Bob Sapp
Robert Malcolm Sapp is an American former mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and football player. Sapp has a combined fight record of 24–39–1, mostly fighting in Japan. He is well known in Japan, where he has appeared in numerous commercials, television programs, and various other media, and has released a music CD, Sapp Time. He is known there as a gaijin tarento. He is currently working sporadically for various MMA promotions in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
Sapp played college football as a guard for the Washington Huskies with whom he won the Morris Trophy. He was selected in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears with whom he played for one season, seeing no game action, before playing with the Minnesota Vikings for another two seasons, only playing in one game. He later began a career in professional wrestling before branching out into mixed martial arts and kickboxing, where he initially enjoyed significant success and popularity before eventually developing a reputation as a tomato can.
American football career
Sapp began his athletic career in high school playing football at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He received a football scholarship to the University of Washington, where he won the Morris Award in 1996. He took part in "The Whammy in Miami", the Washington Huskies' upset win over the Miami Hurricanes that broke the latter's 58 game home winning streak.Sapp was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings after being released by the Bears. However, his career took a hit after he was suspended by the NFL in 1998 for steroid abuse. He spent two seasons with the Vikings and only played in one game. He is considered to be one of the worst picks of the NFL drafts.
Afterwards, Sapp was left in poverty after being defrauded by his economic advisor, and resorted to working at a funeral home moving coffins to make a living. He eventually decided to pursue a career in professional wrestling on the advice of his friend Mike Morris, who saw a chance for Sapp on it.
Professional wrestling
Early career (2000–2002)
Bob Sapp's professional wrestling career started in NWA Wildside in 2000, before he was quickly contracted by World Championship Wrestling as a developmental wrestler. There he started honing his "The Beast" persona, which at this stage was a villainous, feral tarzan-like gimmick, but his development was cut short when the company was bought out by the World Wrestling Federation. He left professional wrestling for many years, attracted instead to a fighting career under the training of fellow WCW developmental wrestler Sam Greco.New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling (2002–2005)
In 2002, riding his success in K-1, Sapp made his professional wrestling debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Introduced as a member of chairman Antonio Inoki's army of fighters, Sapp replaced an injured Yoshihiro Takayama in his October 14 match against Manabu Nakanishi. The two exchanged taunts and attacks on the weeks leading to the match, with Sapp ultimately winning after executing his finishing move, the Beast Bomb, on the ringside, where he left Nakanishi to be counted out. This victory led to many other wrestlers to suggest to take their chance against Sapp, among them Yuji Nagata and Takayama himself, but the American refrained from participating.Sapp balanced his NJPW appearances with similar ventures in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he intruded to challenge Bill Goldberg and Keiji Mutoh. He first appeared in Wrestle-1, a copromotion between K-1 and AJPW, where he faced Mutoh's alter ego The Great Muta in November 2002. Sapp defeated him after pinning him with a diving headbutt. He returned to the event in January 2003, where he wrestled his kickboxing rival Ernesto Hoost, yet this time Sapp lost after Hoost's cornerman Johann Vos intervened in the bout.
In October 2003, Sapp returned to NJPW, taking part again of Inoki's MMA army along with Takayama, Kazuyuki Fujita, Shinsuke Nakamura and Minoru Suzuki to face Nakanishi, Nagata, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Seiji Sakaguchi. He followed by some team matches along with Nakamura and AJPW's Keiji Mutoh, but his main push would come in his singles career. On March 28, 2004, Sapp defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first African-American to hold the title. After successfully defending the title against Shinsuke Nakamura on May 3 at Nexess, Sapp forfeited the title due to having lost to Kazuyuki Fujita in a mixed martial arts fight.
In 2005, Sapp returned to Wrestle-1, taking part on its inaugural Grand Prix tournament and beating Giant Bernard and Jun Akiyama in road to the finals. However, Wrestle-1 was discontinued before the tournament could be finished.
Hustle (2007–2008)
On October 16, 2007, Sapp made a surprise appearance at Hustle's Korakuen Hall event, attacking Razor Ramon HG and his partner Wataru Sakata. Sapp aligned himself with Generalissimo Takada's villainous Monster Army. After defeating Razor Ramon RG in his debut match for the company, it was announced that he would wrestle at the Hustlemania Yokohama Arena event. His opponent was later confirmed to be Razor Ramon HG, whom Sapp went on to defeat.Sapp was later put into a tag team with fellow superheavyweight Monster Bono, but a falling out between the two due to miscommunications in the ring led Sapp to attack Bono with a chair. Sapp and Bono entered a short feud, which culminated with the American's victory and Bono's expulsion from the Monster Army. Sapp then started teaming up with Commander An Jo, eventually entering another feud with Hustle Army member Wataru Sakata. Sapp was defeated by him, breaking his winning streak in professional wrestling. He would try to bounce back by participating in the Hustle Grand Prix 2008, but he was shockingly eliminated by Osaka Pro Wrestling representative Zeus after having beaten Tiger Jeet Singh. After another short rivalry with Genichiro Tenryu, Sapp was defeated in a rematch against Bono as his last appearance for Hustle.
Independent circuit (2008–2012)
In 2008, Sapp began to participate in WWA, a pro wrestling organization in South Korea. On October 26, 2009, Sapp captured the WWA Heavyweight title by defeating Lee Wang-pyo. On July 24, 2011, Sapp made his debut for Dramatic Dream Team at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2011, using a "Beast will fight for money" gimmick. In a comedy match, he was defeated by Danshoku Dino, a wrestler with a homosexual character, being pinned after a kiss and a Gaydo Clutch.File:Sapp Avalanche.jpg|thumb|250px|Sapp executing a corner body avalanche on Genichiro Tenryu.
Return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2012–2013)
At a NJPW event on December 20, 2012, Toru Yano announced that Sapp would represent the villainous Chaos stable on January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome. At the event, Sapp teamed with Yano, Takashi Iizuka and Yujiro Takahashi in an eight-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Akebono, Manabu Nakanishi, MVP and Strong Man. Sapp made another appearance for New Japan on April 7, 2013, at Invasion Attack, where he and Chaos stablemates Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi were defeated by Akebono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi and Super Strong Machine in another eight-man tag team match.Wrestle-1 (2013)
On September 8, Sapp took part in the Wrestle-1 promotion's inaugural event, teaming with Keiji Mutoh in a main event tag team match, where they defeated René Duprée and Zodiac.Inoki Genome Federation (2009–2014)
In 2009, he would compete in the Inoki Genome Federation. His last match was a lost to Aztecaser on December 31, 2014.Later career (2014–2017)
After leaving IGF, Sapp continued to wrestle in Japan until 2017.Kickboxing and mixed martial arts career
In 2000, after Sapp was released from WCW, he was picked up by FX for its amateur boxing show The Toughman Competition. Sapp was pitted against William "The Refrigerator" Perry as a pro wrestling representative and, despite not having any prior boxing experience, won by knocking out Perry in round 2. Then Sapp's friend and trainer Sam Greco showed his match to Kazuyoshi Ishii, chairman of Japanese kickboxing promotion K-1. Ishii then invited Sapp to Japan in order to start a career in the ring, seeing a combination of great potential and great marketability in him. After training for six months in United States in the AMC Pankration and Team Quest gyms, he would be sent to mixed martial arts company Pride Fighting Championship, which had expressed interest on him too, in order to make his professional debut first under such rules. Sapp competed under both rulesets indistinctly for the rest of his career, usually for the promotion K-1.K-1 and Japanese promotions
2002
After arriving to Japan, Sapp debuted in Pride as a K-1 representative against former professional wrestler and longtime Fighting Network RINGS competitor Yoshihisa Yamamoto, who he finished by TKO at 2:44 of the first round by way of wild hooks. The bout, which attracted 10 million viewers, quickly turned Sapp into a fan favorite due to his size, charisma and aggression, and prepared him for his kickboxing debut against Tsuyoshi Nakasako a month later. Sapp lost by disqualification in 1:30 when he pushed Nakasako to the corner, threw him to the ground and rained illegal strikes on him until being restrained by ring crew. The act caused a brawl on the ring when the cornermen jumped in, but Sapp was surprisingly received with cheers from the crowd. He became an overnight sensation in Japan afterwards, appearing on numerous television shows and advertisements and becoming K-1's most popular fighter. Sapp contributed by creating an outrageous public persona, nicknamed "The Beast", under which he played an unhinged, loudmouthed, yet also humorous version of himself.Sapp's second Pride match was against two-time RINGS Openweight Champion Kiyoshi Tamura. Though Tamura was a highly respected fighter who held wins over the likes of Pat Miletich, Jeremy Horn and Renzo Gracie, he was giving up 150 lbs to his foe and was quickly overwhelmed by the much larger American, succumbing to strikes just 11 seconds into the bout.
In a show held by both Pride and K-1 called "Dynamite", Sapp faced then Pride champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. The latter had originally been slated for a kickboxing bout against K-1 fighter Mark Hunt, but negotiations fell out, as Nogueira had proposed to fight two separate bouts under mixed martial arts and kickboxing rules respectively, which was rejected by Hunt. The Pride champion then accepted to fight Sapp as a replacement, noting that "nobody wanted to fight Sapp, and some other Pride fighters already had their fights matched." Due to the usual size disparity, this time amounting to 127 pounds, Nogueira accepted a special rule to ban knee strikes on the ground, making it a more even affair. Despite this, the match would quickly become a memorable battle of strength against technique.
Sapp opened the match almost finishing Nogueira in mere seconds, as the latter charged with a takedown only to be lifted and slammed onto his head in a piledriver. Sapp looked to repeat the technique, but Nogueira managed to avoid it and momentarily ready Sapp for an unsuccessful armbar. Taking his turn again, Sapp started punishing him with ground and pound through the Brazilian's guard, nullifying his armlocks by sheer strength and landing powerbombs every time Nogueira tried his trademark triangle choke. The bout continued this way, with Nogueira trying fruitless submissions from the bottom while Sapp grinded him with heavy blows, until action finally slowed down into the second round, as Sapp was unaccustomed to fight for so long. Nogueira, who had endured the beating through impressive will and looked "only half-conscious" according to reviewers, finally pulled a tired Sapp down and mounted him. The Brazilian seized an armbar and, although Sapp blocked it, he had no left energy to resist and had to concede the hold and the match.
The fight received critical acclaim by reviewers, with website Ichiban Puroresu calling it "an awesome fight" and "better drama than any fight this year," Keith Vargo commenting that "victory and defeat were changing sides so fast that either man could have won any moment," and Scott Newman opining it was "probably the best heavyweight fight ever seen in fact." Mirko Cro Cop, who would defeat Sapp in K-1, was quoted as, "It was the craziest fight I've ever seen. I couldn't believe that 'Minotauro' was able to survive all the things that happened to him. He almost broke his spine. Unbelievable." Sapp himself was praised by his performance, to the extent Pride commentators Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten speculating he could become a major fighter with only more training. He actually expressed desire for a rematch, but Nogueira, who came from the fight with both cheekbones broken, actively rejected it.
Sapp stated interest in fighting Fedor Emelianenko after he won the Pride Heavyweight Championship from Nogueira, which Emelianenko accepted, though joking he would have to gain 70 kg to face Sapp in even terms. Nothing of this materialized, and Sapp would never again compete in Pride, instead focusing his attention on K-1. When Sapp returned to the kickboxing ring the next month, this time against Cyril Abidi and with K-1 chairman Kazuyoshi Ishii as a special referee, he scored his first kickboxing victory, cornering his opponent and unloading punches and hammerfists on him for the KO.
His greatest in-ring success, though, would come in his match over K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost. They first met at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Final Elimination on October 5, 2002, where Sapp replaced an injured Cro Cop in his bout against Hoost. The latter was expected to win thanks to his experience and technical superiority despite being outweighed by over 100 pounds, but Sapp claimed he would not need more than the first round to defeat Hoost, thus setting up an anticipated matchup. Once the fight came around, all while under a television viewership of 19.8%, Sapp surprised the crowd when he started dominating Hoost effectively through his already known charging strategy. By pushing Hoost against the ring's corners and unloading punches there with all of his strength, Sapp controlled the entire the first round, and still landed controversially three more punches after the bell sounded. After the round, the ring doctor declared Hoost was unable to continue due to cuts, and Sapp was ultimately deemed winner while Hoost collapsed visibly in his corner, fulfilling his previous prediction.
His solid victory over Hoost, much like his dominant effort with Nogueira, proved that the trust put on Sapp by K-1 executives had not been in vain. Sapp would compare his situation to "taking someone off the streets and throwing him into the ring with Mike Tyson and then watching that person win," given how much he had accomplished with so little experience and training. According to future adversary Mirko Cro Cop, Sapp's reputation caused that many potential opponents were scared to fight him, both in Pride and K-1. However, Hoost was reportedly discontent with the match's refereeing, citing the illegalities committed by Sapp, and expressed desire for a rematch.
Two months later, Sapp was slated to fight Semmy Schilt at K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Final quarter-finals, but an injury suffered by the latter granted Hoost his second chance as a replacement. Sapp declared he would finish him in one round again. The bout would be a more even affair, however, as although Sapp looked to use his familiar strategy, this time Hoost scored a knockdown through two well placed body blows and survived the first round. Hoost followed on this tactic at the second, but Sapp eventually stunned him and knocked him down in return via repeated arm clubs to the head. The fighters went back and forth for the rest of the assault, until a drained Sapp finally managed to corner Hoost and overwhelm him with unanswered haymakers. At this point, referee Nobuaki Kakuda stopped the fight and gave Sapp the win. Those last seconds were a new source of controversy, as while Hoost was receiving continuous punishment, the stoppage still happened before he fell down. A worn Sapp forfeited his place in the tournament due to exhaustion and an injured hand, being ironically replaced by Hoost himself, who went to win the cup.
At the ending of 2002, Sapp fought professional wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye event. After rushing Takayama to the ground as usual, Sapp proved he had his own way with basic submissions by transitioning to an armbar from mount, making the wrestler tap out. Their fight reached a 24.5 rating in TV. By this time, Sapp's media schedule had grown up so much that he found himself without time to properly train for his fighting career. His trainer Matt Hume would describe it as, "if he would have had time to dedicate to strict training, he would have been
a better fighter, however K-1 and Bob's priority was media exposure, so we accepted it and worked with it."