Bob Sapp

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 (69th overall) 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. In 2013 fan poll, he was included in a list of the top five worst Chicago Bears draft picks picks.

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 (WCW) 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 (WWF). 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 (NJPW). 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 (and only, to date) 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 (DDT) 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.

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 (IGF). 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

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 in 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.

After K-1

Since his last matches for K-1 in 2007, Sapp continued his career for small promotions in a limited, non-competitive in-ring way that was described as throwing fights. He would step into the ring after great amounts of promotion, often against upcoming stars and heavily promoted local fighters, only to turtle down and tap out in a few seconds. This routine, labelled in sports as a "tomato can" act, effectively ended his already inconsistent reputation in the sports, attracting large losing streaks and the accusations of "making a mockery of the sport of MMA" and "being a one-man circus". His usual commentator Mirko Cro Cop expressed his belief that Sapp was intentionally allowing himself to lose against very inferior opponents.

I asked him, "Bob, why are you doing this?" He is too dangerous, he is such a huge guy. I saw some of his fights, he was fighting in Europe. Ninety-nine percent of the fights he lost here in Europe, he could've kicked their asses easily. Why he didn't do that? To me, it looked like he was doing that with some intention. He just wanted to lose the fight.

When asked about it, Sapp denied he was throwing fights, and claimed he was doing this routine to collect quick paychecks in a late career he did not deem economically worthy to risk his health. He also pointed out a perceived injustice in contemporaneous MMA business, where fighters carrying accolades and important legacies would be left in economic instability after retiring. He explained:

Am I throwing these fights? No. Will I go into that ring and receive large amounts of damage for small paychecks? No. When it came to K-1, at the time, when everyone at K-1 was doing well, they get paid significantly enough to have you go into that ring, and hey, any kind of injury you get, they are going to pay. [...] These small organizations that you see that look so wonderful, they pay none of your bills if you get hurt, period. If you want to get hurt for a small amount of money in a fight, we call that the military.

You said it yourself, you have UFC fighters who are fighting more, and who are doing harder fights, and are getting less money. So you know what? [...] I do the same thing as everyone else, just as a promoter. They say fight business, and I am in the business of making money. How do I judge whether I have a successful fight? Success is judged by the measure of improvement. The measure of improvement in business is money.

Rizin Fighting Federation

Sapp had a rematch against Akebono with shoot boxing rules on December 31, 2015, at Rizin Fighting Federation Grand Prix event. Unlike his usual performances, he won the fight by technical decision.

He returned in September 2018 at Rizin 13, where he fought former sumo Osunaarashi. Sapp received intense striking during the first round and was taken down at the second, but he reversed Osunaarashi as they fell and gained top position, from which he controlled the rest of the round. He went to dominate an uneventful last round for a unanimous decision and his first MMA win in nearly nine years.

Boxing

Sapp was said to go up against Mike Tyson in a 8-round exhibition boxing match, however no personal terms were agreed and Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. instead.

Clout MMA

Sapp was scheduled to fight Piotr Piechowiak at Clout MMA 2: Omielańczuk vs. Bad Boy, but the bout was cancelled.

Fight Circus

In 2021, Sapp joined appeared at Full Metal Dojo's Fight Circus 2 in Thailand and started competing regularly in the promotion. On April 2, 2023, Sapp competed in the main event of Fight Circus 6: The Rise or Fall of Sloppy Balboa in a two-on-two boxing match, teaming up with Quinton Jackson against the promotion's CEO, Jon Nutt and Bangtao Muay Thai strength and conditioning coach Andrew Wood. Sapp and Jackson also recreated the Rocky chicken chase scene ahead of the match. Sapp and Jackson were tied together wearing an oversized t-shirt. The event was presented on FITE and Jackson and Sapp won by third-round TKO.

Fighting style

Having no background in martial arts prior to his fighting career, Sapp's fighting style was relatively devoid of technique, and was more so distinguished by an aggressive usage of size and strength, pressuring his opponents with an unorthodox "bullrush" technique (which he dubbed as "NFL Style"), whereby he would rush an opponent, usually at the beginning of the round, and overwhelm them with a barrage of punches.

Although defined by his brute strength, Sapp's wins over opponents such as Yoshihiro Takayama and Stefan Gamlin showed that he did possess a knowledge of basic submission techniques.

Personal life

In December 2017, it was reported in Japanese newspaper Shukan Bunshun that a woman claiming to be Sapp's girlfriend accused him of domestic violence. She provided photographs of the alleged injuries and told how she had been abused by Sapp for six years. Although the article included an apology message supposedly sent by him, Sapp did not make public comments about the accusation. No civil suit was filed, and no criminal proceedings were announced as a result of the allegations.

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing and mixed martial arts

Black Belt Magazine

2003 NHB Fighter of the Year

K-1

K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hiroshima Tournament Winner

Nikkan Sports

Match of the Year (2002) vs. Ernesto Hoost (K-1, December 7)

Superkombat Fighting Championship

2011 Special Fight of the Year. Alexandru Lungu)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

2002 Best Box Office Draw- K-1, PRIDE Fighting Championships

2003 Best Box Office Draw- K-1, PRIDE Fighting Championships

2002 Rookie of the Year- K-1, PRIDE Fighting Championships

MMA Fighting

2002 Fight of the Year vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Shockwave

Professional wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Nikkan Sports

Wrestler of the Year (2002)

Outstanding Performance Award (2002)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Ranked No. 26 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2004

Tokyo Sports

MVP Award (2002)

World Wrestling Association (South Korea)

WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Most Charismatic (2003)

Best Box Office Draw (2002, 2003)