I'm looking at his record...when they got him he was 5-6 on a five fight losing streak. Is it just his "name" & from beating Mirko & Wanderlei? Not bashing him at all. He's becoming a much better mixed martial artist & is fun to watch. This just confused me.
He was part of the Pride deal. When the UFC absorbed Pride...Mark Hunt was part of the package. They actually wanted him to stay at home and they would pay him for doing nothing.....but he chose to come over and earn his living.
Dana explained it once. The contract he signed with Pride extended to the UFC when they bought them out, and they honored it by giving him the fights Good fucking thing
When they bought Pride he still had a 2-3 fight contract with Pride and the UFC automatically obtained it, they wanted to simply pay him his money and send him on hos way but he insisted that he wanted to earn it and fight, Because of the legality of the contract the UFC owed Mark fights so they had to do whatever he wanted
Dana tried to pay him NOT to fight. You can't stop the legend that is Mark Hunt* *assuming no submission holds rules in effect.
It's in the UFC fine print, anyone who can take a Cro Cop head kick and remain conscious gets a chance at the big show. Cro Cop is now employed by the UFC, each day 100's of young hopefuls congregate to test their chins and stake their claim. It's known in the industry as 'population control'.
Cause he's bad ass. Also, his record looks bad but most of his losses were against pretty stiff competition for a new MMA fighter... Fedor, Barnett, Overeem, Manhoef, Mousasi. That's like murderers row. Anyways he's been doing well in the UFC so it worked out fine
Crocop was top 3 HW at that point having just won the Pride GP. He was fucking bad ass but completely changed in the UFC. I've never seen anything like it.
His Pride contract wasnt up. They were required to give him a fight. He is lucky how things turned out.
