UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt Retro Recap

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Fred Richani’s rapid recap of UFC Fight Night 65 in Adelaide, Australia, streamed live on UFC Fight Pass and headlined by Stipe Miocic vs. Mark Hunt.

UFC Fight Night Review

Adapted from the episode and edited for clarity and brevity. Listen above for the full review.

This was an exciting event with a great crowd and a lot of finishes, but the main event was disgraceful on many levels. Stipe Miocic looked like a million bucks, taking Mark Hunt down repeatedly, beating him up and winning by TKO at 2:47 of the fifth round.

Hunt showed the heart of a champion, but by the third round, Miocic was landing what looked like 30 or 40 unanswered punches. The referee should have stopped it then. Hunt’s corner sent him out for the fourth with his eyes nearly swollen shut, and even Dana White tweeted that the fight should be stopped. The doctor asked Hunt if he could honestly see, as if a man who had taken that much damage could answer. Hunt is 41, has a family and has made good money. Someone should have protected him.

Miocic did his job in his first fight since a close loss to Junior dos Santos in December, which I thought dos Santos won. People don’t finish Mark Hunt, let alone beat him up like that, so Miocic is in a good spot in the heavyweight title picture. Hunt has one win in his last five fights, including losses to dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum and his draw with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, which some called the greatest heavyweight fight of all time. If I’m someone who cares about Hunt, I tell him to retire.

Robert Whittaker knocked out Brad Tavares in 44 seconds for the biggest win of his career, Sean O’Connell stopped Anthony Perosh in 56 seconds and James Vick submitted Jake Matthews with a guillotine choke in the first round. On the prelims, Dan Hooker upset Hatsu Hioki with a head kick in the second round, and Sam Alvey stopped Daniel Kelly in 49 seconds. The bonuses went to Whittaker, Vick, Hooker and Alex Chambers, and I don’t know how Miocic didn’t get one.

Editor’s note: Miocic won the UFC heavyweight title from Werdum at UFC 198 in May 2016.