UFC star Mark Hunt must first beat the scales before taking out American Stipe Miocic at Fight Night 65

IT’s the war before the fight. UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt battles the same demon every bout — losing enough weight to rumble.

07/05/15 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt at Red Star Training Centre at Port Adelaide ahead of his bout at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday. photo Calum Robertson

It’s the war before the fight.

UFC heavyweight Mar Hunt battles the same demon every bout — losing enough weight to rumble.

The professional mixed martial arts fighter must drastically restrict his calorie intake, increase the intensity of his cardio workouts and water load — up to seven litres a day.

Last year, before fighting Roy Nelson in Japan, reports filtered through that Hunt had to lose more than seven kilograms in about 24 hours.

It was a huge struggle but Hunt — the oldest active fighter in the heavyweight division at 41 — scraped in at 119kg.

He then went on to knock out Nelson — the first time he’d been stopped in his 30-plus fight career — in the second round and pocketed a cool $50,000 bonus on top of $160,000 just to show up.

Today, in front of a live crowd at the Entertainment Centre, Hunt will step up onto the UFC’s scales hoping to be told he weights 120.2kg — the heavyweight limit — or less.

“The weight cut is going good,” Hunt said Thursday.

“I’m about 125kg right now but I’m good, I should be on weight.

“There’s always a battle with the weight but I’m a super heavyweight and the UFC’s limit is 120kg.

“But it’s part and parcel of the game really.

“I’m just water loading and then Friday just letting the body p ... it out and it should come off pretty easily.

07/05/15 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt at Red Star Training Centre at Port Adelaide ahead of his bout at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday. photo Calum Robertson

“I’ve been drinking seven and a half litres of water a day.”

Hunt will fight promising American Stipe Miocic in the main event on UFC Fight Night 65.

The card, which is the UFC’s debut event in Adelaide, has sold nearly 10,000 tickets.

Miocic has a strong wrestling background and, at 32, is improving with every fight.

The firefighter and paramedic is looking to prove himself after a loss to Junior dos Santos last year.

And Hunt is the perfect scalp.

But according to the Aussie, Miocic poses no threat.

“I don’t give a rats if he’s King Kong or whatever, I’m just going to knock him out,” Hunt said. “The win is what I aim for every fight but knocking people out is my job.

“I don’t really worry about what he’s got or what anyone else has got. I don’t care, I’m just interested in what I have and what I can bring to the table.

“So I’m bringing the beer and he’s bringing the sausages, then I’m going to pour the beer all over him and kick his a ... out.”

To be headlining another fight card is a massive accomplishment for Hunt, whose fight career was all but extinct five years ago.

When the UFC bought out now defunct fight promotion PRIDE FC, Hunt was still finding his feet in mixed martial arts (MMA).

And having suffered five straight losses, the UFC wasn’t interested in bringing Hunt into the fold when it engulfed the Pride roster in 2007.

Keen to send him packing, the UFC offered to pay out Hunt, who had three fights remaining on his contract.

But Hunt insisted he fight for the rest of the money owed to him.

The UFC reluctantly obliged only to watch Hunt lose by submission to Sean McCorkle on debut.

Hunt puts some dents in the bag. Photo: Calum Robertson

Banished to the preliminary card, nothing was expected of Hunt in his second UFC bout against Chris Tuscherer at UFC 127 in Sydney in 2011.

But with devastating power Hunt destroyed Tuscherer and suddenly everything changed.

That same year, Hunt beat Ben Rothwell and in early 2012 knocked out Cheick Kongo.

After a 12-month injury-enforced lay-off, Hunt returned and knocked out promising youngster Stefan Struve

Hunt was on a four-fight win streak and was proving he still had something left in the tank.

He was a last-minute replacement to fight Junior dos Santos at UFC 160, but lost via a spinning hook kick in the third round.

Proving he was no pushover the UFC rewarded Hunt with a headline bout against Antonio Silva on home soil in Brisbane in 2013.

The main event was a five-round war and has been called the UFC’s greatest heavyweight fight. The judges scored it a majority draw.

Hunt then beat Nelson in Japan before taking on Fabrício Werdum in Mexico City at UFC 180 last November.

The fight was for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship (with division champ Cain Velasquez injured).

It was another tough fight for Hunt, who was knocked out in Round 2.

Now he faces Stipe tomorrow and a convincing win could easily thrust him back into contention for a title shot.

“I can’t really look past Stipe, he’s a great fighter,” Hunt said.

“But my job is to put on a performance and get the win.

“Hopefully I’ll get that win and I’d love to be on the Melbourne card (which is set for November later this year).

“It’s a blessing just to be headlining these cards, I’m a Kiwi but Australia is my home, it’s my country.”

Originally published as UFC star Mark Hunt must first beat the scales before taking out American Stipe Miocic at Fight Night 65