The sport of mixed martial arts carries a 24-hour news cycle, and there appears to be something brewing with Mark Hunt's current employment status with the UFC.
While Monday was monopolized with the brawl between lightweight heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his upcoming challenger Daniel Cormier at a media day the promotion held in Las Vegas, Tuesday morning started off with something a bit more ambiguous as the "Super Samoan" launched a series of vague messages on Twitter. The New Zealand-based knockout artist revealed he was no longer employed and wasn't very happy with that particular turn of events.
Well I'm unemployed that sucks
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) August 5, 2014
The meaning behind Hunt's tweets isn't exactly clear, but the second message he posted does reference his fighting career. The resurgent heavyweight noted the decision he's referring to was not his, and he was excited about his fighting future.
Not my choice guys but going from being exited at the prospects of the future of fighting to being unemployed in a day lol this sucks
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) August 5, 2014
With the former K-1 champion slated for an upcoming showdown with fellow power puncher Roy Nelson at Fight Night 52 in September, the idea of Hunt being released by the UFC would certainly be a stunning turn of events, but MMA is a chaotic realm, and stranger things have happened.
That said, the story took another interesting turn an hour later when UFC President Dana White took to Twitter to address the matter and definitively stated Hunt was not released by the promotion, thus adding all the more confusion surrounding the fighter's tweets. According to White, whatever "employment" Hunt was referencing on social media was not his position in the UFC, which suggests the 40-year-old slugger may have been talking about something else entirely.
@J_R_H_P_97 Hell NO Mark Hunt isn't cut
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 5, 2014
Whatever that turns out to be, Hunt certainly created some confusion on Tuesday morning, and stay tuned to Bleacher Report as the story continues to develop.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
