The fact that Mark Hunt is in this very position in right now in his career is simply incredible. If we look at the nature of combat sports, the shelf life of the athletes, particularly those competing at high levels, is not long. Continuous physical punishment in both the ring/cage and the gym combined with the unavoidable deterioration brought on by age, leads to a very high turnover rate. The fact the Bernard Hopkins is still competing and winning at the championship level is astonishing.

Which brings us back to the Super Samoan. The man is 39 years old, has a high level kick boxing career that spanned the better part of ten years from 1999-2008, and has been in there with the likes of Jerome Le Banner, Ernesto Hoost, and Mirko Cro Cop. These guys hit really hard in case you’re wondering.

In the midst of all this, beginning in 2004, Hunt jumped into the deep end of the MMA pool and began competing in Pride, arguably the leading MMA promotion at the time, and fought the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelienenko. Coming into his UFC debut in 2010 against Sean McCorkle, Hunt was on a five fight skid, and ended up losing that fight via submission. If there was one thing was clear at the point, it was that Mark Hunt was over the hill, forever labeled as a power puncher with zero grappling defense.

And yet here we are today, Hunt has won his last four fights, three of which have come via TKO or KO. He no longer has a losing MMA record and is set to take on Junior Dos Santos in Saturday’s UFC’s co-main event, the winner of which presumably getting the next shot at the heavyweight belt. Hunt has clearly improved his MMA game and has a large rally behind him as he surges up the UFC heavyweight ranks. The question is though, how did he get here?

Mark Hunt has clearly improved his grappling game, at least defensively, but I think what is more important is that he’s adapted his striking game to MMA. Yes he has the high level K1 training, so he is a good technical striker yet he hadn’t had the defensive to continually word off the clinch and take downs of his opponents, so he has developed his counter striking game.

Hunt forces his opponents to chase him. He’s forever been at a height and reach disadvantage, so he’s used to having to throw his strikes at different angles when he enters to have them connect, predominately over the top. Hunt holds his lead left hand low, inviting opponents to throw their own right hands. He has the head movement to avoid the incoming blow and loops the counter left hook over the extend right of his opponent. He caught Cheick Kongo this way, which eventually lead to a TKO, and he repeatedly tagged Ben Rothwell with counter shots as Ben continued to charge forward. The placement of the lead hand also deters the take down, as the counter under hook is better set up.

Hunt also holds his right hand out in front of his chin, rather than right next to right side of his jaw as most MMA and Kickboxing fighters tend to do. This hand is actively parrying, negating the counter jab of his opponent. It allows Hunt to rely more on his lead hand counter, which is a faster strike than the rear hand cross-counter. In addition to this, Hunt has developed a short right uppercut, that he will use to tag opponents if they change levels to shoot. A great example of this is his KO win of Chris Tuchscherer.

One of the most amazing things about Mark Hunt is that at 39 years old he still has that iron chin of his. You can hit that guy with a shovel and he’ll still be standing there. I remember watching him take Cro Cop’s shin square to the face in their K1 contest and not lose consciousness  Hunt has been taking significant shots like that his entire career and is still able to absorb punishment–punishment that is inflicted now by opponents wearing smaller gloves.

I think what makes the Super Samoan a true fan favourite is his incredible honesty. He believes it when he says that he can beat anyone in world. That honesty ingratiates him with the fans and gives him incredible confidence in his abilities, and that shows in his fights. He’s a fighter by nature, that’s what he was put here to do. He would certainly welcome the shot at the belt, but leading up to this fight, and his fight with Struve, all that did not seem important, he just wants to fight. His devotion to his faith and his family only help to add to increase that image.

Some would argue that this fight is Dos Santo’s to lose. He has all the tools to dominate in every aspect of the fight. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him a bit gun-shy after his last fight with Cain. The stage is certainly set for an upset. Regardless of the outcome, Mark Hunt has successfully reignited his career, and done so honestly. He connects with the fans and comes to fight every time, period.

Colish make $8,000 for his losing performance against Gleison Tibau at UFC on FX 8 but admits that the sum barely covers his costs for licensing fees, training camps and partners, medical tests and his management. This prompted Colish to speak out on twitter as well as Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour.

Colish tweeted a picture last night regarding an email he had received from ZUFFA detailing the hefty Brazilian and American taxes that are applied to his salary.

It appears that apart from his training camp costs, Colish will be required to sacrifice at least 27% of his payment in Brazilian taxes.

Cain Velasquez vs. Bigfoot Silva

JDS vs. Mark Hunt

Glover Teixeira vs. James Te Huna

Palelei took to twitter to inform his fans that he would no longer be facing Miocic at UFC 161:

The injury 2 Barao caused the @ufc 2 make sum changes 2 #UFC161 & has left me w/o an opponent. Sorry #HulkGladiators! I will be back soon!

— Soa The Hulk Palelei (@soathehulk) May 22, 2013

After a unanimous decision win over Joey Beltran, Stipe would go on to KO fellow heavyweights Phil De Fries and Shane Del Rosario to cement himself as a legitimate threat in the heavyweight division before having his hype train derailed by Dutch striker Stefan Struve. The Golden Gloves champ and NCAA Divison I wrestler will be looking to get back in the win column with a big win over fan favourite Soa.

Roy Nelson picked up his third consecutive 1st round KO/TKO win back at UFC 159 with a quick finish over Cheick Kongo. While he has originally been set as the replacement for the JDS/Hunt co-main event if Mark Hunt was unable to get his work visa to the United States but will now meet Team Strongstyle heavyweight Stipe Miocic on the main portion of the Winnipeg card.

With an 8-fight win streak with seven ending in the 1st round via KO/TKO, “The Hulk” quickly became a fan favourite on the regional circuit. After a disappointing debut in the UFC, Palelei was released from the organization which forced him to re-evaluate his lifestyle and make drastic changes to improve upon himself as a fighter. He would later go 9-1 in the regional circuit losing only to Strikeforce Grand-Prix champ Daniel Cormier and accumulating thousands of new fans along the way. While he was expected to face Stipe Miocic in his UFC debut, he is now on standby as a replacement opponent.

UFC 161 takes place June 15th at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The loss of the bantamweight title fight is a significant blow to the UFC’s debut event in Winnipeg, Manitoba. With less than 4 weeks until the event, the organization is unlikely to find a suitable replacement for Wineland.

Rashad Evans is riding the fight 2-fight losing streak in his entire professional career after back-to-back losses to current light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones followed by a major upset loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The former champ will be looking to get back to his winning ways when he takes on Henderson on June 15th.

Dan Henderson is also coming off a loss in his last octagon outing, a decision loss to Lyoto Machida back at UFC 157. The loss snapped a four-fight win streak that dates back to December 2010. The former PRIDE tow-division champ will be looking to get back in the win column and closer to the elusive title shot when he meet Evans at UFC 161.

The new main event is expected to be a three-round affair.

UFC 161 takes place Saturday, June 15, 2013, at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Vitor Belfort continued his win streak with a magnificent TKO win over Luke Rockhold early in the first round. The Brazilian caught the former Strikeforce middleweight champion with a spinning heel kick and finished him off with strikes before the referee mercifully called a stop to the contest.

Watch the highlights from the evening’s main event below:

Attendance: 7,642

Knockout of the Night – Vitor Belfort
Submission of the Night – Jacare Souza
Fight of the Night – Lucas Martins vs. Jeremy Larsen

Each competitor won $50,000 for their efforts

Vitor Belfort continued his win streak with a magnificent TKO win over Luke Rockhold early in the first round. The Brazilian caught the former Strikeforce middleweight champion with a spinning heel kick and finished him off with strikes before the referee mercifully called a stop to the contest.

Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza made an impressive UFC debut, finishing Chris Camozzi with an slick first round arm-triangle to notch up his first octagon win.

Lucas Martin and Jeremy Larsen put on an outstanding three round performance in the opening bout on the card and succeeded in getting the Brazilian crowd fired up for the rest of the night.

Check back here at 4:30 pm Eastern time for live, updated coverage throughout the night.

Main Card: (9 pm ET)
Vitor Belfor vs. Luke Rockhold via TKO (Head Kick & Strikes, 2:32. Round 1)
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Chris Camozzi via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke, 2:32, Round 1)
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Rafael Natal vs. Joao Zeferino via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card: (6 p.m. EST)
Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Francisco Trinaldo def. Mike Rio via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke, Round 2)
Gleison Tibau def. John Cholish vis Submission (Guillotine Choke, Round 2)
Paulo Thiago def. Michel Prazeres via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
Yuri Alcantara def. Iliarde Santos via TKO (Strikes, 2:31, Round 1)
Fabio Maldonado def. Roger Hollett via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-27)

Facebook Prelims: (4:30 p.m. EST)
John Lineker def. Azamat Gashimov via TKO (Strikes, 1:07, Round 2)
Jussier Formiga def. Chris Cariaso via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
Lucas Martins def. Jeremy Larsen via KO (Strikes,  0:13, Round 3)

The UFC released an official statement on their website regarding the situation:

“UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has received an immediate 90-day suspension and $20,000 fine for violating the UFC’s fighter code of conduct. The language used in his tweet was regrettable, offensive and inconsistent with the values and culture of the organization, and is not tolerated. The money will be donated to charity.”

The suspension stems from a derogatory tweet Diaz put out on Thursday afternoon in reference to Pat Healy’s suspension.

“I feel bad for Pat Healy that they took a innocent mans money and I think the guy who took the money is the biggest f** in the world”

Watch the replay below:

Main Card: (9 pm ET)
Vitor Belfort (186) vs. Luke Rockhold (186)
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (186) vs. Chris Camozzi (186)
Rafael dos Anjos (156) vs. Evan Dunham (156)
Rafael Natal (186) vs. Joao Zeferino (185)

Preliminary Card: (6 p.m. EST)
Hacran Dias (146) vs. Nik Lentz (146)
Francisco Trinaldo (154) vs Mike Rio (156)
Gleison Tibau (156) vs. John Cholish (156.2) *
Paulo Thiago (170) vs. Michel Prazeres (171)
Yuri Alcantara (136) vs. Iliarde Santos (134)
Fabio Maldonado (205) vs. Roger Hollett (204)

Facebook Prelims: (4:30 p.m. EST)
John Lineker (126) vs. Azamat Gashimov (126)
Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Chris Cariaso (126)
Lucas Martins (153) vs. Jeremy Larsen (155)