Adam Hunter has combined a lifelong love for combat sports with a 20+ year standup comedy career for the first comedy special on UFC FIGHT PASS, “Throwing Punches.”
Why would Adam Hunter have a standup special on UFC FIGHT PASS? Not because he’s a retired fighter giving comedy a shot, but because the man behind MMA Roasted put together a 40-minute special strictly centered around mixed martial arts.
“Most of the time I do standup comedy there’s definitely a lot of MMA fans, but it isn’t a predominantly MMA audience, so a lot of references people don’t really get because the average person may not know who Carla Esparza is,” Hunter said. “The average fight fan obviously knows who she is. So it was really good to have a forum where people would get all the references.”
Funny guy @AdamComedian aka @mmaroasted Comedy Special today on @UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/iiMlhV0yt0 check him out ! ??
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) December 28, 2020
One listen to his podcast or one skim of his Twitter account and you’ll see that Hunter is no stranger to forcing fighters to choose between laughter and their pride and he held nothing back in “Throwing Punches.” Henry Cejudo, Jon Jones, fighters in attendance, Luke Rockhold and many more, all took their jabs from Hunter and, despite the limited capacity, the crowd couldn’t resist giving in and laughing at themselves and their favorite fighters.
“It’s normally not the fighters that get upset; it’s normally the fans who don’t have pictures of themselves as their profile picture, like the fake accounts, who get the angriest,” Hunter said. “I’m not really that worried because for the most part I’ve done those jokes to them or I tell them I’m going to do this joke about them.”
With a huge Twitter following and a rolodex made up almost exclusively of fighters he has roasted in the past, there’s clearly a method to his madness.
Hunter would go on to explain that after watching MMA for this long and performing standup comedy, generating material was far from the hard part; it was tightening the screws.
“The hard part with COVID is being able to practice,” Hunter explained. “All of the comedy spots are closed down. I’m not getting to do as many as I usually would. I had to do a lot of Zoom shows, I did a show in a parking garage, a drive-in theatre, I did a show where there was a pool between me and the crowd. I did a lot of those shows just to practice for it.”
If you’re worried about shots below the belt for a cheap laugh, not to worry. Hunter does have a code of ethics in his routine. Losing fighters, spouses and significant others, children and mean-spirited barbs are left out, and while he has lost a few fighter friends along the way, it appears that the fighters are fans of Hunter as much as anybody, and it’s gone a long way through the years.
“Just from the 30 second promo that ran I’ve been getting a lot of love from Kelvin Gastelum and Frankie Edgar and Elias Theodorou, (Michael) Bisping and Julianna Pena,” Hunter said. “It feels really good that it’s all coming in.”
Earning the Dana White stamp of approval, there’s already talks of bringing Hunter back for more comedy at the UFC Apex, but until the world is a more predictable place, “Throwing Punches” will be more than enough to keep you entertained and hold you over until you can see Hunter in person.
“I can’t wait for that to happen. I’ve been actively writing a ton of stuff,” Hunter said. “I just think there’s a place for it. People need to laugh, and I think comedy is healing and laughter brings people together more than anything.”
Check out “Throwing Punches” and thousands of MMA’s wildest libraries ONLY on UFC FIGHT PASS!
