Hunt, Silva staged heavyweight spectacle at UFC Fight Night 33

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 | 11 p.m.

Barrels of spilled blood splotched Mark Hunt’s hair, smeared Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s skin and stained the octagon canvas.

The grim remains gave an inkling of the battle that played out Friday night at UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Australia, but just to a limit. The only way to truly comprehend what happened in the main event was to witness it.

Hunt and Silva engaged in what went down as the greatest heavyweight fight in the history of the UFC.

“I might buy them both their own private islands,” UFC President Dana White tweeted afterwards as Hunt and Silva were rushed to the hospital. “Sickest (heavyweight) fight ever.”

The immediate reaction from White, and seemingly everyone else watching, was to contextualize the five rounds of unbridled violence. Scores felt secondary.

That was further illustrated when octagon announcer Bruce Buffer read the fight as a majority draw (48-47 Hunt, 47-47, 47-47) and no one batted an eye. That included the fighters, who embraced in celebration as the crowd prolonged their vociferous ovation for several minutes.

“I agree that I have never been so happy with a draw in my life,” White tweeted.

Scorecards revealed that the draw was a result of two judges tallying the fifth round as a 10-8 in favor of Hunt. The fan favorite, Australian resident had Silva wobbly for the final few minutes after blasting him with punches.

The referee even paused the fight to call a doctor into the cage to check on Silva, who suffered a cut above his forehead that had blood protruding all down his face. Hunt was just as mutilated from 25 minutes of abuse from Silva, who had near-finishes in the first and fourth rounds from takedowns and ensuing ground-and-pound.

“Mark is a tough guy,” Silva said briefly while still in the octagon. “I trained a lot for this fight. Two weeks ago I injured my back but, for the fans, I came to fight.”

And they’ll never forget it.

Check below for full results from UFC Fight Night 33.

Let’s hold off talk of retirement or weight-class switches for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. In the co-main event, the former light heavyweight champion Rua knocked out favored James Te Huna with a left hand at 1:03 of the first round.

Ryan Bader administered a savage beating on Anthony Perosh in a light heavyweight bout. The judges awarded Bader the victory by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) over Perosh.

Soa Palelei knocked out Pat Barry at 2:09 of the first round in a heavyweight bout. Palelei took Barry took the ground, and pounded him out shortly after establishing mount.

Doctors stopped a middleweight fight between “The Ultimate Fighter” 17 teammates Clint Hester and Dylan Andrews after the second round. Andrews separated his shoulder, making the official result a second-round TKO victory for Hester.

The main card kicked off with an upset in a women’s bantamweight bout. Newcomer Bethe Correia beat veteran Julie Kedzie via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) with more effective striking.

Nam Phan mounted a spirited comeback in the final round, but it wasn’t enough against Takeya Mizugaki in a bantamweight bout between two veterans. Striking in the first round was the difference as Mizugaki beat Phan by unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28).

In a controversial decision, Caio Magalhaes edged Nick Ring unanimously (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) on the judges’ scorecards.

Justin Scoggins defeated Richie Vaculik by TKO at 4:43 of the first round in a flyweight bout.

Kryzsztof Jotko beat Bruno Santos by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) in a middleweight bout.

Alex Garcia knocked out Ben Wall 43 seconds into a welterweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.