James Te Huna has 'hunger back' ahead of UFC comeback

  • 12/02/2016
James Te Huna (Photosport file)
James Te Huna (Photosport file)

By Tim Summerville

Kiwi fighter James Te Huna has "the hunger back" as he prepares to step back into the UFC Octagon for the first time in almost two years.

Te Huna will take on former ice hockey enforcer Steve Bosse at UFC Brisbane on March 20, returning to the light heavyweight division after an unsuccessful move to middleweight, and claims he hasn't felt this good in five years.

"I feel dangerous again," Te Huna said. "I'm in a good place, I'm just training hard and the main thing is my mind's feeling good.

"That's what's important. If you don't feel dangerous, you shouldn't be fighting."

The 34-year-old contemplated retirement after battling through a number of injuries and suffering a disappointing loss to Nate Marquardt in Auckland back in July 2014.

"I needed time off after that last fight in New Zealand. I was done.

"I couldn't work things out, I was getting hurt, I was mentally fatigued. I was just over it.

"So I took some time off and waited till I got hungry again."

After taking a break to think about his future, Te Huna decided to go back to basics.

"I've gone back to my original teammates, the guys I used to train with before I got to the UFC. I developed my own style with them and that's what made me dangerous.

"That's something I went away from in the last four or five years, so I've gone back to my original guys and just grown every day. I'm feeling good and my mind is in a good place right now."

As recently as 2013, Te Huna was ranked in the Top 15 of the UFC light heavyweight division, but he's realistic about where he currently sits in the pecking order.

"I'm near the bottom at the moment, but all I need is a couple of fights. A lot can change in a short amount of time."

Bosse presents a favourable match-up for Te Huna to get his career back on track, with the Canadian lasting less than 30 seconds in his only previous UFC fight before suffering a knockout loss to Thiago Santos.

But footage of the 34-year-old brawler is tough to come by.

"I looked him up and tried to do a little bit of research," Te Huna said. "So I type his name into YouTube and all these ice hockey fights pop up!

"I had to scroll through 10 or 20 hockey fights before I came across a legit, proper fight.

"But what I have learnt is that he's pretty much the same [type of] fighter as me, so this'll be a good scrap for the fans."

UFC Brisbane is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Mark Hunt and former UFC champion Frank Mir and Te Huna's predicting the "Super Samoan" will dominate.

"I think he's going to finish that one early. Unless Mir can get him on the ground, I think Mark will hurt him."

New Zealand's other UFC fighter Dan Hooker is also on the card, taking on Filipino Mark Eddiva in a featherweight bout.

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