UFC: Hunt handed heavy beating in Adelaide

Mark Hunt punches Stipe Miocic in their heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Photo / Getty Images.

Mark Hunt's hopes of securing a heavyweight title shot look all but over after he was beaten via fifth-round TKO by Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC Fight Night 65 in Adelaide today.

Miocic (13-2) employed an impressive gameplan against the Super Samoan as his striking was crisp, while his relentless wrestling and takedown ability was top draw.

There was no doubt about the result and it was surprising the fight even made it to the fifth and final round after a barrage of heavy elbows in the second did a number on Hunt's face.

Miocic made big headway in the third frame and could have earned a stoppage then but the referee let the fight go, while Hunt's corner showed no intention of throwing in the towel.

Damn. Mark Hunt just posted this picture on his Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/y2kxyHGaFX

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 10, 2015

Mercifully, following another takedown and a flurry of punches, the bout was called off in the middle of the fifth frame.

Hunt (10-10-1) had hoped that a victory over Miocic would have catapulted him to a title fight later this year at UFC 193 in Melbourne when the promotion makes its debut in the sport-crazy city.

Hunt fought Fabricio Werdum (19-5-1) for the interim title at UFC 180 in November when he filled in for injured champion Cain Velasquez (13-1) but he lost via second-round TKO.

Werdum and Velasquez will meet in a title unification bout at UFC 188 in Mexico in June and Miocic looks a good bet to challenge the champion in the future.

In the co-main event, Auckland-born Australian Robert Whittaker (14-4) dusted American Brad Tavares (13-4) in the opening minute as he showcased a damaging left hook to secure a knockout victory.

Whittaker could find himself in the media-generated divisional rankings this week given Tavares came in to the bout as the 14th-best middleweight, while Whittaker was unranked.

Earlier, in the feature preliminary bout, Auckland featherweight Dan Hooker registered an emphatic second-round knockout victory over Japanese veteran Hatsu Hioki.

Hooker was a noted underdog coming in to the bout with Hioki (27-9-2) but The Hangman, who improved to 12-5 as a professional, surprised his opponent by fighting southpaw, something which he developed recently in training at the Saigon Sports Club in Vietnam.

Hioki took the first round as both fighters struggled to work out their range but as the second wore on, Hooker was able to land some shots.

The finish came in the final minute of the second frame when Hooker, a noted kickboxer, threw a furious left-foot head kick, which landed flush and dropped Hioki and the Kiwi finished the fight with a handful of punches.

Hioki had never been knocked out in his lengthy MMA career and the 25-year-old Hooker said in the cage after the bout that he was pleased with his performance.

"I put in a lot of hard work, changed my game, made some big changes in my attitude and my mental [approach] as well and it paid off tonight," Hooker said.

Meanwhile, earlier on the undercard, Kiwi-born middleweight Dylan Andrews suffered his third-straight UFC loss after he was submitted by England's Brad Scott.

Andrews, who is based on the Gold Coast, dropped Scott twice during the opening round as he showed his impressive punching power but Scott (10-3) proved tough to put away.

Scott rallied in the second and was set to take the frame on the scorecards before he locked in a guillotine choke late in the round and Andrews (17-7, 1 NC) was forced to tap, six seconds before the bell.