UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt has obtained his visa, clearing the way for him to take on Junior dos Santos in Saturday’s UFC 160 co-main event in Las Vegas.
Hunt has been stuck at home in Australia dealing with a legal matter preventing him from getting the visa to travel to the U.S., and as of last week wasn’t certain if the matter would be resolved in time. The UFC said it had a team working on the issue and was confident of success, but late last week the organization reached out to Roy Nelson to serve as a backup replacement.
However the 39-year-old Hunt, who said on a conference call last week the incident holding him up was a “misunderstanding” that happened “a long time ago” and he was leaving the matter in God’s hands, posted a tweet Sunday indicating he got the visa.
Hunt (9-7) is expected to arrive in Las Vegas as early as Tuesday, which is typical for many fighters. However, since Hunt is based in Australia, with a 19-hour time difference, it could prove a little more difficult for him to adjust and be properly prepared.
Last week he expressed concern considering he competed in a non-MMA event in Las Vegas previously in which he arrived just four days ahead of the fight, and that night he felt sluggish.
“I’m running out of time to get acclimatized,” Hunt said.
The South Auckland, New Zealand, native is on a four-fight win streak, with three coming by TKO/KO.
Saturday’s UFC 160 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and is headlined by the heavyweight championship bout between Cain Velasquez and challenger Antonio (Bigfoot) Silva. Prior to the pay-per-view, four preliminary fights will air on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific starting at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET, and three early prelims will stream on sportsnet.ca at 3:30 p.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. ET.
