Born To Fight: The bestselling story of UFC champion Mark Hunt, the real life Rocky

Mark Hunt · Ben Mckelvey

Sep 2015 · Sold by Hachette Australia

About this ebook

‘There's more than a few instances in this biography of UFC cult favourite Mark Hunt that make you shake your head in can't-make-this-stuff-up disbelief’ - Inside Sport


A powerful story of sadness, hope, pride, honour and triumph from the real-life Rocky!

Raw, confronting and honest, UFC champion Mark Hunt's inspiring autobiography shows it is possible to defy the odds and carve a better life. Born into a Mormon Samoan family, Hunt details his harrowing early life, his troubled teen years, and his angry youth with no apparent future.

After being plucked from an Auckland street fight and dropped into his first kickboxing bout, Mark went on to achieve unprecedented success in Australian and New Zealand combat sports. In an ongoing career that has spanned the globe, Mark Hunt has been in some of the UFC, Pride and K-1's most memorable battles. But in some ways those fights pale in comparison to that which he has overcome out of the ring and cage.

As fearless with his opinions as he is in the Octagon, Mark pulls no punches in revealing the highs and lows of his extraordinary life.

Ratings and reviews

Damn.... this book makes you feel so many emotions with every page. This guy used to be my favourite fighter but after reading this hes kinda my hero. Loved the part about him being a "Super Samoan".

Great read, from the first page to the last. Mark Hunt is one of the most exciting fighters ever, and hearing recollections of his life from early childhood to the present is very engaging.

I was always a fan of his, but now I just feel like I know him much better. He definitely has the most interesting life of any other fighters. If reading about fighters interests you, you have to buy this one! You won't be disappointed!

About the author

Ben Mckelvey is an author, journalist and editor. Ben's books have won the Australian Independent Book Award for non-fiction, an Australian Book Industry Award and the Nib Military History Prize and they have been shortlisted in the Victorian and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards and for the Les Carlyon Literary Prize. Ben has been the editor of Mr Jones, Sports&Style and Juice magazines and worked at the Sydney Morning Herald as a Senior Feature Writer. As a freelance writer, Ben has been embedded with the ADF in East Timor and Iraq, and has worked independently in Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.