Sapp Time resumes on February 23rd

February 13, 2008 9:59 AM

This is a post about 6'4", 380 lb. professional fighter and entertainer Bob Sapp. A good place to start is this fantastic, disdainful overview of Sapp's kickboxing career through 2005. It features lots of pictures, crooked officiating, illegal blows to the back of the head, and some well-deserved humbling. Sapp is also known for a less distinguished MMA career, which includes one of the most exciting fights of all time, against the great Antônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (Watch it here: [Round 1] [Round 2]).

Sapp also became somewhat of a sensation in Japanese pop culture during his time fighting there, where he rather disgracefully played the stereotype of the big, dumb, crazy, dangerous black man to the hilt. (E.g. marketing a banana-flavored candy bar with a monkey on the wrapper, iirc.) At one point there was even a Bob Sapp store in Tokyo that sold nothing but Bob Sapp-related merchandise. (Sorry, no link for that!) Here is a smattering of Bob-Sapp-selling-his-dignity-on-Japanese-television clips.

On February 23rd, Sapp returns to America for a fight against a very savory can of tomatoes for the pretty fun Strikeforce organization. Finally, in conclusion, here is my all-time favorite, (and pretty short), kickoxing match, wherein the enormous, unorthodox Sapp faces off against an uncharacteristically iron-willed Mirko "Crocop" Filipović, which ends with a cracked orbital bone.

posted by 1 (50 comments total)

Whoa there, 1. The "more inside" feature is your friend.

Re: the actual post, it's mostly of interest to me because I recall watching Takashi Miike's Izo and thinking, "Whoa, what's a gigantic American dude doing in here?" It figures he has some iconic status in Japan.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:03 AM on February 13, 2008

Anybody know what Sapp whispers in Crocop's ear during that fight?
posted by felix betachat at 10:10 AM on February 13, 2008

Let's put little Sapp against the 7 foot tall Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev who even has a face like troglodyte.
posted by jouke at 10:18 AM on February 13, 2008

Anybody know what Sapp whispers in Crocop's ear during that fight?
posted by felix betachat at 1:10 PM on February 13

The same thing that all fighters whisper in each other's ears when they do that annoying hug thing in the middle of fights: "I love you so much, man..."
posted by Pastabagel at 10:19 AM on February 13, 2008

The same thing that all fighters whisper in each other's ears when they do that annoying hug thing in the middle of fights: "I love you so much, man..."

I was thinking more along these lines.
posted by felix betachat at 10:21 AM on February 13, 2008

He's VERY BIG in Japan.
posted by wfrgms at 10:22 AM on February 13, 2008

jouke: this close enough for you? (kickboxing)

(and here's Choi again (MMA), looking a little less impressive against the far far tinier Fedor Emelianenko)
posted by 1 at 10:24 AM on February 13, 2008

This is a comment about a post about 6'4", 380 lb. professional fighter and entertainer Bob Sapp.
posted by dismas at 10:29 AM on February 13, 2008

My favorite kickboxing clip NOT for the squeamish!
posted by Daddy-O at 10:39 AM on February 13, 2008

Hey that's a great link 1. That guy is gigantic.
posted by jouke at 10:42 AM on February 13, 2008

But does he have a posse?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:46 AM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wow, that is one big man. As long as he plays up the crazy unleashed black man thing but isn't actually, you know, crazy and unleashed, it seems like good entertainment to me. When he starts raping women and biting people's ears off, then I'll be upset.
posted by Nelson at 10:47 AM on February 13, 2008

Okay, which link is for Sapp Time because that video is AWESOME?!
posted by P.o.B. at 10:57 AM on February 13, 2008

"Sapp Time" is the "television" link.

I'm really sad I could no longer find the video where he goes to the zoo and eats bananas and communes with the monkeys and establishes himself as king of the monkeys. I think The Black Crusaders may have gotten it removed.
posted by 1 at 11:02 AM on February 13, 2008

Nelson: As long as he plays up the crazy unleashed black man thing but isn't actually, you know, crazy and unleashed

I went to high school with Bob Sapp - he was a year ahead of me. We weren't close friends or anything, but we were both involved in student government. I remember fairly vividly an exercise during one of our "leadership" or "teamwork" fieldtrips. We were charged with getting a large tire onto a 15-or-so-foot pole standing vertically in the ground - we were to lift the tire to the top of the pole somehow and drop it so the pole went through the tire center. I have always been a fairly small guy (5'6", 135lbs now - probably a bit smaller as a junior in high school), so I struggled just to hold the tire above my head for any length of time. But we had Bob with us, and his bright idea was to have me hold the tire and stand on another person's shoulders, who then stood on Bob's shoulders, who then stood up to get us to the top of the pole. It worked, and it didn't seem like it took him much effort at the time to squat two high-school kids and a big tire.

At the time he was a funny, amicable guy - I'd say he impressed me as one of the friendlier, more gregarious people at my high school. I haven't seen him (in person) since he graduated, so I have no idea what he's like as a person now, but he was pretty cool back in high school. Nice guy, really.
posted by dilettanti at 11:02 AM on February 13, 2008 [7 favorites]

In the Sapp vs. Crocop clip, I like how they list Sapp's fighting style as simply "NFL."

Not boxing, kung fu or Brazilian ju-jitsu. Just ... NFL.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:04 AM on February 13, 2008

This great post on (the now-defunct) whatever-dude introduced me to Sapp and MMA in general a few years ago.
posted by joedan at 11:09 AM on February 13, 2008

Wonder how he would have fared against Dolph Lundgren when the latter was a kickboxer?
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:15 AM on February 13, 2008

My favorite MMA to Japan Export is Don Frye.
He was tough enough to battle Godzilla.
posted by willmize at 11:22 AM on February 13, 2008

Why do I like watching enormous guys kick the crap out of each other? Is it the same reason I like daikaiju films?
posted by Mister_A at 11:27 AM on February 13, 2008

And yet Sapp crumples like a little girl in the Crocup fight, just because his face got broken.
posted by wsg at 11:52 AM on February 13, 2008

Sweep the leg, Sapp!
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:54 AM on February 13, 2008

Bob Sapp's popularity in Japan is weird and crazy and slightly demeaning if you happen to be a largeish Black man with a bald head visiting Tokyo. When you don't speak the language, it's hard to explain that pointing at you, and then pointing at the poster of the crazy Black dude doing his best monkey impersonation and then giving a big thumbs up isn't the most awesome thing in the world.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:19 PM on February 13, 2008 [3 favorites]

1: I have the entire zoo thing on tape, but unfortunately it's in storage right now. The part where he threatens a poster of his opponent, then tears out the opponent's mouth so he can talk through it Conan O'Brien style is wonderful.
posted by jtron at 12:38 PM on February 13, 2008

i guess the smart money is on him ditching the event at the last possible moment, right?
posted by mrballistic at 1:42 PM on February 13, 2008

I was living in Japan in 02-03, and man was all that Sapp stuff unavoidable. I watched that fight when it happened and thrilled at the outcome.
posted by thedaniel at 1:46 PM on February 13, 2008

Primo Carnera 2.0
posted by HVAC Guerilla at 2:00 PM on February 13, 2008

Yeah, but when will he fight Kimbo Slice, that's the burning question here.
posted by RobbieFal at 2:03 PM on February 13, 2008

Hey now, Kimbo's got to get through the basically equivalent Tank Abbott, first.

Actually, this news about the new DREAM promotion in Japan has me hopeful for Kimbo to get to spend a few years obliterating Japanese middleweights, a la Crocop. I need to learn to stop objectifying Japanese middleweights :(
posted by 1 at 2:15 PM on February 13, 2008

According to the rumor mills, both WWE and TNA have recently been expressing interest in some quality Sapp Time. Check him out in a pro wrestling context, against the Great Muta: 1, 2. He's not much of a wrestler, but he's got a ton of charisma and he's really big; that's not a bad combination.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 2:43 PM on February 13, 2008

Ah the secrets of the giant smothering man mountain fighting technique revealed. What amazes me is that guys who look 40% smaller can still win fights with him. Is he that unskilled, or do the rules of the fight favor a certain size opponent.

Also, watching him get flipped over by lighter guys, it seems like he has a weak abdomen, or the fight is fixed.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:56 PM on February 13, 2008

He looks pretty unskilled.

The only thing he did in the linked fight was punch, punch, punch and more punching.

He even had hold of the guys legs a few times but didn't seem to know of any way to use that to his advantage, so he would just punch him.
posted by Reggie Knoble at 3:04 PM on February 13, 2008

Also, skill > size.
posted by jtron at 3:08 PM on February 13, 2008

Ah the secrets of the giant smothering man mountain fighting technique revealed. What amazes me is that guys who look 40% smaller can still win fights with him. Is he that unskilled, or do the rules of the fight favor a certain size opponent.

Mass matters a whole lot. And also Sapp is an elite athlete. So even somebody at the top of their game who is vastly superior skill-wise like Crocop has to be very wary. And Crocop is just amazing. But he is no fool.

Thats the thing in striking. It's really easy to fool your self into thinking your good. But it's not all that easy to actually be good. I say this as a former boxer and kickboxer (grappling is sooo much different you get immediate feedback about how good you are).

A striker can always get a lucky shot in. And when your up against a guy who out masses you by more than 25% his lucky shot will do a bunch more damage. In Sapp's case his lucky shot could be frigg'n life threatening.

This is why you see strikers (especially Kickboxers), if they're both good, feel each other out for at least half of the first round (traditional Muay Thai guys usually do nothing but probe the first round and brawling is considered gauche).

You see small guys demolish big guys on the ground with grappling sometimes. It's rare in striking. And why the more restrictive wieght classes were created in striking arts.


Also, skill > size.

Sure. But remember Sapp has been a performance athlete his entire life. Pushing his size around like he can IS a skill.

Now I have beat guys bigger than me and it has usually been out of a modified clinch or from my crappy grappling. I once beat this really hulked out HIT weight trainer guy who was way stronger and a much better athlete than me by gassing him in a clinch and then running away like crazed chicken until he got so frustrated he rushed me and handed me the worlds worst John Smith single and the world second arm bar on him. He thought I was sooo good. I had ten years more experience. But I was secnds away from leaping out of the mat and driving home in tears.

It takes frigg'n nerves of god damned steel to stand and trade with somebody that much bigger than you. Me? I got nerves of slightly conductive jello.
posted by tkchrist at 4:30 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, watching him get flipped over by lighter guys, it seems like he has a weak abdomen, or the fight is fixed.

I don't think this was worked. But allot of Japanese fights back in the day were. But that doesn't have the same connotation there that it does here.

Oddly despite the reputation for worked fights most fighters I knew who did shooto and the like LOVED fighting in Japan because the fans were more respectful and knowledgeable. More fun.
posted by tkchrist at 4:36 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

and the world second arm bar on him

Errr. should read..."worlds second worst"...
posted by tkchrist at 4:38 PM on February 13, 2008

Yeah, I wasn't impressed by the Sapp/Minotauro fight that was linked. Sapp is boring to watch; he's mostly just big, not a very skilled MMA fighter. Minotauro did well against him, but not spectacularly, not like old-skool Royce Gracie might have. And it was nowhere near as good a fight as the current crop of lightweight and welterweight fighters in the UFC commonly put on.

I don't get the folks who say that K1 or PRIDE (now owned by UFC, of course) have better fights, or fighters, than UFC. Everything I see says the opposite, but maybe it's a style preference, like enjoying F1 over NASCAR or something. The way the Japanese fights are broken up so much is strange.
posted by dammitjim at 8:17 PM on February 13, 2008

OH MAN, FIGHTING WORDS!

The first thing to consider when evaluating the quality of the Sapp/Nogueira fight is that it's a heavyweight fight and thus gets graded on a curve. It's pretty action packed for a heavyweight fight. Also, at the time of the fight, Minotauro was out of favor with pride, and Sapp was brought in basically to destroy him, which is basically what he did for the vast majority of that fight. Sapp was fighting a sloppy fight, but he was still kicking Minotauro's ass everywhere, so the late submission was pretty inspirational.

As for Gracie, even if you adjust for the vast weight disparity, I think that given the quality of competition they've faced and the level of skills they've displayed (omg Royce's early striking. . . . yikes) there's no question that Minotauro is a far better and more complete fighter than Royce ever was. And as shocking as this sounds, I think I'd have to pick the Sapp in that fight to beat early Royce. I mean, Kimo nearly did it, and Sapp doesn't have that convenient topknot to pull on, and is a far better striker.

As far as the difference between UFC and Pride goes, I commend to you this excellent article. Both organizations have had some great fights, but Pride pretty much from its inception had a far more exciting heavyweight division.

Also: that time Wanderlei kneed Rampage in the face like 78 times in a row. They put out a nice like "history of Pride FC" pay-per-view or something right before they went under. It's worth tracking down and downloading. But then, its existence is more than justified just by the sheer volume of Mark Coleman zaniness it contained. Sigh. Now there was a champion.
posted by 1 at 10:48 PM on February 13, 2008

What amazes me is that guys who look 40% smaller can still win fights with him.

Yeah, well I imagine it's a hell of a lot easier when you've got referees pausing the match every twenty or thirty seconds.

Face it, ground technique doesn't mean shit when you go up against a brick wall. No, fuck that, a mountain. A continent. The dude is big, OK? Watch the first round of the fight with Nogueira and see what I mean. Nogueira's trying to grab his legs and Sapp just picks him up and fucking tosses him like a rag doll. In a "real" fight, Bob would lay a few straight crotch-jabs in at that point and it would be over. All those beautiful arm bars and triangles only work against a guy as big as Sapp when he's tired. With "normal" human beings, it's all about leverage. But against a beast like Sapp? You need to have a piano rigged up somewhere to fall on the guy.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:09 AM on February 14, 2008

Also, Crocop is just a fantabulous striker. That guy's punches could rip half your head off. And so damned accurate. Crocop didn't just break Sapp's orbital bone. He also broke Kazushi Sakuraba's orbital bone in 2002. Sakuraba is considered to be one of the finest MMA fighters ever.

Sapp crumples like a little girl in the Crocup fight, just because his face got broken.

I realize this was probably tongue-in-cheek, but just to clarify, the dude had his eye socket snapped into a couple pieces. You know how hard it is to throw a bunch when you've got bone in your eye?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:23 AM on February 14, 2008

1 : "Sapp also became somewhat of a sensation in Japanese pop culture during his time fighting there, where he rather disgracefully played the stereotype of the big, dumb, crazy, dangerous black man to the hilt."

Yes, and no. Sapp's dynamic is odd: most Japanese actor/celebrity types play a character, even when they're purporting to just "be natural". Sure, that's true of everyone everywhere, but it's a lot more pronounced, with a very definite "character". Quirks, traits, catchphrases, etc., which are clearly off when the cameras stop rolling. Perhaps the closest comparison is Colbert, who does interviews in character. Or maybe Pee-Wee Herman or Mr. T back in the day.

These folks stay in character ALL THE TIME. Like, again, Pee-Wee, before the arrest: Pee-Wee never appeared as Paul Rubens in interviews. The character was the only public face of Pee-Wee. One difference, of course, is that Pee-Wee never pretended that in his private life he was still Pee-Wee, whereas the average Japanese celebrity does just that. Now imagine EVERYONE being that way, even with really plain characters, and using their real names. The guy who pretends to be a slightly wound up, flighty guy, who is actually really quiet and subdued off-camera.

Bob Sapp kinda played with that, in that, instead of turning the character on when the cameras started rolling, and turning it off only when they stopped, he would turn the character on and off in the middle of filming. So, yes, he did play the stereotype to the hilt, but he played it as playing it. The average view of him in Japan, from what I could tell, was that he was a gregarious, intelligent, upbeat, somewhat sensitive guy who would throw on The Brutalizer persona for a few minutes for a laugh. So, yeah, he did play the stereotype, and he certainly wasn't a big force for betterment of the image of blacks in general, but I doubt many people thought of him as being a big, dumb, crazy, or dangerous black man. Just big and black.
posted by Bugbread at 6:01 AM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, Crocop is just a fantabulous striker. That guy's punches could rip half your head off. And so damned accurate. Crocop didn't just break Sapp's orbital bone. He also broke Kazushi Sakuraba's orbital bone in 2002. Sakuraba is considered to be one of the finest MMA fighters ever.

Sakuraba should have been fighting two weightclasses down from Crocop, though. That fight never would have been allowed to happen in the U.S. God I love Saku.
posted by 1 at 7:14 AM on February 14, 2008

Loved these fights, love watching Sapp fight. He's like two of me duct taped side by side... and fewer arms/legs, only one head... nevermind. He's like the boss at the end of the level in a video game. I dunno why he's not in more action movies as the ginormous villain. And as much as I like Sapp -- seems like a real cool guy who doesn't take himself too seriously -- you gotta love watching superior skill beat a much, much larger opponent.

That's one thing I miss in UFC: The crazy fights of the 200lb guy vs. the 500lb sumo wrestler. The upper cap for heavyweights is 265lb, I think, and at some point you really want to see who is the baddest baddass of them all, including size advantage. I wish there was an unlimited, "ultimate" weight class for the truly huge guys such as Sapp.

Not sure about early Royce Gracie vs. Sapp. One of the things Royce had going for him is that nobody knew BJJ or even how to defend against it. If he could survive long enough for Sapp to gas (and, yeah, he always gasses), I think he could submit him.

Watch the first round of the fight with Nogueira and see what I mean. Nogueira's trying to grab his legs and Sapp just picks him up and fucking tosses him like a rag doll.

He puts him in a PILE DRIVER!! That's just... crazy awesome funny. Really enjoyed this fight, but I knew how it would end as soon as I saw there were two rounds... against Nogueira, which is known for this type of fight.

Anybody see the recent Silvia/Nogueira UFC fight (part1, part2)? Yeah...
posted by LordSludge at 7:28 AM on February 14, 2008

A tough guy, sure. But Southwest would still make him buy a second seat.
posted by aught at 7:58 AM on February 14, 2008

Not sure about early Royce Gracie vs. Sapp. One of the things Royce had going for him is that nobody knew BJJ or even how to defend against it. If he could survive long enough for Sapp to gas (and, yeah, he always gasses), I think he could submit him.

Oh yeah, a Sapp with no BJJ training would probably have lost to Royce, but the Sapp who fought Noguiera, who clearly had some submission defense, probably could have pulled it out.
posted by 1 at 8:48 AM on February 14, 2008

Alls I knows is, when Akebono was defeated in, like, five seconds by Bob Sapp on New Year's Eve 2003/2004 I wept like a little baby I was so heartbroken.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:48 AM on February 14, 2008

It's pretty action packed for a heavyweight fight

Yeah, but that's not saying much, is it? Also, I've seen more exciting heavyweight fights involving Frank Mir, Andre Arlovski, Brandon Vera, or Randy Couture... I can't name which ones right now, but still. These are primarily UFC guys, but that's just because that's what I'm most familiar with... I'm not trying to say UFC categorically has better fights.

As I said before, though, the lightweight and welterweight fights are way more exciting than heavyweight fights anyway.
posted by dammitjim at 8:50 AM on February 14, 2008

KokuRyu writes "Alls I knows is, when Akebono was defeated in, like, five seconds by Bob Sapp on New Year's Eve 2003/2004 I wept like a little baby I was so heartbroken."

That was an awesome fight, because I wanted them both to lose so much that any result would be cause for celebration.
posted by Bugbread at 9:34 AM on February 14, 2008

The Crocop fight was fantastic. Crocop kind of looks like a maniac, but maybe that was just the adrenaline and him putting on his ring face. The fight against Minotauro was sadder. Sapp was in control most of the fight but ran out of energy due to bad pacing and wasting power on a lot of flashy moves (the pile driver, etc.). At the end he could hardly breathe.

That was some serious cauliflower ear that Minotauro had, too. I guess he's taken a lot of abuse in his time.
posted by ducksauce at 9:29 PM on February 14, 2008

and, yeah, he always gasses

I was wondering if he was just out of fighting shape in that fight, but I guess you put that question to rest.
posted by ducksauce at 9:31 PM on February 14, 2008