Aleksander V. Chernykh-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Hunt's Attorney Labeled A 'Crook' If He Gave New Zealander Hope That Lawsuit Against UFC Was Winnable

Originally posted on MMA News | Last updated 9/29/23

Chael Sonnen didn’t hold back with his thoughts on the recent news that Mark Hunt lost his lawsuit against the UFC and Brock Lesnar.

“Super Samoan” established himself as a fan favorite during his lengthy MMA career thanks to his incredible durability and penchant for scoring sensational walk-off knockouts. Hunt was booked to welcome Lesnar back to the Octagon as part of UFC 200 in 2016, and after the WWE star won a unanimous decision the result was later overturned due to a pair of failed drug tests.

Lesnar’s failed tests encouraged Hunt to file a lawsuit against the former heavyweight champion as well as UFC CEO Dana White, and following the news that he’d come out on the losing end of that case Sonnen tackled the issue on his YouTube channel.

“It’s a tough argument for Mark to make, ‘cause it’s all speculative anyway,” Sonnen said. “He doesn’t know when they got the results, he doesn’t know when it was back. He doesn’t know who got a phone call, he doesn’t know what was said. The whole thing’s speculative. So if you’re going to speculate, they broke up the main event that night for a much lesser substance against a much more valuable guy.”

Chael Sonnen Calls Out Mark Hunt's Lawyer For UFC Lawsuit

UFC 200 was originally supposed to be headlined by a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier before Jones failed a drug test of his own, and Sonnen argues that those circumstances should have made it clear that Hunt probably wouldn’t win his lawsuit against the promotion.

“It was a tough argument. And if Mark took this pro bono and he got some fun and he got a little pleasure out of this and he got a couple of digs in for what he’s really upset about – which was being set up and having to fight Brock in the first place – if he got a couple of digs, more power to him. If an attorney told him ‘I can win this case,’ and took his money, that attorney’s a crook.”

Hunt’s lawsuit and the way the UFC went about bringing Lesnar back to the organization for UFC 200 is interesting to consider given the recent discussions around Conor McGregor’s ongoing absence from the USADA testing pool.

“Super Samoan” has already jokingly suggested that the promotion could give McGregor a similar exemption to the one Lesnar had in order to expedite his return, but for the moment it seems as if the UFC intends to avoid creating a situation that might draw the ire of other fighters on the roster.

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