Kimo Leopoldo (born January 4, 1968), is an American retired mixed martial artist and actor. He made his MMA debut at UFC 3 in 1994, losing to Royce Gracie by submission. A professional from 1994 until 2011, he also competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, and the World Fighting Alliance.
He debuted with Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 3 in 1994, where he faced two-time tournament champion Royce Gracie in the opening round and lost by submission. Despite the defeat, Leopoldo's size and wrestling made him one of Gracie's toughest opponents in the early UFC tournaments, and Gracie was unable to continue in the tournament after their bout. Leopoldo became a prominent figure in the early era of mixed martial arts, competing against several of the sport's best-known fighters. He fought Ken Shamrock for the UFC Superfight Championship at UFC 8, defeated Kazushi Sakuraba on his MMA debut, drew with Dan Severn in the inaugural PRIDE event Pride 1, and later defeated Tank Abbott by submission at UFC 43. He also competed in K-1, where he faced Bob Sapp in a highly publicized heavyweight bout. He also ventured into Japanese shoot-style professional wrestling, appearing for UWF International (UWFi) against Yoshihiro Takayama in 1996.
Contents
Background
Leopoldo was born in Munich to an American father of Irish and Polynesian descent and a German mother of Jewish descent. Four months after he was born his family moved to Hawaii. Leopoldo was a natural athlete growing up, playing football and wrestling; he also had an interest in surfing. Leopoldo was a dominant wrestler at Waianae High School and played on the team that won the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Championship. Leopoldo was also a very talented middle linebacker in football, and attended the University of Washington on a partial athletic scholarship, but he was unprepared for college, and returned to Hawaii shortly after.
In Huntington Beach, California, he sought to renew his career in football. Going under the name "Kim Leopold" he quickly became an NJCAA All-American and gained interest from many Division I colleges. However, he tore both of his ACLs, and his success only lasted until the middle of his sophomore year. Depressed and with seemingly no future, he met Joe Son and turned to mixed martial arts after studying films of fights including UFC 1, among other fights featuring Royce Gracie, who Leopoldo would later make his debut against.
Mixed martial arts career
Kimo Leopoldo made his Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 3, where he was presented as a third-degree black belt taekwondo fighter. Despite this, his actual competitive background was in collegiate wrestling, a discipline in which he had achieved considerable success before entering mixed martial arts and had no formal Taekwondo credentials, being awarded the belt and rank specifically for the show.
Kimo fought the reigning, defending UFC 1 and UFC 2 champion Royce Gracie in the first round. Although Gracie tried to take him down at all costs, Kimo stayed firmly on his feet, and even managed to capture his back in a failed trip. Royce reversed it and mounted him, but only briefly, as Kimo flipped Gracie over and landed multiple headbutts through his guard. The Brazilian fighter then grabbed Kimo's ponytail in an attempt to get the advantage, but it didn't stop Kimo from taking his back again standing. Finally, Royce pulled him down and locked an armbar, making Leopoldo submit. Even though Kimo lost, Royce couldn't fight two other bouts he had that night, and had to forfeit his match against Harold Howard. Kimo and his cornermen Joe Son featured a controversial moment that very night, when they jumped on the cage after Royce's forfeiting and started celebrating among the audience's chants.
After four straight wins in Japan, including a dominant win over UFC 2 finalist Pat Smith, Kimo returned at UFC 8 and fought reigning UFC champion Ken Shamrock in a title match for the UFC Superfight Championship, but lost early in the fight via submission due to a kneebar.
At that time, Kimo Leopoldo started training more deeply in various martial arts disciplines for MMA. After UFC 8 trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Joe Moreira and achieved black belt rank under him.
In 1996 Leopoldo fought in Japan on the Shoot Boxing – S-Cup 1996 event. Leopoldo was matched against Kazushi Sakuraba in an MMA-rules bout. Leopoldo won by arm-triangle choke in the first round. The bout is commonly cited as Sakuraba's professional MMA debut, although the legitimacy of the match has been disputed. In an interview, Sakuraba himself stated that he doesn't remember if it was a shoot or a worked match.
Kickboxing career
K-1
Kimo made his kickboxing K-1 debut on March 3, 1995, at the K-1 Grand Prix '95 Opening Battle event in Tokyo, where he fought former world champion Masaaki Satake for the opportunity to compete in the K-1 Grand Prix '95 tournament. Kimo started aggressively, keeping his opponent on the defensive with powerful hooks. He tired as the round went on, allowing Satake to strike back with kicks to his head and body. In the second round, Satake scored three knockdowns over Kimo and thus earned a TKO victory.
Leopoldo competed again eight years later at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Las Vegas II event. He faced rising super heavyweight Bob Sapp in what turned out to be a brutal and controversial fight. As Sapp came forward with clubbing punches and knees, Kimo fought back with countering hooks, and the two fighters exchanged knockdowns in the first round. Sapp proved more dominant in the following round, swarming the UFC veteran before knocking him out with a rabbit punch. Despite Kimo's loss, the Las Vegas crowd cheered his name and booed Sapp in the aftermath. Referee Nobuaki Kakuda faced criticism for not penalizing Sapp's blatant foul and for allowing Sapp time to recover after failing to answer the bell for the second round.
Fighting his final kickboxing match to date at K-1 Burning 2004, Kimo endured a knockout loss to former amateur boxing champion Hiromi Amada. His current record stands at 0–3.
Professional Wrestling career
In August 1996, Leopoldo made a brief foray into Japanese shoot-style pro wrestling, appearing at UWF International (UWFi)'s Mid-Summer event at Meiji Jingu Stadium against Yoshihiro Takayama. Leopoldo quickly took Takayama down and submitted him with a rear-naked choke in approximately one minute. The nature of the bout has been debated, with some accounts describing it as a legitimate shoot fight rather than a conventional worked UWFi match.
Acting career
Leopoldo has worked since 1996 as an actor in independent productions. He starred in the Femme Fatales episode "Family Business", the direct to video production R.I.O.T.: The Movie and the films The Process, The Dog Problem, In the Closet, Bullet and Avengers Grimm.
Personal life
In February 2009 Leopoldo was arrested in Tustin, California for possession of a controlled substance. In the police report Leopoldo was standing by his car, wearing sandals, playing with a yo-yo, and donning a Long Beach Police Department jumpsuit that can only be worn by the motor pool mechanics.
Various media outlets reported that Leopoldo had died from complications from a heart attack at age 41. Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reported on his Twitter that Leopoldo's publicist refuted reports that Leopoldo was in Costa Rica and instead was seen alive in Orange County the night before. At a July 21, 2009, press conference Leopoldo denied anyone close to him created the rumor, he also expressed his desire to return to fight one last time.
Kimo is well known for his Christian beliefs: he sports many religious tattoos, and entered the arena at UFC 3 carrying a large cross on his back.
Career accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
Ultimate Fighting Championship
UFC Encyclopedia Awards
Fight of the Night (Two times) vs. Royce Gracie and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Knockout of the Night (One time) vs. Paul Varelans
Submission of the Night (One time) vs. Tank Abbott
Kickboxing record
Legend: Win
Loss
Draw/No contest
Notes
