Back in 2017, two absolute behemoths clashed in the UFC when the promotion returned to New Zealand for just the third time.
Over the past few years, MMA in Oceania has grown exponentially with the rise of fighters like Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski and many more.
However, one of the first fighters from the Oceanic region to make their mark in the UFC was heavyweight boogeyman, Mark Hunt.
Following some huge fights against the likes of Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, and Alistair Overeem, the ‘Super Samoan’ was given the opportunity to headline the UFC’s return to New Zealand against Derrick Lewis on June 10, 2017.
Mark Hunt beat Derrick Lewis with bizarre finish in front of his hometown crowd
Following his exit from the UFC in 2018, Hunt returned to boxing and scored a brutal KO in 2022, which left Joe Rogan shocked.
Before that, though, the ‘Super Samoan’ completed the wholesome feat of scoring a big win in front of his hometown crowd in New Zealand.
After an extremely impressive six-fight win streak, ‘The Black Beast’ was given a big heavyweight fight against Hunt, and a win would have likely put him ever closer to a title shot.
Both known for their sheer size in the Octagon, the two behemoths weighed in at 265lbs each, combining for a whopping 530lbs.
Early in the fight it became clear that Lewis was going to fight Hunt on the outside and wait for him to dictate the pace before attempting to blast him with a huge counter shot.
In round two, Lewis caught Hunt with a brutal eye-poke and he recently admitted that he cheats in most of his UFC fights because he knows there will be no repercussions. At the end of the round, Hunt caught Lewis with a huge elbow which almost led to a finish early on.
Despite that, ‘The Black Beast’ lasted until round four before he crumbled under the pressure of the heavy-hitting Hunt.
After attempting to hit the Kiwi with a jumping knee, Lewis caused himself an injury and slowly began to retreat back to the cage before being met with a barrage of punches from Hunt which led to the stoppage.
Derrick Lewis announced his retirement following loss to Hunt
Following the fight, Lewis revealed that he had been fighting for several fights with a debilitating lower back injury.
And because of his recurring injury, the Texan announced after the fight that he was likely going to retire from the sport.
“That’s probably my last fight, I’m getting married next week and I don’t like to put my family through all of this, that’ll be my last fight in the UFC,” Lewis said.
Fortunately, though, it wasn’t Lewis’ last fight in the UFC and since then, he has gone on to fight 17 times and now holds the record for the most finishes in UFC history.