Australia's Mark Hunt is targeting a rematch with UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum after his stunning first-round knockout of two-time champion Frank Mir in Brisbane.
Hunt, who was ranked as the No.9 heavyweight contender before the contest, hopes he will now get the opportunity to avenge his losses against either Stipe Miocic (No.2), Junior Dos Santos (No.5) or ideally champion Werdum.
The two met in November 2014 for the interim heavyweight title when after Hunt took Werdum down twice in the first round, he was caught by a brutal high knee strike at the start of the second, the knee led to a TKO defeat.
"I'd like to rematch any of the top guys, JDS (Dos Santos), Stipe or Werdum," Hunt said.
"I've never lost a rematch, so I'd love to do that. I can party anywhere."
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After a tentative opening, Sydney's Super Samoan landed the decisive blow with the first real scoring punch of the fight, his right hand to the head of Mir ended the contest with one minute and 59 seconds remaining in the round, to the delight of the raucous 9,552 home crowd.
Mir shimmied to avoid a left jab from the 41-year-old but did not see the follow-up right hand which sent him crashing to the canvas and led the referee to wave the fight off, giving Hunt (now 12-10-1) his ninth knockout in UFC.
"I thought about shooting through with an uppercut but he's a bit slower now, so I thought I'd shoot through the straight right," Hunt said.
"He's accomplished a lot. I've got a lot of respect for him and his skill set.
"There's always a winner and a loser. It's just work."
As for Mir (now 18-11), at 36 his dreams of equalling a record by winning the heavyweight crown three times appear in tatters.
On the undercard Neil Magny became the first man to stop Hector Lombard in the UFC octagon.
Magny stopped Lombard in the third after pleading with the referee to stop the fight towards the end of round two.
Magny pounded Lombard with over 40 unanswered shots on the mat in the second round before the fight was stopped 46 seconds into the third round and afterwards he questioned the judgment of referee Steve Perceval.
"The ref's in a position to protect the fighter and he didn't do that," Magny said.
One of Australia's top prospects, lightweight Jake Matthews survived a tough examination before forcing a submission via rear naked choke of American Johnny Case with 15 seconds remaining in their three-round contest which was voted the fight of the night.
Down two rounds going into the last, 21-year-old Matthews (now 11-1), forced the contest his way to snap the 12-fight victory streak of his opponent.
"I lost the first choke I was going for, but I kept fighting for the second choke and I might have been pretty lucky that I got it in time," Matthews said.
Earlier, Melbourne middleweight Daniel Kelly, 38, pulled off the upset of the night when, as a three-to-one underdog, he stopped Brazilian Ultimate Fighter winner Antonio Carlos Junior in the third round.
The four-time judo Olympian (now 11-1) survived a torrid first round but as the fight went on he took control and a kick to the head firmly put him in control in the final round, leading to the surprise TKO victory.
This victory is likely to be Kelly's last fight until near the end of the calendar year as he is set to help coach Australia's judo team at the Rio Olympics.
