Now cleared, Mark Hunt doesn’t know why ‘Werdum doesn’t want to party’

It’s been a bit of an odyssey for Mark Hunt to get declared fighting fit again, but now that he is he’s looking for a spot on the upcoming UFC PPV in Australia.

Mark Hunt’s journey through UFC medical prudence seems to be coming to an end. The Australia-based heavyweight star has had to put his career on ice for the past two months following concerns over possible CTE related symptoms. The decision from the UFC to pull Hunt, from a planned headlining bout set for November, caused a stir among fans and pundits. With reactions divided as to whether the promotion’s caution was warranted or not.

However, following an apparently more rigorous series of tests, Hunt has once again been cleared to compete. And as he told Australia’s Sporting News, he’s got his sights set on UFC 221 in Perth, on the undercard of Robert Whittaker’s first middleweight title defense. He even has a familiar opponent picked out. The man who replaced him in November against Marcin Tybura, “little chicken rat” Fabricio Werdum.

“I don’t know why Werdum doesn’t want to party,” he said.

“We asked to do Japan, we asked to do Sydney and he said no. Then the next minute gets the fight against Tybura.

“He said ‘no’ to me, but 'yes' to Tybura, the little rat.”

Although Hunt sounds like he’d be interested in fighting just about anyone in the top 10, to his eye Werdum is the only man who appears to be available.

“Hopefully they’ll give me someone in the top 10 – someone above me – and all I can see is that Werdum is the only one available. I don’t know what’s happening with Cain – he hasn’t fought in forever. Alistair (Overeem) is still looking for his soul somewhere after getting upper-cutted out of the universe, and Ngannou’s got the title shot.

“If I can get over Werdum, I should be next in line to fight the champ. I could be champ by next year.

“Now it’s just about getting Werdum to say yes.”

That may be a difficult task, however. As Werdum bluntly expressed his disinterest in a rematch back in August, citing that he “didn’t want to hurt [Hunt] again,” as well as complaints about the prohibitive travel costs of going all the way to Australia to take fights. Werdum did end up in Australia, fighting Marcin Tybura in Hunt’s place, but would he be willing to go back ‘Down Under’ to fight a man he’s already beat?

UFC 221 takes place on February 11th in Perth, Western Australia. The card is expected to be headlined by a bout between newly promoted middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and his first title challenger, former champion Luke Rockhold.