James Te Huna Arrives On International MMA Scene With Knockout of Anthony Perosh at CFC 10

Gritty Kiwi James Te Huna (11-4) knocked out two-time UFC fighter “Hippo” Anthony Perosh (6-4) in 2:21 to win the Cage Fighting Championship’s Light Heavyweight Grand Prix at CFC 10 in Sydney Saturday night.

For Te Huna, it was an arrival on the international MMA scene, and his biggest win to date.

The Mark Hunt (5-6)-trained Te Huna has never lacked the heart of a champion. In a 2006 fight versus Takahiro Oba (4-5) at X-plosion in Sydney, Te Huna’s right arm went stiff and motionless while on his back with Oba dropping bombs above him. The referee stepped-in to pause the fight and discovered Te Huna’s shoulder had popped out of socket. In Te Huna’s corner, Hunt pressed Te Huna’s forearm beneath his arm pit and yanked the arm back into socket. Te Huna popped his mouthguard back into his mouth and won a decision over Oba.

But, heart doesn’t win the big ones. Te Huna had come up short in his two previous steps-up in competition. At King of the Cage in Australia in 2006, Te Huna was tapped in a rear naked choke in 1:37 by eventual PRIDE and UFC fighter James Lee (14-5). At Warriors Realm 8 in Australia the following year, arguably the top prospect fighting in Australia, “Shango” Hector Lombard (20-2-1), submitted Te Huna.

Though a loser in his two UFC fights, the Carlos Machado-trained grappler, Perosh, was taking the fight versus Te Huna serious enough to spend two weeks training at Greg Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts in Albuquerque and a week at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, arguably the two best MMA camps in the world. (Arguably, I said. Don’t email about the other outstanding camps. I know them already.)

Perosh had predicted, “I will take him down, ground-and-pound him, and then choke him out!”

Te Huna had been training with Muay Thai champs Steve and Stuart McKinnon, Gracie Barra BJJ blackbelt “Galeb” Fabio Fernandes (2-1), Olympic wrestler Igor Praporshikov, and Craig Catterick, strength and conditioning coach to former WBA light heavyweight world boxing champ Danny Green.

The significance of the knockout of Perosh is Te Huna’s continued improvement in skill, now matched with the heart that pushed him to victory despite dislocating his arm. The UFC is keen on moving into the Land Down Under, recently contracting an Aussie PR firm. No doubt UFC matchmaker Joe Silva will be watching tapes of Te Huna in his Las Vegas office this week.

On a side note, Te Huna was actually signed by PRIDE in 2007, shortly before the organization was bought by the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC. Te Huna never got the opportunity to fight for PRIDE and his contract wasn’t picked up by the UFC after buyout.