American heavyweight Curtis Blaydes has compared his UFC 221 opponent, Mark Hunt, to NBA legends Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, and says he’s appreciative to get the opportunity to fight a legend of the sport.

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Blaydes, 26, is undefeated in his past four fights, with his only UFC loss to Francis Ngannou in his debut in April 2016.

Training out of Elevation Fight Team in Denver, Blaydes says he wasn’t expecting to be fighting someone as high-profile as Hunt this soon in his career, but believes his wrestling will see him through.

“I’m appreciative that the UFC’s gonna give me the chance to fight a living legend,” Blaydes said at a UFC media event.

“I wasn’t expecting it so soon, but I’m happy they did it. I’m looking forward to putting on a show.

“My hands have gotten a lot better, and I know his hands are very dangerous, but my hands, plus my wrestling, I think it’s a great fight.

“I’ve always respected Mark Hunt, I don’t have the style, obviously, but you can’t help respect a guy who’s been doing it for as long as he has at the level he has.

“I know he doesn’t have the best record, but everyone knows he only fights the best of the best.”

Hunt has had some well-documented run-ins with the UFC over the past 18-months. The Sydney-based veteran launched legal action after it was found Brock Lesnar tested positive for banned substances ahead of their UFC 200 bout in 2016.

Hunt was then pulled from a Fight Night card in Sydney in November after saying he had been dealing with issues relating to head knocks.

When asked about the ongoing drama between Hunt and the company, Blaydes said the Super Samoan should be able to call his own shots.

“It’s been weird, I feel for him,” he said.

“I feel like he’s done so much for combat sport as a whole.

“He’s like a Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. He should be able to ask for whatever he wants to.

“I watched a lot of his highlights - him dropping guys, I know he’s got a nasty hook. I can already see myself slipping an uppercut, and thinking ‘oh my god, I just slipped a Mark Hunt uppercut.’

“There’s a lot of that, but there’s still a job that I’ve gotta do.

“It’s going to be a tough fight, he’s a veteran and isn’t going to bring any outside nonsense to the cage. He’s going to be there to win.”

Hunt is coming off a fourth-round TKO victory over Derrick Lewis in Auckland last year, while Blaydes most recently earned a confusing second-round win over Aleksei Oleinik at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in November.

In the second round of their fight, Blaydes threw a kick to Oleinik’s head as the Ukranian appeared to be on all-fours. The ref paused the action and called the doctor into the cage.

After assessing Oleinik, the doctor ruled he was unable to carry on, prompting referee, Blake Grice, to check the instant replay which showed Oleinik wasn’t a downed opponent when Blaydes’ kick skimmed his left ear.

In the chaos, Blaydes was awarded a TKO victory and remains adamant he was winning the fight anyway.

The Hunt-Blaydes bout is the co-main event to Luke Rockhold’s interim middleweight title fight with Yoel Romero in the UFC’s first card in Western Australia.

Also appearing on the main card are fellow Aussie heavyweight Tai Tuivasa, who takes on Cyril Asker, with light-heavyweight Tyson Pedro up against Saparbek Safarov. Melbourne-based welterweight Jake Matthews fights Li Jingliang on PPV, and Damien Brown is looking to put on another entertaining fight against Dong Hyun Kim when the pair headlined the Fox prelims.