has opened up.
He's on fire.

RAY: I was quicker than Mark.

I thought I was technically
better than Mark.

But Mark came out with

a completely different
kind of style

which was, you know,
take your head off.

COMMENTATOR: Another right hand
there from Hunt, and another.

And so that Polynesian in me
came out

and went, "Alright, if this is
how we're gonna do it..."

So we just stood in the centre
of the ring and banged it out.

May the best man win.

COMMENTATOR: Hunt just
sizing him up.

Sefo just smiles at him,
says, "Come on, Mark.

"Is that all you've got
for me, son?"

What transpired
still goes down today

as maybe the greatest
K-1 fight of all time.

COMMENTATOR: Can Mark Hunt
shock the world?

Oh, a spinning back kick there.

Some agility from
the big man, Mark Hunt.

Both men just
smiling at each other.

Nice body shot, left hand
combination there.

MIKE: But then they decide
to do something

I've never seen
in fight sports -

they drop their hands
and they invite each other

to hit each other
clean on the jaw

and try and
knock one another out.

COMMENTATOR: The kiss of death
there from Ray Sefo!

My word, I've never seen
anything like this!

Oh-ho-ho!

He can't knock him out!
He can't knock him down!

(CHEERING)

MIKE: The fans
went into meltdown!

Two guys dropping their hands,
sticking their chins out

and inviting each other
to hit them

while they're the hardest
punchers in the world?

It was amazing.

COMMENTATOR:What a war.

Absolutely, these two guys from
South Auckland, New Zealand, taking each other to task.

It was dumb -
the idea of fighting

is not to get hit
and hit them.

But on that night it was just,

you know, whatever,
whatever goes.

-ANNOUNCER: Ray Sefo.
-(CHEERING)

-COMMENTATOR: Well...
-Well, there you have it.

MIKE: And Mark lost the fight.

But then Ray went backstage
and the doctor checked him.

Ray said he had triple vision -

he was seeing
three of everything.

COMMENTATOR: Let's have a look
at that mouse

underneath Ray Sefo's right eye.

I've gotta say, Ray Sefo was
never the same after that fight.

That fight aged Ray Sefo.

That fight affected Ray Sefo
physically, mentally,

spiritually, I believe, as well.

I mean, those two guys

beat the living daylights
out of each other

in a way that nobody
had ever seen before.

So as luck would have it,
as karma,

as chance,
the universe would unfold,

is that Mark would get a chance
then to go into the final

because Ray Sefo
had to withdraw.

And of course,
that's how history unfolded.

MARK: I mean, regardless of that
I lost the fight to Ray,

that's where I started my rise,
my fame in Japan

because of that fight.

(CHEERING AND YELLING)

MARK: I won that fight.
I went and knocked him over.

(LAUGHS) Poor guy.

(CHEERING)

MIKE: So Mark comes
to the 2001 K-1 Grand Prix,

having won the tournament
in Fukuoka.

You've gotta win three fights
in one night

to become the champion.

To win one fight is hard enough

against the best heavyweights
in the world,

but to win three in one night,

with a very short rest time
between fights,

it's an almost superhuman feat.

All the focus is on
Jerome Le Banner.

You know, he'd fought
Mark before,

and beaten him quite
handily over the distance.

And he said, "I'm gonna
have no problem,

"Mark couldn't hurt me
last time.

"I'm gonna knock him out
this time.

"I know Mark, I've unravelled
him. It's easy pickings."

And then the Japanese media,
I remember, asking Mark,

they used to ask him
one question -

they said, "Jerome Le Banner
hits hard.

"How are you going to
handle Jerome's power?"

And Mark's answer was,

"I once got hit by a truck,
and that didn't knock me out.

"I doubt Jerome Le Banner
hits harder than a truck."

Ladies and gentlemen,

let's get ready to rumble!

MARK: It was good.

I was supremely confident
the whole event.

I felt at ease, at home.
I felt great.

I was like, "Man, I'm gonna
frigging kick some ass!"

It was a great feeling.

MIKE: First round of the fight,

Jerome Le Banner
is on the money.

Mark is being completely
outclassed,

outschooled by
a far superior kickboxer.

The second round starts again
with Jerome beating Mark,

but then something inside
Mark Hunt snaps.

Mark drops his hands,

like he did against Ray Sefo,

and says to Jerome, "Hit me."

Mark sucks him into a South
Auckland style street brawl,

and then he lays upon
Jerome Le Banner

the greatest combination

you are ever gonna see
in any fight sport.

COMMENTATOR: Here comes the
pain! Here comes Mark Hunt!

Here comes Mark Hunt!

The Vodafone Arena is exploding!

Mark Hunt is on
a demolition mission!

Mark Hunt can feel it coming!

(CHEERING)

MIKE: I counted them -

a 16-punch combination
to Jerome Le Banner.

I think Jerome was out
by punch number six.

The eruption went up.

(LOUD CHEERING)

PETER: I was training
in Japan at that time,

and I was about
as far as I am to you are,

from when Mark Hunt hit Jerome
Le Banner with that first punch.

(CHEERING)

I mean, I was so happy -
it was like...it was like...

It was a win for
the ultimate underdog.

Mark must have knocked him out

on, like, the eighth punch
or something,

and just kept hitting him -

bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

For every Polynesian guy who
gets called "some dumb coconut",

for everyone who ever just
never got to be the man,

he just made it possible.

I'll never forget that
for as long as I live.

COMMENTATOR: Mark Hunt!

65,000 people, not to mention
the millions and millions

watching live on TV,
in utter disbelief

because all of a sudden
this unknown Mark Hunt

became the most famous fighter
in the world at that moment,

and defeated the best
K-1 fighter in the world.

COMMENTATOR:
..this place explode!

COMMENTATOR 2:
Well, I tell you what...

MARK: He was
supposed to win that,

and this little black arse
just went in

and fricking
ripped his face off.

And it was good because
I came out of nowhere

so I was happy,
I was like, "Ooh, yeah."

(BELL RINGS, CROWD CHEERS)

(JAPANESE COMMENTARY)

PETER: All the other guys
in the tournament

were, like...they were
shitting bricks,

and these guys are
the best of the best,

and it's like
this guy is the man,

he's gonna punch holes
in people all night.

And he did.

(JAPANESE COMMENTARY)

MARK: So I was
fighting Stefan Leko.

And what shit thing
about it was

I was drinking with him
the night before.

It was me and him,
the last two drinking.

I was like, "Oh, shit."

And I was like, "Bro, well,
this is just business

"and this is work,
it comes down to that."

So the final, Mark Hunt
takes on Francisco Filho

and again, even though
Mark's done so well,

people are still categorising
him as the underdog.

-(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC)
-(CHEERING)

MARK: I was like,
"Damn, I'm the man!"

(LAUGHS) Look at this shit -
coming in on a cherry picker

just goes to show
how big it was.

It was frickin' huge.

No, I was getting tingles.
It was pretty cool.

PETER: Mark Hunt
holds the record

for being paid
the least entry fee to K-1.

So they went,
"Here's some chump change,"

which is them basically saying,
"We don't want you to come."

(JAPANESE COMMENTARY)

(BELL RINGS)

MIKE: You know,
this same guy has changed

not only his fight game,
but changed his personality

and become such a better person
and a better character.

And the fans really adopted
and embraced that side of Mark.

-(LOUD CHEERING)
-(EXCITED JAPANESE COMMENTARY)

It opened up K-1
to a whole new world.

Mark changed the martial arts
landscape forever.

-(EXCITED JAPANESE COMMENTARY)
-(BELL RINGS)

PETER: You could see the fear
in Filho's face,

well, I certainly could.

Mark was fast, he was balanced.

Filho was clearly
a much better kicker.

Mark could just take it all day.

MIKE: Watch the video,
there's a moment of silence

in disbelief, 65,000 people,

not to mention
the millions and millions

watching live on TV,
in utter disbelief

before the eruption went up.

-JAPANESE ANNOUNCER: Mark Hunt!
-(LOUD CHEERING)

MIKE: Mark Hunt changed K-1 -
he had opened the doors

to the rest of the world.

(CHEERS)

MIKE: It was a moment
I'll never forget.

In the stadium that night,

fans saw something
they'd never seen before.

They saw somebody win

the greatest combat trophy
in the world

who two years before had
no martial arts experience,

OK, was a fat dude roaming
the streets of South Auckland,

getting into bar fights.

He went on to complete
the biggest Cinderella story

in sports history.

MARK: For me it's like, "Wow!"

You know, to be working a job
that doesn't make 30,000 a year

to becoming the best kickboxer
in the world.

It's quite funny,
the story was surreal.

It was like, "Jeez,
this is my first year

"at the Grand Prix World Title
and I win it."

Wowzers.

JULIE: I was at home when
he rang, 'cause he'd ring

really late at night,
it was 11, 12 at night

after they finished
the Grand Prix.

And I could hear everyone
screaming in the background,

we were all screaming
and it was amazing.

It was good, I just rang her up

and I said, "I just made
a million dollars."

She goes, "You won!"
and it was a good feeling

to say that sort of thing,
you know,

tell her, no, I wasn't just
a worthless bit of dirt.

I was so happy and
it was an amazing feeling

to ring her up and tell her that

I'd actually won something,
you know,

and this path that
I was undertaking

was actually...
is actually worth it.

(CHEERING)

(LOUD CHEERING)

And she was so ecstatic.
It was so good for me.

I was just saying,
you know, how proud she was,

I was gonna buy a house.

It was amazing.
It was a good feeling.

(CHEERING AND SQUEALING)

MIKE: After Mark won the K-1

there was so much
pressure on him.

He became a demigod -
not a superstar, a demigod.

He couldn't leave
his hotel room in Japan,

walk anywhere,
without people mobbing him.

HAPE: They were selling Mark
Hunt dolls, 400 bucks a pop.

But that's Japan for you.

MIKE: The amazing thing is that

no matter how big
Mark was in Japan

and the countries in Europe
as well where K-1 was dominant -

France and Holland
and Germany, etc -

he'd come back to Australia
or go back to New Zealand,

and he could walk the streets
and very few people,

unless they were hardcore fans,
knew who he was.

He was up there. In Japan he was
as big as a Michael Jordan.

You know, he was as big as
a Jonah Lomu in New Zealand.

GLENN: We'd get letters
from people saying,

"Oh, you touched my arm
at the Tokyo Dome,

"and I've never felt confident
in my entire life,

"and you touched me
and I felt that

"you gave me some of your power
and now I've got a new job

"and I'm achieving things
in my life."

I mean, genuine letters
like that.

Mark changed people's lives
in some respects over there.

(CHEERING)

-(GENTLE MUSIC)
-(BIRDS CHIRP)

VICTORIA: When Mark made a
name for himself in the K-1,

we all cheered, but it wasn't
satisfying for Dad.

Dad wasn't pleased

or proud of what Mark
was doing in the ring.

And then I told Mark about it,
Mark was sort of like...

You know, he just expected
some appreciation at least,

or some...it wasn't ego,
it was he just wanted his dad...

He just wanted Dad
to be proud of him.

David Tua bought his parents
a house, you know,

it was the right thing to do,

you know, regardless
of the circumstances.

I bought them a house
before I bought me a house.

(LAUGHS) You know?

I bought them a house
in Papatoetoe.

And, I mean, even then,
they just...he was,

they weren't still happy.

They wanted double-storey,
they want fricking, you know...

They probably wanted, you know,
radars from the roof

and, you know, a rocket ship
to come from the top.

They wanted...
I don't know what it is.

But I just thought
it was a great house,

a good family house

and, most of all,
it was free for them.

It was not...
You know, I paid for it.

(SOMBRE MUSIC)

After I won the world title,
I fell off the wagon.

I was into meth.

Friend of mine was dealing,
I was just hanging out with him.

Just into a time to just party,

you know, eating
shitloads of food

and smoking a whole lot of shit

because I was just
a dumbarse at the time.

(SIGHS) You know, instead of
setting things up,

getting ready for another
onslaught of the next year,

getting the right people
for finance and helping out.

I didn't know that shit,
you know.

Didn't have anyone
saying to me,

"Mark, you've gotta do this
with your finance.

"With your finances,
you gotta do this."

Yeah, that was hard.
That was really hard.

Yeah, just stressed out.

And then we're going through
the court. That was horrible.

That's the first time
I ever saw Mark cry

because he was really upset
about that

and how someone
could rip him off.

Well, I mean, I was in court,

you know, I mean,
I wasn't training.

I didn't know where I was at,

where the loyalty was at
with anybody.

I was ballooned up size.

I just didn't... Do you know
what I mean? I was just at...

..just didn't feel like
doing anything.

You know, what's
the point of fighting

when you get cheated
by these little scumbags

and you have to go
and fight them in court?

Just things weren't
going too well.

-(DARK MUSIC)
-(CHEERING)

MARK: I went back to the
K-1 fight the next year.

I was defending the title.

I won the first fight.

Stefan kicked the shit out
of my leg.

Got my PCL cut.

My leg was battered

and it was all blue and purple.

I couldn't...
Nothing was strong.

So when I fought Jerome, he
kicked it and it just snapped.

COMMENTATOR:Hunt's gotta
throw the big punch.

It's a leg. That's the leg.

(CHEERING AND CHANTING)

COMMENTATOR:Oh, look at
the bruises on that leg.

MARK: So, that was, you know,

the end of my K-1
kickboxing career.

You know, that was
my world title gone

and my...you know,
my everything else gone.

COMMENTATOR: What his other
opponents have not been able

to do to his head and body,
they have done to his leg.

MIKE: I think
Mark had it in him

if he'd stayed on
to become champion again,

maybe...hey, maybe
two or three more times.

Because between 2003 and 2005,

K-1 went through
a little bit of a slump

where Remy Bonjasky
won the championship

against some very mediocre
competition.

I think if Mark was in there,
he would've won that.

(DYNAMIC MUSIC)

MARK: Glenn Elliot calls me.
"Oh, we got an offer for you.

"Pride championships, you know."

"What the hell is that shit?"

"It's mixed martial arts, you
know, they pay you $250,000."

I said, "What, one fight?"

And he goes, "Yeah,
one fight, first fight.

"You sign a contract, the thing
is a five-fight contract

"or three-fight contract
for $250,000 a fight."

I was like, "Bullshit. Give
me a look at that contract."

I never been doing mixed
martial arts, but I signed up.

GLENN: The K-1 was
a crazy thing

that had come out of
boxing, right?

It was like stand-up
and it was striking

and, you know,
it kinda made sense.

This new thing,
it was all like striking

and then everybody's
on the ground

and it gets all Roman,
and what the hell?

But I remember looking at Mark
and looking at this MMA thing

and thinking, "I don't know,
it doesn't look that far away

"from just your standard
lunchtime brawl

"out in South Auckland
schools, you know.

"This is how his...probably
what they do every lunchtime,

"so he should be fine."

MARK: The money was more -
I was getting paid 250,000 US

instead of paid 60,000 US.

At my first
Pride press conference,

they asked me a question,

"Mark, how many hours on
the ground work have you done?"

And I was like just,
"Oh, I had about eight hours."

They all just fucking
shit themselves laughing,

the whole...everyone.

It was a good eight hours,
though.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

MARK: Now, after the first
loss against Yoshida,

I started winning some fights.

Now that I had found
mixed martial arts,

I thought, "Wow, that's another
mountain I gotta climb."

It reignited
my interest.

"Right, I've gotta go
and chase this dream."

STEVE: You know,
physically, he's gifted.

But just look at Mark,

and he just doesn't fit into
any category, mate, you know.

You think he's gonna be slow

and he's gonna be...have no gas.

You know, mate, he's just
the total opposite.

He's got lungs,
you know, for weeks.

And he's so explosive off the
mark, it's amazing, you know.

He's one of the quickest men
I've ever seen.

Mark went to mixed martial arts,
took to it like a duck to water.

And pretty soon he's giving
the likes of Fedor Emelianenko,

the greatest mixed martial arts
fighter in history,

the toughest fight
of his career.

You know, it was phenomenal.

He's giving Wanderlei Silva

one of the toughest fights
of his career.

Mark Hunt!
You know, it was incredible.

And, again, it did wonders
for his popularity

because at that time, Pride was
not only known in Japan,

but Pride had circulated
across the world.

So all of a sudden,

people that didn't know
Mark Hunt the K-1 champion

now knew him as a K-1 champion

and a guy shooting towards
the top of mixed martial arts.

But there was a time in Pride

where he had a loss.

It wasn't a typical Mark
in the ring that night.

It was a Mark that was
going through problems.

He just gave up.

When we were in the room,
the hotel room,

we were having a chat and he
just said to me that, you know,

"My heart's not in it,
you know,

"I think, you know, I might have
one more and call it a day."

I couldn't beat anybody. I mean,
I had middleweights beating me.

I got knocked out
for the first time.

I was battling
a different fight, man.

I was battling not in
the Octagon, or the ring.

I was battling in my mind
and other stuff.

Those results would have
been certainly different

if he had a better management
group around him.

Financially, it was going wrong.
Things weren't going so well.

People were lying about shit.
And I wasn't working.

I didn't have
any more structure,

I was just...doing nothing.

That was a bad time for
Caleb to come live with me.

I was in a bad way.

JULIE: When I met Mark,
he told me that he had kids

but he had nothing
to do with them.

I was like, "They're so cute,
they look like you.

"Let's meet them and
we'll bring them over to Oz.

"You don't have to do anything
with them. I'll do it all.

"I'll take them places,
the zoo and stuff."

But he didn't have much to do
with them the first years.

Caleb always wanted
to go with his dad.

When he was 10, 11,
he went and come live with us.

And I thought, "Oh, this is
gonna be wonderful.

"Mark's gonna finally realise
what it's like to be a dad.

"He's gonna help him."
It was the total opposite.

Didn't have nothing
to do with him.

I was his mum and his dad.

You know, he absolutely
doted his dad.

It was just sad because Mark
just treated him like a friend.

I wasn't a good father.
I mean, I didn't know how to be.

I mean, I was only... (LAUGHS)

I don't know what was going on.

UFC were buying Pride.

And Mark was having a hard time
mentally around who he was,

how he was meant to be
getting paid properly,

and he wasn't winning.

And then the UFC come in
and were like,

"Oh, we want this guy, this guy.

"And by the way,
oh, we don't really...

"You know,
you're not winning and...

"Here's 50k, you can go away."

They didn't want me,
but, you know, to be honest,

to be fair also too,
I don't blame them

because I was on a six,
seven fight losing streak,

and who would want that,
you know?

But that's how I felt, you know.

(COINS RATTLE)

MARK: I just went back
to my old ways.

I was doing the wrong thing,
totally the wrong thing,

doing all sorts of stupid stuff.

I had a gambling addiction -
I had plenty of money now.

Gambling every day,
6,000...18,000 a day,

credit cards, just gambling,
though, you know.

And it just all caught up.

I wasn't making an income anyway
because I wasn't working.

I'd end up borrowing money
off my mum and dad

and not saying what for,
but I'd always pay them back.

But, yeah, he'd come home shitty

so I knew straightaway
he'd lost the money.

Didn't think nothing of it.

Money was just
coming and going,

so he just spent it
like it was...

When you've got nothing,
you just blow it all on crap.

So, yeah.

MARK: You know,
I was in big trouble.

Didn't realise it, though,
but I was in big trouble.

I was always angry,
turning on a dime on anybody.

I was just a real dickhead.

JULIE: We were just going in
to EB Games in Campbelltown.

This guy come up to Mark
and goes, "Let's go,"

and Mark goes, "Alright then."

MARK: I said, "What are
you looking at?"

He said, "You wanna fight?

"Fuck, fight,
ding, ding, ding, ding."

I went, "Alright, motherfucker,
what did you say?"

JULIE: I said, "Mark,
if you do this, I'm gone."

He wasn't gonna
back down to a fight.

My gosh, that would've
made him look weak.

That was the time when
she said, oh, um...

..when she said
she was gonna leave me.

(LAUGHS) Yeah.

So that was an altercation
that I had.

Was one of the last ones -
it was when it wasn't good.

I just gave him the ultimatum -

"If you don't get help,
I'm gonna leave."

And so he started seeing a
psychologist, which was amazing.

She was great -
definitely opened up his eyes

and saw, you know, this isn't
normal and stuff like that.

I used to feel a failure
when I look at this place,

because, you know,
I lost this house.

I failed at making payments.

And, you know, my wife was
crying on the phone.

She was saying,
"Mark, the sheriff's here,

"he's knocking here, he wants
us to get out of the house.

"You have to get out.
Can't afford it here."

She was crying, I was angry,
and I was running out of money

because I was gambling
$20,000 a day.

I was in the lawsuit
with the UFC about employment.

No income,

still living like
I was working, you know,

and, you know, a lot of it...
mostly it was my fault.

All of it.

I made some mistakes here,

but, yeah, no-one told me
how to do things,

so had to do it myself.

Had to fall in the hole,
get back up, do it again.

And, you know, if it wasn't for
my wife ringing me up crying,

saying, "Fuck, the sheriff
just came here, Mark,

"we need the money,"

I wouldn't have taken
the UFC deal.

(DYNAMIC MUSIC)

ARIEL: I was there
at his UFC debut

and that was fascinating

because here we are in
Indianapolis, of all places,

UFC 119,

and he's the first fight
of the night.

You know, so we start
to learn about the story,

like how did Mark Hunt
end up here?

Losing streak, time off.

And he's fighting a guy named
Sean McCorkle.

They're like, "Yeah, you know,
we wanted to get rid of him,

"but he has a contract
and he wants to take his shot."

So, first fight of the night
and it goes horribly for him.

He gets submitted in a matter
of seconds and we all think,

"Alright, it was really cool
to see Mark Hunt in the UFC,

"but that's probably it."

Well, I had to just
keep winning fights from then.

I mean, that contract that I got

was something that
was legally binding,

and I had to
start winning fights.

I won the Tuchscherer fight,

then I started winning
more fights and...

And that's how I came back.

ARIEL: The place just
exploded for Mark.

It was, you know, a walk-off KO,

and it was just brutal
and it was sudden

and it was painful to watch.

The place went nuts.
It was just great.

That was his first UFC win,
so I was like,

"Wow, Mark Hunt is gonna
stick around, it seems."

It was a day fight and
by 3:00 I was mowing the lawns.

JON: The king of
the walk-off knockout.

There's just
nobody like him.

He knows when he lands

that you're not getting up.

And if you do get up,
you really shouldn't get up.

And if you are the referee,

you should probably
stop it down here

because I don't need to give
this man more concussive damage

or knock him out again.

(CHEERING)

Sometimes the knockout punches,

like, it feels like nothing,
like, literally just pillow.

And he's done it
so many times now

that he just knows the feeling.

It's like, "Boom, there it is.
OK. Alright."

JON: December 7, 2013,
Brisbane Entertainment Centre,

we knew we had
a great fight on paper,

but I don't think it was
until the third round

that me and my broadcast
partner Kenny Florian

started to realise just
how special this fight was.

COMMENTATOR: Nice hit
from Silva.

Hunt's under pressure here.

Now Hunt strikes back.

The output that those two men

were able to sustain
over 25 minutes

was really one of
the greater athletic feats

that I have ever seen
from any professional athlete.

COMMENTATOR: Unbelievable.

Hunt just split
Silva's head wide open.

Ah, it's a bloody mess, and
too tough to call in Brisbane.

(CHEERING)

It's a fight
the world's gonna talk about.

I put a lot into that fight,
I mean, it was a great fight.

I used to train
at the American Top Team

with Bigfoot,
he's a nice person.

He ruined that fight by doping.

And I broke my hand,
and I was out for nine months

and I couldn't work.

He got suspended
for nine months,

and then he was still
competing before I was.

He was cheating and I wasn't.

And that's an unfair
playing field.

It ruined the fight,

it just ruined
everything.

(PULSING MUSIC)

Well, I was adamant that I was
gonna go and train my arse off

to fight Bigfoot
for the rematch.

ALEX: You know,
Mark's a good Samoan boy

and he loves his food.

I think the record's 33 kilos

that we've had to
get off before a fight.

That was about 14 weeks out.

But as I say, it's sort of
one of those things

that potentially has actually
given him longevity

because he's letting
his body rest in between.

He gets grumpy a lot when
he has to lose some weight

and not eating carbs.

And he gets really, really
grumpy in training,

and, you know, sometimes
he throws tantrums -

"No, don't wanna do this,
I wanna do that," you know.

But that's because of, you know,
he doesn't get to eat

his favourite cakes
or carbohydrate sweet stuff.

You know, one day
we were getting food

and we pulled into KFC
and he's like,

"Oh, can I have
a chicken 10-piece pack,

"two bottles of drink
and two fries?"

And then he looks at me,
"What do you want, Hape?"

ARIEL: His fight against
Bigfoot Silva, the first one,

one of the greatest fights
I've ever seen.

They fought to a draw,
somewhat marred

by Bigfoot's post-fight
drug test failure.

But the second fight
against Bigfoot Silva,

UFC 193 in Melbourne,
was incredible.

COMMENTATOR: It's a hard
right hand that's rocked Silva.

It's all Hunt tonight.

Another walk-off KO
for the big man.

MARK: And when
he wasn't cheating,

he didn't even last one round.

You know, you take away
their steroid use,

they just become
average fighters again.

They shouldn't be up here
with the elite.

The UFC has gone to
great lengths to clean this up

with USADA,
the US Anti-Doping Agency.

Now, certainly for Mark Hunt,
it's been unfortunate.

MARK: What I didn't
realise that...

..that cheating
was an issue...for me.

But, you know, as you learn,

as you go on through things,
you learn these things

and then you realise -
what are you gonna do?

Trying to do what's right,

you know, coming from the bad
side of, you know, an ex-con,

to trying to do
the right thing these days

as a productive
member of society,

I only felt there was only
one way to go with this.

REPORTER: UFC superstar
Brock Lesnar

has been suspended for a year.

On Thursday, the Nevada State
Athletic Commission announced

that along with the suspension,
Lesnar will be fined $250,000

for testing positive
to two banned substances.

MARK: Yeah, man, yeah.
Grab a photo, yeah.

-Thanks. An honour to meet you.
-MARK: See ya, bro, see ya.

REPORTER: The fine
is equal to 10%

of Lesnar's $2.5 million payday
from the fight.

MARK: I'm always about
being even,

and especially when it's
concerning people's health.

You know, this business
is the hurt business

and people get hurt,
they could die.

And when you're cheating and
you're putting hurt on someone,

it's a harsh enough sport and
reality in the world as it is.

It's hard when
you are a clean athlete

and have been
for your whole career,

when you're fighting guys

who you presume
even before the contest,

like Mark Hunt against
Lesnar at UFC 200,

to be not just dirty but filthy.

CHRISTINA: Brock Lesnar's purse
for UFC 200 was 2.5 million.

His pay-per-view proceeds

are estimated to be
between 3 and 5 million.

So in Brock's case,
he was fined $250,000,

which is 10% of
his $2.5 million purse,

and he got to keep all
of his pay-per-view proceeds.

Mark took home 700,000
that evening.

He'd like to have a provision
in all bout agreements

that if his opponent is found

to have been using
a banned substance,

that the cheating opponent

would have to forfeit
all of his prize money,

including any other
monetary gain received.

He believes all that

should go to the person
who wasn't cheating.

He fights for a living,
so he felt it was important

to stand up for himself and for
other fighters who fight clean.

(THUMP!)

(FLOWING PIANO MUSIC)

(BIRDSONG)

-CHILD: Dad!
-MARK: Yeah!

MARK: I've got a family to feed,
and I've got a...

You know, my job is just
different from others.

-BOY: Snap.
-I said it before you.

-I said it before you, I won.
-Same time. Same time.

Share, equal, equal. Snap!

JULIE: Definitely
does it for the kids.

I mean, I think he'd be lost
without family.

Like, when we first met,
his first words were,

"I don't want kids,
I don't wanna get married,

"I'm never gonna get a house,
I don't want a girlfriend."

And, hello, we're married, four
kids, or six, including his.

Caleb's such a good kid,

like he's so respectful,
he'll do anything for you.

He's a good kid.
He's good with our kids.

And now he goes, yeah,
everywhere with Mark now.

MARK: I'm just trying to set
a good example for my kids,

and I feel that's my duty.

You know, don't get me wrong,
I've made shitloads of mistakes.

I've made plenty of mistakes
in my time. Plenty.

(LAIDBACK MUSIC)

MARK: They've asked me to
fight Barnett in Melbourne.

I said no, because
they wouldn't put my clause in.

And the clause was just to...

..so if he's caught doping,
the money comes from him.

Two days later, the guy pops
for steroids, fuckin' hell.

And then after that they offered
to fight again in Canada,

I said yes to the fight, but
they've gotta put a clause in,

and they wouldn't do that.

CHRISTINA: Mark had already
turned down a few fights,

and the UFC sent a letter to me

threatening that
if Mark didn't fight,

that he was going to be
in breach of his contract.

(COOL MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: Next, we move to thenmain card, live on pay-per-view,

Alistair Overeem vs Mark Hunt.

(CHEERING)

Official weight - 265
for the Super Samoan.

ARIEL: He accepts a fight
with Alistair Overeem

and I'm thinking,
"Wait a second, what happened

"to all these things
that you were asking for?"

Especially Overeem,
who has a history

with this sort of thing,
unfortunately.

"Did you just drop all that?
I know you have to make money."

I was like, "Wow."
I was a little disappointed.

Official weight, 256
for The Reem.

CHRISTINA: After Mark accepted
the Alistair Overeem fight,

he felt backed in a corner
because he didn't get

the provision that he wanted
in his bout agreement.

He felt like he had
no choice but to sue.

So we filed a lawsuit
on his behalf in federal court

against the UFC,
Dana White and Brock Lesnar.

Mark's lawsuit includes several
different causes of action

against the defendants.

ANNOUNCER:Mark Hunt
and Alistair Overeem,

ladies and gentlemen!

REPORTER:Alright,
what are your thoughts

on fighting
Alistair Overeem again?

I don't like Alistair Overeem.

I think he's a cheater.

And I guess this gives me
an opportunity to beat him up.

And only until I lost against
Brock is when I realised

this isn't about winning
or losing or beating cheaters,

it's about, you know,
people's lives.

It's a whole lot of different
things going on. It's unfair.

He's trying to make
a new sort of pathway

for these young fighters

because it's giving
a wrong message across.

You know, kids that are wanting
to get involved within sport,

it's not the best message
to sort of promote,

"Hey, if you wanna fight within
MMA sports, you've gotta cheat."

I think drugs and steroids
in sport,

especially fighting sport
because you're hurting someone,

is important and I think
needs to be addressed

like one of the high priorities,
like, one.

JOHN: What he's asking
makes a lot of sense.

It's kinda funny when you think
about it - a guy misses weight,

he has to give
part of his money to you.

But a guy gets busted for taking
steroids and we just move on.

REPORTER: He's kind of
on a crusade

to get drugs out of the sport.

What do you say about that?

Well, what I say
about it is that,

again, I appreciate
his efforts,

but this is something
between him and the UFC.

The UFC has a very stringent
drug test policy.

I fully support that,
I'm in that program,

and I have to give
my whereabouts 24/7.

You know,
Mark feels that, you know,

because he's fought guys
who've tested positive

that he should receive their
money or whatever the deal is.

That has nothing to do with me.

That's with the
athletic commission.

And as far as testing goes,

there's no organisation
in sports

that you could be in
that test better than we do.

I mean, with the USADA program,
guys are gonna pop.

Guys are gonna try to cheat,
guys are gonna...

But guys will get caught -
it's part of the deal.

REPORTER: How do you take
these very vitriolic things

Mark's saying about you?

What is he exactly saying?

REPORTER: So basically
he's accused you

of being a drug cheat, you know,
a needle taker, etc, etc.

That's what he said
in the press.

-Yeah.
-What do you think of it?

How would you respond to that?

Well, I'm focused on the
positive. I'm a positive guy.

He is on a bit of a crusade,
but that's Mark Hunt, right?

Once he gets behind something,
he's gonna stick with it.

That's just his personality.
That's who he is.

And, listen,
I think it's great.

Here's a guy that,
such a fantastic story.

You go to the backstory
of him coming to the UFC,

and them saying, "Hey, we'll
just pay you to walk away."

And, you know, him accomplishing
what he's accomplished -

become a fan favourite just with
his style, his whole attitude.

And now he's got
kind of a mission.

I think this is something
that's important because

if he's able to accomplish
what he wants to accomplish -

and, granted, it's a little bit
of an odd way to do it,

to sue Dana White,
to sue Brock Lesnar,

but, man, if he can get
something accomplished,

he could be very important to
the entire future of the sport.

ARIEL: I wish that they could
sit down and figure this out,

because I think Mark Hunt
is an important part of the UFC.

This is such
an unprecedented thing.

Here's a guy competing
for an organisation

that he's actively suing.

This is not normal. (LAUGHS)

But nothing with Mark has been
normal in his UFC career.

What happens when he starts
losing fights, you know?

He might be on
the first train out.

So this is a really important
fight for Mark Hunt.

But if he loses this fight,
then loses another,

you know, he's in his 40s now,

do they just say, you know,
he's not worth the trouble?

It's possible.

MAN 1: Gotta get through
the Samoan.

MAN 2: Let's do it, Mark.
This is it. It's why we're here.

(CHEERING)

COMMENTATOR:Here we go.
Good footwork from The Reem.

Now a big right hand.

It's turning ugly for Mark Hunt.

Oh, he's down.

MAN: He's a big
fucking unit, though.

Mark's not a type
to make excuses,

but first couple minute
I watch the fight,

I knew he had injury.

Course, it was clarified
by Zen and the boys

that, yeah, he did, in fact,
have injuries.

Well, the next fight's gonna be
a very, very tough fight.

Derrick Lewis is a beast

and he's probably the strongest
in the UFC at the moment.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

MAN: Action.

Super Samoan vs the Black Beast.

June 11, Sky Sport.

Catch the best... Catch
the best live action.. Is it?

Champions, warriors and legends,
live on Fan Pass Pay-Per-View.

Catch me for the first time
fighting in my home town,

live on Sky Sport.

Super Sa... Super Samoan vs...

"Catch me outside,
how 'bout that?" Hss! Hss! Hss!

(CAMERAS CLICK)

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
Derrick Lewis and Mark Hunt.

BRIAN: If I had to
fight Mark Hunt,

this is not the place
I'd wanna fight him.

He's coming off a loss
and he's mad.

He's mad about the people
he's been fighting.

He's mad about things that
have happened to him.

It's not a great time
to take on Mark Hunt.

..coming out, man,
appreciate it.

Derrick Lewis is an
interesting guy in that

he looks one way, right,
he looks so intimidating.

The way he fights,
people would be scared of him.

He's got a trick up his sleeve.

I'm still renegotiating
my contract

just to fight Mark,
so I'm happy with that.

MARK: You know, I do believe
Derrick isn't a cheater.

I give him respect, you know,
because he's from the hood also.

Well, you know, he's in
the heavyweight division.

I've been saying this
over and over all the time -

it doesn't take much
from a heavyweight

just to land one punch,

so he has just as much
advantage, as the same as I do.

For Mark, I think
having the hometown crowd,

some of those pressures -
he's got a lot of people,

a lot of family
coming to this fight.

When you're at this stage of
the career for Mark Hunt where

he's done everything, he doesn't
have anything left to prove.

MARK: This is where I started
not too long,

just down on K' Road there.

I was just over in Raro, paying
homage to my first trainer.

And coming to fight here,
like started here,

like I said, may be
the last time here, it's fine.

Me getting my hand raised,
either if it's an ugly way

or a pretty way,
it's going to happen.

MARK: It's gonna be good
in front of friends and family.

It's gonna be a great show.

And, first time here in
the big show, in the big show,

so, you know, in good old
little New Zealand, so, yeah.

MAN: I love the way he fights.

I've been following him
since K-1 and Pride.

He's had a few fights in
Auckland, I understand, but...

(LAUGHTER)

..he's never
fought professionally

here in New Zealand.

ZEN: He's in a good headspace.

Sometimes, you know, he'll get
sort of frustrated again

with the whole UFC saga.

Trying to keep him focused.

And, you know, we're looking
at maybe four fights left

and then that's pretty much, you
know, his retirement after that.

MARK: There's always nerves
as it's a different battle,

but, you know,
here we are again.

We ask to keep his mind calm and
sharp at the same time, Lord.

We ask you to protect and
everyone else tonight, Lord.

We ask you, Lord, to give us
wisdom in the corner

so we can pass it on

and give you this glory in
the holy name of Jesus Christ.

-MARK: Amen.
-Hear that, boys?

MARK: I mean, if I don't
win this fight,

I might as well retire,
just stay retired.

Because, I mean,
I have no business

if I cannot beat this guy.

(LOUD CHEERING)

COMMENTATOR: Big right hand
from Hunt.

They're trading blows.

-Oh! Hunt's hurt Lewis!
-(CHEERING)

It's a TKO!

Hometown victory for Hunt.
The crowd love it.

MAN: For Samoa!

Oh, thank God he won.

Oh, he's looking good, he's
not injured, which is great.

So we wanted...

-Thanks a lot, darling.
-MAN: Jules.

-MARK: Are we right?
-MAN: Yep, yep.

I get the cheques. (LAUGHS)

Jeez, I get my own seat.
Wow. That's pretty cool.

REPORTER: Well, Mark,
congratulations

on a big victory
for you tonight.

MARK: I've been doing this a
long time. I started kickboxing.

I had my first fight about
a K down the road from here,

ever, in a ring, at Muay Thai.

So to be back here with the
biggest company in the world,

UFC, in a different sport
is pretty amazing,

especially being the oldest guy,
the oldest guy fighting.

So, you know, 43 years old and,
you know, still getting it done.

You know, why not see the
contract out and then retire?

Well, I'm not slurring my speech
and I'm still alive,

so you can't kill me yet, man.

The old dog is still going, man.

Yeah, nah, I mean, I just...
I'm doing what I'm doing.

I'm still beating
the top end guys.

I said if I can't start beating
these guys, then I would retire,

you know, if these guys
are too good for me.

But, you know, I don't like
listening to anyone saying,

"You can't do this,
can't do this,"

otherwise I wouldn't
be a fighter.

REPORTER: You took a stand,
you've been on this thing -

we've gotta get steroids
out of the sport.

If you take away the money,
they wouldn't do it.

It's just a clause
in the contract

saying the cheater
doesn't benefit at all -

because right now
it pays to cheat.

REPORTER: Mark,
amazing win tonight.

I just wanna know
what's gonna be

the go-to meal tonight
after the weigh-in.

-What a smart prick you are.
-(LAUGHTER)

I've got some Polynesian food
at the gym, waiting. I love it.

I was gonna take my boys
out to have some KFC,

some steak
and cheese pies maybe.

Maybe a couple of long donuts.
That'd be nice.

(LAUGHTER)

-It's all here.
-(APPLAUSE)

I still feel like I'm one of
the best fighters in the world.

I wanna finish my career happy
and compete fiercely.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

LOLO: I'm proud, I mean,
you know, everybody's happy.

But it's good for Mark,
you know.

With all the dramas

and all the challenges
we've gone through

and still be able to come on top
and then have the last say.

You know...you know,
it's awesome.

Yeah, awesome, yeah.

It was quite scary
to watch, actually.

I don't like
watching them at all.

I'm glad it's over and
everything turned out good

and no-one got injured
and...fight of the night.

Ha ha ha!

We were gonna have
a little celebration anyway

because some of our kids
did well in the Golden Gloves.

And then tonight,
of course,

the big bonus with Mark
take out Lewis - yeah!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MARK: Family's everything
to me - I do this for money

because I love my family
and I want my kids to have

better advantages than I had,
more opportunities.

I want them to have better
options in life than I did.

That's why, I think,
a lot of parents do this.

A lot of people, a lot of
parents get up and go to work

because they love their family.

Heavenly Father,
we thank you for tonight.

And we just thank you for

the grace you've given
over this entire event,

and over Mark and his family.

And just thank you
for such a good night.

We ask you to bless our lives
in Jesus' mighty name.

-Amen.
-OTHERS: Amen.

I am not with my ex...
with Jules now.

We are separated.
That's been hard.

Fighting's taken a toll
on my life.

I made a lot of sacrifices,

spent a lot of time
away from my children.

I want my kids to be good,
productive members of society.

I don't want them
to be criminal,

a little criminal thief
like I was,

I want them to be
good members of society

and do the right thing.

That's all I want.
I don't care what they do.

Just do good for the community,
do good for themselves,

and, um, yeah, that's all.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

(MEN CHANT
IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)

-(YELLS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
-(MEN YELL)

(MEN PERFORM HAKA)

(INSPIRING MUSIC)