Mark Hunt has accomplished a lot in his combat sports career. However, he said none of his previous feats would compare if he were ultimately able to win the UFC heavyweight championship.

The 40-year-old’s lengthy resume spans across not just MMA, but kickboxing, as well. He’s won multiple world titles with K-1, has fought the best in the world from both sports, and has a highlight reel other athletes could only dream of.

Hunt (10-8-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) wants to add undisputed UFC champion to that list, and he’ll have the opportunity to move one step toward that goal when he meets Fabricio Werdum (18-5-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) for the interim UFC heavyweight title this Saturday at UFC 180. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass at Mexico City Arena in Mexico.

While Hunt would be awarded with a belt with a victory, he’s adamantly disinterested in an interim title. He wants to be the undisputed champion, and to do that, he know he must eventually defeat Cain Velasquez (13-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC).

“The only champion around these days in the heavyweight division is Cain,” Hunt told MMAjunkie. “If you want to be the champ, you’ve got to beat the champ. This right here is a fight for the No. 1 contender. I don’t look at this as the world title; I look at this as the spot to fight the best.”

UFC 180 was originally scheduled to feature Velasquez defending the title against Werdum in the main event. However, an untimely injury to the champion forced him out of the event, and with less than one month’s notice, Hunt stepped up in his place.

Hunt said there was no way he’d ever turn down such a big opportunity, regardless of the circumstances. Even though he was not training, out of shape and unprepared for the harsh climate of Mexico City, he accepted the bout with Werdum.

It’s far from an ideal situation ahead of the most significant bout of his UFC career, but with more than 60 combat sports matches to his name, Hunt said he’s prepared to adapt to any scenario placed before him.

“In the perfect world I would have had the best camp with plenty of time and everything, but I’ve got a short turnaround and make the best out of the situations I get,” Hunt said. “I can’t do a full camp. I can’t even do any sparring because I don’t have the time to get injured because I’m already a replacement. All I’m working on is my weight and getting used to the air.”

Focus ahead of fight night remains sternly on Hunt’s weight and whether or not he’ll be conditioned enough to last a potential five rounds at altitude. That makes no mention the fact he’ll also have to fight Werdum, who has proven to be a nearly unstoppable force over the past several years.

The Brazilian has defeated some of the most recognizable fighters in divisional history, from Fedor Emelianenko to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to Roy Nelson, Antonio Silva, Travis Browne and more.

Werdum’s vastly improved striking and world-class grappling is a fearsome combination for Hunt on paper. However, “The Super Samoan” said he’s not concerned with any aspect of Werdum’s skill set.

“They can be King Kong, Godzilla or whatever – I don’t care what they have,” Hunt said. “Once you get a punch in the face or a knee in the head, all of those skills are gone. That’s the answer for all these plans and everything: just a swift kick to the lips.

“All I care about is what I’m going to do in the octagon. I’ve got to focus on is what I’m going to do in the fight. It makes it so much simpler for me as a fighter. All I’ve got to do is go in the octagon and put more hurt on him then he does on me. Then I’ve won.”

While Hunt is somewhat dismissive of Werdum’s talents, he’s quite high on his own. When Hunt joined the UFC roster in 2010, he was essentially a pure striker with limited skills in other areas. Since then, though, he’s worked hard to play catchup.

Hunt knows that regardless of how many hours he puts in the gym, he’s never going to get the jiu-jitsu technique of Werdum or the wrestling of Velasquez. He can live with that, though, because he believes he’s good enough to keep the fight in his most advantageous positions.

“I should be a black belt, but I can never catch up after all the years of what all these jiu-jitsu or wrestling guys are doing – I can’t do it,” Hunt said. “I can only strengthen what I have. That’s all I can work on and I feel like I’m getting better, of course. At 40 years of age, I’m getting better. I feel like I’m getting better. You can’t mentally break me or intimidate me as a fighter. I’ve been around too long.”

Hunt will need his best UFC performance to date if he hopes to topple Werdum on the support of a three-week training camp. That said, he has every intention of pulling it off and going on to collide with Velasquez once he recovers from injury in 2015.

While a win would make Hunt the interim UFC champion, he claims he won’t celebrate the victory by wearing the belt. Hunt admits he’s slightly superstitious, and unless he takes the title directly from Velasquez, he won’t be placing any gold around his waist.

“It wouldn’t sit right with me if I had that belt around my waist and called myself the world champion,” Hunt said. “I can’t call myself the champion of the world in mixed martial arts unless I beat the champion of the world. Who is the champion of the world at the moment? Cain Velasquez.

“It will be my biggest accomplishment ever as a fighter. As Mark Hunt the fighter and with everything I’ve done in my career, if I ever get the chance to fight for the world title against Cain, it will be the biggest accomplishment.”

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