After penning a tell-all piece for the publication Players Voice, in which he admitted to many of the symptoms of brain injury, UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt was plucked from a planned bout with Marcin Tybura, and shelved indefinitely by the UFC. The plan, the organization revealed, was to have Hunt undergo extensive testing before allowing him to return to the cage.
According to a report from The Daily Telegraph, Hunt’s test results are in, and they’re good. This report, which sites a Tuesday conference call with specialists from the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, claims Hunt has been declared fit to continue competing. Hunt’s manager subsequently confirmed this news.
“We’ve just had a conference call with the doctors in the States, who gave us the good news,” Hunt’s manager Zen Ginnen told The Daily Telegraph. “So it’s all looking positive.”
“The doctor said Mark scored well above average and that he’s good to compete. So they’ll ring the UFC now and let them know. We’re just waiting on the UFC to clear him.”
This, of course, is not the first stint of testing Hunt has undergone. He also underwent testing in Australia – which apprently wasn’t enough to satisfy the UFC.
“Now Mark’s been cleared twice,” Ginnen said. “He’s done testing with two experts in Australia — and been cleared — before going and proving himself again in the US. Obviously our concern was always Mark’s health and we’re pleased to know everything is fine. The doc said he’ll forward on the results to the UFC and so we’ll wait to hear from them.”
Having attained these favorable test results, Hunt is now apparently eyeing a UFC 221 fight with Fabricio Werdum, and from there, a fight with the winner of Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic’s heavyweight title fight.
“We would love for Fabricio to be Mark’s opponent in Perth,’’ Ginnen said. “We think Francis Ngannou is next in line for a title fight. So we’d like to go up against Fabricio and hopefully be in line for a title hot at the back end of 2018.”
Stay tuned for updates on Mark Hunt’s return as they emerge.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/12/2017.