Mark Hunt might be preparing for a scheduled bout at UFC 209 against Alistair Overeem, but his biggest upcoming fight will take place in a courtroom.
The UFC heavyweight knockout artist announced earlier this week he has filed a civil lawsuit against Brock Lesnar, UFC president Dana White and Zuffa, LLC.
Hunt fought Lesnar on short notice this past summer at UFC 200. Lesnar won a dominant unanimous decision at the July 9 event in Las Vegas but it was revealed less than a week after the event the WWE superstar had failed multiple drug tests.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which is in charge of testing UFC athletes, was not named in the lawsuit.
Lesnar tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene in an out-of-competition urine test that was administered on June 28, 2016, according to USADA. Lesnar also tested positive for clomiphene during a test conducted on fight night, July 9, at UFC 200.
The 39-year-old was suspended one year and fined $250,000—which works out to 10 per cent of his guaranteed $2.5-million purse—by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) in December as part of a settlement with Nevada’s attorney general office. USADA also handed Lesnar a one-year sanction on Jan. 4.
“I am suing Lesnar and the UFC for his entire purse,” Hunt told his website. “Cheaters deserve nothing.”
It’s not simply the fact Lesnar failed multiple drug tests that has Hunt fuming. In the lawsuit (which if you love legal jargon, you can read in its entirety), Hunt is essentially accusing the UFC of conspiring with Lesnar ahead of UFC 200 knowing Lesnar wasn’t clean. Hunt also wasn’t satisfied with the repercussions, which didn’t occur until after both the UFC and Lesnar made millions off the fight. Hunt made a disclosed $700,000 at UFC 200 (not including any sponsorship dollars or undisclosed post-fight bonuses he received).
Lesnar, after being retired from MMA for nearly five years, announced his comeback on June 4. USADA typically requires an athlete coming out of retirement to submit to testing for four months before a UFC competition. However, Lesnar did not have to do this because the UFC holds the right to waive the four-month requirement under certain circumstances.
The explanation can be found in section 5.7.1 of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
This exemption raised many red flags.
Prior to the fight, Hunt wasn’t shy about the fact he suspected Lesnar was using PEDs but agreed to fight him anyways.
“I think he’s juiced to the gills and I still think I’m going to knock him out,” Hunt told FOX Sports Australia.
Hunt, who has had several opponents fail drug tests throughout his career, has been feuding with the UFC ever since the Lesnar news.
“These guys are cheating and they should be in court for it,” Hunt said back in July. “[They should] lose all of their money if they’re cheating, because if I die in there, who’s going to look after my family? That’s corrupt [expletive], man. These [expletives] should be penalized hard. Dirty, scummy, cheating scum.”
Hunt’s attorney Christina Denning told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, who broke the story, that the UFC decided against penalizing Lesnar beyond what the NSAC had given Lesnar.
“Once we found out the penalty was only 10 per cent of his purse, we went back to the UFC and offered to accept [Lesnar’s] purse amount, less than the $250,000 penalty,” Denning said. “We also wanted them to accept the clause moving forward. Mark says the penalties aren’t harsh enough. What’s interesting is that the penalties are harsh enough on paper, they’re just not being enforced by the UFC.”
In other UFC news…
NSAC to discuss removing marijuana from banned substance list
Even though many UFC athletes use marijuana, they can face lengthy suspensions and hefty fines if they are caught with it in their system during an in-competition drug screening. That soon could change as the Nevada State Athletic Commission is scheduled to discuss “the possible exclusion of cannabinoids from the list of Prohibited Substances” during a meeting Friday.
This would mean ridiculous suspensions like the one Nick Diaz recently served (a five-year ban that was mercifully reduced to 18 months plus a $100,000 fine) would go the way of the dodo.
Markos gets former champ in Halifax
Canadian Randa Markos will have the chance to move up the strawweight rankings when she meets former titleholder Carla Esparza at a Feb. 19 UFC Fight Night event at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
Markos has alternated wins and losses throughout her 2-3 UFC career. She’s coming off a submission loss to Cortney Casey at UFC 202. Esparza, the UFC’s inaugural 115-pound champion, has only fought once since losing her belt to Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 185. She beat Juliana Lima by unanimous decision at UFC 197 this past April.
Markos and Esparza developed some bad blood during their appearance together on The Ultimate Fighter 20.
Pickett’s sendoff plus other bouts added to UFC London card
Brad Pickett went into enemy territory to face Urijah Faber in Sacramento last month as “The California Kid” had his farewell bout and now the 38-year-old Englishman is getting his own sendoff. The veteran bantamweight is set to take on Henry Briones at a March 18 UFC Fight Night event when the promotion returns to Pickett’s hometown of London.
Leon Edwards vs. Vicente Luque, Marc Diakiese vs. Teemu Packalen, Tom Breese vs. Oluwale Bamgbose, Brad Scott vs. Scott Askham, and Francimar Barroso vs. Darren Stewart were also added to the card.
