Former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate thinks Mark Hunt just needs to hang the gloves up an walk away. Hunt was pulled from the main event of UFC Fight Night Australia, as the promotion had some medical concerns over possible head trauma.
Tate also retired from the sport following her loss to Raquel Pennington, and thinks Hunt has taken far too much damage and is incapable of knowing when to call it quits anymore.
“I feel for Mark Hunt because I see the situation two ways — one in the fighter’s shoes, and two in the person who wants to look out for Mark Hunt more than obviously he’s capable of doing himself. I think Mark Hunt deserves to be more a part of his children’s life and hopefully his grandchildren, and not be ‘punchy’ which is a road he’s headed down if he continues to take this kind of punishment, and he’s a heavyweight. He’s getting hit by other heavyweights. The amount of damage that that man has sustained to his brain is astronomical.” said Tate during a show on Sirius XM.
“And it’s evident he’s even admitted having symptoms — it’s this early onset symptoms that are just gonna lead to…they’re gonna get worse, they’re not gonna get better with age. Like his memory loss, things like that, it’s all gonna get worse, and I understand some fighters wanna fight it out to the bitter end, and Mark Hunt is probably a prime example of that. And he’s too tough for his own good. He wants to continue to do this, but he’s been contemplating retirement, as you said, for a very, very long time, and now it’s to the point where someone else has gotta step in and say ‘Mark, enough is enough’ and I hate to say that because I feel like if someone were doing that for me as a fighter, it would piss me off too. I would be livid. I would be like ‘I’m tough, I’m fine, I’m good, I got this, I know what I’m talking about, I’ve been doing this sport long enough, trust me’ but it’s just so evident in this case that it’s like c’mon man, what else do you have left to prove? “
Miesha continued her plea with Mark to just walk away, and just thinks he should concentrate on his life after fighting and spending his time with his family.
“Like you’re doing alright, you’re good, you’re in a great financial position, like take your parting gift from the UFC, if they’re still willing to make light of that, and go spend some time with your family. Get out of here, you’ve done enough. Like you’re a legend, great, good job, but go home and go enjoy the time you have with your family. Walk away, you’re a legend, get out of here”
