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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Mark Hunt has often stated that fighting saved his life. But after taking a peek at a few excerpts from his new memoir, "Born to Fight," it seems "Super Samoan" was fighting since he was a little kid.
And he was involved in a battle no child should ever have to face, as the heavy-handed slugger reveals he and his siblings were subjected to countless days and nights of physical and mental abuse from their father.
As journalist Stephen Lacy's report indicates, Hunt's father would try to break his kids mentally before serving up painful physical abuse, which included tying him up and beating him with a branch, as well as raping his sister on a daily basis.
"Hunt recalls being hog-tied before being whipped by an apple branch until the skin was ripped from his back. 'That meant no school for three weeks, so that was okay,' he laughs. 'My old man was ruthless. He terrorized us. He'd start with the mental games before he even found the implements to hit us with. He once tied me up in the garage with my hands above my head and beat me with a frigging broom handle. I got away and my brothers came after me. They said 'Fucking get back there or we're all gonna get it.'"
Still, Hunt says his sister had it worse, and their father would have his way with her sexually night in and night out. To make matters worse, their mother and the church they attended, turned a blind eye.
"She was raped by her father from the age of six until she turned 18 and finally moved out of the family home. Hunt doesn't remember much about it, except seeing his father disappear into her room each night, and the strong smell of Dettol that he would use to clean himself up with afterwards. 'I still can't stand the smell of Dettol to this day,' Hunt says. I spoke to Victoria about the abuse. "It happened nearly every day. If I refused to have sex with my father he would take it out on my brothers. I mothered Mark; he was the youngest and I was his protector, there was no one else.' Victoria says her mother knew what was going on and even encouraged it. 'She allowed it to happen; it happened in front of her,' she says. 'The Mormon Church that my parents went to also knew but did nothing.' Finally somebody at Victoria's school alerted the police. 'Mum said I'll buy you a bike if you drop the charges.' Her father was held in custody and finally allowed out when no evidence emerged. When he was released he continued sexually abusing her. 'He said if you open your mouth again I will kill you,' she says."
Thankfully, the children made it out of their horrible childhood alive, as Mark has done pretty well for himself as a professional fighter.
Still, the terrible memories they have to carry with them have likely scarred them for life. That would probably explain why "Super Samoan" has claimed to have visions of 20-foot demons on more than one occasion.
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