'That's my hometown': Hunter pays tribute to Tamworth after MMA debut

And it was to his hometown that he paid homage recently after winning his first amateur MMA bout, in the Queensland-based Proving Grounds Fight League promotion.

Hunter faced off against the fourth-ranked amateur heavyweight in Australia, Byron Wilcox, earlier this month, and won by TKO in the second round.

Although it was officially his first foray into an MMA cage, the fight marked another step on a journey that began for Hunter after he retired from rugby league in 2013.

"There was a huge void after that," Hunter said.

"Playing a team sport my whole life and being around the lads, that all went away. I was lost for a couple of years until I found MMA."

Having been born and raised in Tamworth, Hunter played rugby league throughout his childhood and had serious professional aspirations as a young adult.

He moved to Sydney at 16 to pursue league, before returning to Tamworth at 20 for a short period - during which time he won premierships with the North Tamworth Bears. Then, in 2007, he went north to play in the prestigious Queensland Cup.

Six years later, injuries had taken their toll and Hunter hung up the boots to take up a construction job in the oil and gas industry. But the void left by rugby league continued to nag at the back of his mind, until he found martial arts quite by chance in 2016.

Through boxing during his footy career for fitness, Hunter became "intrigued" by combat sports.

"I'd always liked boxing as a sport and always followed it ... I had massive respect for what they do," he said.

"In 2016, I'd just worked the third or fourth Christmas and New Years straight, and I felt like I needed a break."

While scrolling through Youtube one day, Hunter happened across a video from Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand. It was "well put together", and inspired him to make the trip on short notice to begin training.

"I just fell in love with the culture, the respect and honour," Hunter said.

"It's very different from the Australian male culture. There's a lot of tough guys, especially in football and I was never really about that."

He found the martial arts culture "super addictive" and continued training with the CMBT Training Centre in the Gold Coast upon his return to Australia.

What began as a hobby soon turned into a passion, and Hunter's competitive drive once again began to take shape as a desire to step in the ring.

Though he had hoped to debut in early 2020, COVID erupted and left those plans in tatters as Hunter was stuck in Western Australia for nearly two years due to the travel restrictions. Soon after he returned, he resumed training and his bout with Wilcox was confirmed.

It was a daunting task for the 37-year-old to take on the much younger fighter with an amateur record of 3-0, but Hunter wasn't fazed.

"He's a phenomenal fighter," he said.

"There was a tiny bit of nerves, but I've watched some friends of mine who have had fights and they've tied a lot of their success to the result. To be honest, if I'd lost the fight I'd be disappointed, but I feel like just getting in there, you're a champion.

"I had that mindset through the whole camp, and that alleviated a lot of the pressure."

After surviving some nervous moments during the fight, particularly when Wilcox took his back on the ground, Hunter was able to shake him off, return to his feet, and start landing ground-and-pound which eventually caused the referee to step in.

When he was officially announced the winner, and his hand raised, Hunter was wearing a custom-made shirt inspired by his Tamworth roots.

"I didn't know that the shirt was going to get made," he said.

"My best mate, his wife designed and made the shirt, and [the North Tamworth Bears logo] was where they got the inspiration from ... because everyone up here knows that's my hometown and my team."

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