On November 27th, newly formed Rizin Fighting Federation President Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced a match between Bob “Beast” Sapp and Akebono that is to be on the Rizin New Years Eve event card that will take place on December 29th and December 31st. While this may not resonate with North American MMA fans as much, it surely is going to be a spectacle for Japanese MMA fans and the Japanese public in general.
Bob Sapp and Akebono first fought each other on New Year’s Eve in 2003. The match that will be taking place this year makes it a rematch twelve years in the making. Their first match was fought by way of kickboxing rules for K-1. It was also considered a freak show between two big name figures in the eyes of the Japanese public, but drew many spectators and viewers as it achieved as high as a 43% TV rating during the fight. The rating was such that the K-1 broadcast eclipsed that of its competitor, Inoki Bom Ba Ye, an MMA event airing at the same time.
Many had been speculating whether the rules of their match would go under unified MMA rules, or whether they would go back to the kickboxing roots of their first outing against each other. On December 8th however, Rizin FF held a press conference confirming that the style and rules of the two fighters’ rematch would be that of shoot boxing. For reference, shoot boxing allows for punches, kicks, knees, elbows, throws, and standing submissions.
So what draws the Japanese to Bob Sapp and Akebono? The two definitely led different sports paths leading up to the first fight that would take place between them. Despite their differing backgrounds, the Japanese were still excited for what seemed like the show of the century.
Akebono was the first to arrive in Japan by way of Oahu, Hawaii, making his debut as a sumo wrestler in March of 1988. Working his way up the ranks, he became the first non-Japanese yokozuna, or grand champion in the world of sumo wrestling. His rivalries with fellow grand champions and brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana helped sumo wrestling see resurgence in the popularity of the sport during the 1990’s.
He retired as an active sumo wrestler in 2001 and stayed in the Japan Sumo Association as a coach until November 2003, when he announced he was leaving the sumo world, shocking many. It was discovered that he had run into severe financial problems tied to failure of a restaurant that he opened shortly after his retirement. He would not have been able to pay off this debt on his salary as an official in the Association, but K-1 was making an offer to him at the time was too good to pass up. His debut in the ring would be that of Bob Sapp.
Bob Sapp’s background is a bit unusual for an MMA/kickboxing fighter. Sapp hails from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and played guard in American football. He first competed for the University of Washington before being drafted 69th overall by the Chicago Bears in 1997. The Bears immediately traded him to the Minnesota Vikings where he played one game over two seasons with them before being let go. He would foray into the world of Japanese professional wrestling before seeing a strong start to his MMA and kickboxing careers.
He would alternate between competing in MMA matches for Pride FC and kickboxing matches for K-1. He had a bull rush technique for overwhelming what were usually smaller opponents and pummeling them if he didn’t run out of stamina first. One of his more notorious fights was his debut in K-1, where he was disqualified for punching his opponent on the ground against kickboxing regulations. But he didn’t stop even after the referee called the end to the fight, going so far as jumping and stomping on his opponent. It was such an embarrassment to K-1 that organization founder Kazuyoshi Ishii personally stepped in as the referee for Sapp’s next fight.
Sapp still got to face off against various big name fighters in the MMA and kickboxing worlds before Akebono. In Pride he fought Antonio Rodrigo “Big Nog” Nogueira and Yoshihiro Takayama, losing to Nogueira by submission while in turn submitting Takayama. In K-1 he surprised many by defeating world kickboxing champion Ernesto Hoost in consecutive TKO finishes. However he found bigger challenges by Mirko Cro Cop and Remy Bonjasky, suffering a broken cheek bone by a punch from the former while the latter was beating Sapp in their match before Sapp was disqualified for punching Bonjasky while he was down in the ring.
Come New Year’s Eve 2003, Japan was hyped. Sumo vs. football, yokozuna vs. beast as it was billed by the media. The event went so far as to get Akebono’s former sumo rival Takanohana in as a commentator. Akebono looked to get clean hits on Sapp to open up strong, but it would only last so long until Akebono would back his opponent up to the ropes. But as he would continue charging forward, it looked as if Sapp had finally met his match for someone who was bigger than him.
However the tide turned in the latter half of the first round as Sapp started landing punches to Akebono, even downing him with a little under a minute to spare in the round. Akebono was able to get up at the count of nine, but the damage from taking the attacks from Sapp were definitely showing. And just as it looked like they would go to the second round, a one-two combo from the “Beast” sent the former grand champion face first to the floor, looking “like a beached whale” as MMA-Freak writer Matthew Salzer would put it.
So what happened to these two behemoths after their fight back in 2003? As far as MMA and kickboxing are concerned, they both have had less than stellar careers. Akebono compiled a record of 1-8 in kickboxing and 0-4 in MMA, facing legends such as Royce Gracie, Don Frye, and Giant Silva. He stepped away from the fighting scene in 2006 and found more “success” in the world of Japanese puroresu. He even made an appearance at Wrestlemania 21 in the WWE to face off against the Big Show in a sumo match.
Sapp on the other hand stayed in the MMA and kickboxing scene, although as of late he has been known for losing mostly in the first round of either fighting style and has records of 11-18-1 (draw) in MMA and 11-17 in kickboxing. He also has competed in Japanese puroresu events from time to time. Sapp still remains popular in the Japanese mainstream, having released a CD and acting in movies, with Hollywood releases such as Adam Sandler’s remake of the Longest Yard, Elektra, and the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian under his film resume.
What will be interesting is the kind of fight we can expect to see from Bob “Beast” Sapp and Akebono in this rematch that nobody ever likely thought would happen. 12 years is quite a long time, considering these two men are now both in their forties (Sapp 42, Akebono 46). Rizin Fighting Federation is surely upping the ante on a card that is already boasting the return of MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko as the main event, whose opponent is still to be determined at the time of this article’s publication. While Sapp/Akebono 2 isn’t something that everybody is expecting to be a high quality match, it surely is going to provide for some entertainment and nostalgia book to the old school days when MMA did look more like a “freak” show.