The winding down of the Bob Sapp era
Published by Zach Arnold on June 29th, 2009 in Current Events

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“For me to against another big-time entertainer with me being fight entertaining and it’s huge, you know, and without question I’m loving to get in there and mix it up with him. I love to get in there and to do that, my thing is… I’m hella happy to consider him and to get this done.”

Those are the words from Bob Sapp during a radio interview last week with ESPN’s Las Vegas affiliate. Sapp, who has made a career this entire decade of pushing a persona, bull-rushing fighters, and getting paid to act outrageous, is on the way down as far as his active MMA career is concerned.

In this day and age where you have smart marks on message boards, bloggers, and critics all over the place, Bob Sapp played a unique and interesting marketing game. In an era where UFC fighters are serious and talk about winning only, Sapp played off of fans and their perception of him, of professional wrestlers, and of fighters in general. Sapp is one of the few fighters in MMA who plays a coy, subtle game of sucking in fans by telling them that he’s an entertainer, that he’s going to do this and no matter what happens win or lose he will continue on, and so forth. The way Sapp does it, however, was cunning in the past because he could convince people that all of his showmanship, all of his flash, was just an act, so therefore support him and join him for the ride.

However, that act becomes thin when the general public doesn’t think you are serious in actually training and competing to win. Bob Sapp is finding this out now.

Kazuyoshi Ishii, the Godfather of K-1, made Bob Sapp. I’m sure the Beast isn’t happy to read those words, but it’s mostly true. Ishii, who understood pro-wrestling marketing better than anyone else as a promoter this past decade, took Sapp and positioned him against smaller, weaker Japanese opponents in kickboxing matches. Sapp didn’t need technique given that he was double the size of his opponents. He bum-rushed guys and got away with some very questionable tactics. Ishii went as far as to be a ’special referee’ for Sapp’s K-1 fight against Cyril Abidi in 2002. This came a month after Sapp put a major league scare into everyone by using his power to push around Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at the Dynamite event at Kokuritsu (National) Stadium in Tokyo.

Give credit to Sapp where its due — he took real fight situations and was able to make money when others couldn’t. Case in point — he had two very questionable fights against Ernesto Hoost in October & December 2002, respectively. Sapp won the first fight due to Hoost getting cut and then he won the second fight after referee Nobuaki Kakuda stopped the contest at the Tokyo Dome. Sapp would try to make a pro-wrestling storyline out of this by booking an impromptu match against Ernesto Hoost for WRESTLE-1 at the Tokyo Dome. Because the match wasn’t advertised, the show drew incredibly poorly. It also ended up being a terrible wrestling match, if not one of the worst wrestling matches on a major stage this decade. If there was ever a scenario that encapsulated what Sapp’s strengths and weaknesses were as a worker, this would be the perfect example.

What became so frustrating about Bob Sapp is that he would show you glimpses of real promise. A guy that size with speed who could become something if he managed to be more focused in training. During Sapp’s big push in K-1, he did so much PR that he never slept let alone trained. This, of course in turn, reflected upon future fight performances. Just when you thought Bob Sapp could deliver the big payoff, it never happened.

The first set-back for Sapp was against Mirko Cro Cop in March of 2003. Mirko, a legitimate K-1 talent, just took Sapp apart. His eye socket was crushed and needed healing, yet the lasting image from the fight was of a huge giant wincing in pain and looking meek. This would not be the only time Sapp ended up in this predictament.

Sapp, after having wins over Manabu Nakanishi and other pro-wrestlers, ended up winning the IWGP Heavyweight title for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Antonio Inoki loved Sapp, as Sapp fit the mold of what Inoki always looked for in a gajin ace – bigger than life, speed, athleticism, personality. However, Sapp would end up losing an MMA fight in 2004 to Kazuyuki Fujita, Inoki’s Japanese ace, and this resulted in Sapp losing the pro-wrestling title. You can’t make this up. After losing the wrestling title, Sapp would end up being an actor in a couple of movies (including The Longest Yard remake).

Sapp came back to K-1 in 2005 and beat up on three Japanese fighters, but had to go the distance with two of them. Sapp ended up closing out the year by losing two decisions to Choi Hong-Man and Musashi.

Then came 2006, which was quite a year for both K-1 and PRIDE.

Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign against PRIDE started. Details about yakuza fixer Seiya Kawamata started surfacing and it was bad PR news for PRIDE. Things started looking shaky. Then came the ultimate blow to PRIDE — Sakuraba would jump to K-1 and HEROs. The war between K-1 and PRIDE was getting serious.

Enter Bob Sapp.

Sapp was booked in May of 2006 against Ernesto Hoost for a Simon Rutz-promoted event at the Amsterdam Arena. This fight was allegedly going to be Hoost’s retirement bout. Sapp showed up the day before the event, doing all the PR necessary to hype the fight. On the day of the event, Sapp showed up at the building with a lawyer (this according to Gary Goodridge on his web site). The lawyer was identified by some at the building as Michael Connette, a gaijin lawyer who worked with Dream Stage Entertainment (the parent company of PRIDE). Sapp stated that he had a contractual problem with K-1 and left the building. Peter Aerts, who was watching the event, ended up wearing another fighter’s gear and took the fight against Hoost on short notice.

Sapp would soon learn the power of K-1 and the Japanese fight press.

Here is what I reported on the story a couple of days after the incident took place:

“Sankei Sports, the newspaper affiliated with Fuji TV (which broadcasted the K-1 event), declared that “Sapp ran away” from the fight and issued a boycott against Hoost. The newspaper quoted matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa as saying that Sapp “requested unreasonable demands” right before his fight, and that a possible “banishment” or lawsuit could evolve from his actions. Yomiuri Sports had a reporter quoting the ring announcer at the K-1 show talking about Sapp being cowardly and how he left 30 minutes before the main event.

In a press release issued by K-1, Tanigawa mentioned that Sapp is still under contract with K-1 and cannot leave to another organization.

Sapp refused to fight against Hoost (while sporting bandages) and was admonished (either by K-1 or by K-1 Holland event promoter Simon Rutz). Sapp took the admonishment seriously enough that he had bodyguards arranged for himself in front of his hotel room (Nikkan Sports on Tuesday said that Sapp brought at least two bodyguards with him to the show). Sapp was seen arguing with K-1 and promotion staff waving around a piece of paper (the contract). The piece of paper being waved around was apparently a contractual release that would have made him a free agent. Sapp was taken away to a “safe house” after the argument. Yomiuri Sports newspaper noted that Sapp had an issue with not checking into the hotel room that K-1 had designated for him to be at.

On Tuesday, it was reported in Nikkan Sports that matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa would start imposing financial penalties on Sapp if he worked for any other promotion. Tanigawa claimed that Sapp has more than two years left on his K-1 contract, and that any time Sapp works for another promotion, he will have to pay a penalty of 100 million yen (close to $1 million USD) per fight. K-1 noted that all legal discussions are taking place via lawyers at the moment.

Despite the magnitude of this incident, it leads to a much more powerful situation regarding PRIDE, K-1, and Fuji TV (with producer Kunio Kiyohara calling the shots). In the much-talked about yakuza scandal, Kiyohara’s name has been clearly associated with his closeness to DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara. K-1 has had an off-again, on-again relationship with Kiyohara and the K-1 promotion has found TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) to be a willing partner for their bigger television shows. In the past, there have been stories of political problems between Kazuyoshi Ishii and Kunio Kiyohara.”

With Sapp getting crushed by the Japanese press and fans in the country developing a negative opinion of him, Sapp and lawyer Michael Connette held a press conference on July 9th, 2006 in Tokyo.

“Bob Sapp held a press conference on Monday morning at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Sapp told the press that he did not run away from fighting and that he wanted the fans to know the truth.

He went into detail about what happened at the K-1 5/13 Holland event and why he didn’t fight Ernesto Hoost, stating that what was said about him in the Japanese mass media was false. Sapp said that he felt angry with K-1 over contractual issues. When asked about whether or not Sapp would fight for another promotion, he stated that right now nothing was on the horizon. He finished by saying that his focus was strictly on resolving his problem with K-1 right now.”

K-1 and Sapp were at odds with each other, while PRIDE started to crumble due to the Shukan Gendai negative campaign which resulted in PRIDE losing their television deal with Fuji TV.

On April 27, 2007, we asked a few questions about Sapp’s lawyer, Connette, in relation to the falling out between PRIDE & Ed Fishman (their Las Vegas promoter) after the second PRIDE event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Regarding the role of Michael Connette in relation to K-1 fighter Bob Sapp. Is it true or false that Connette showed up acting as a lawyer on behalf of Bob Sapp in of May of 2006 in Holland at a K-1 event (where Sapp was scheduled to face fighter Ernesto Hoost)? If it is true, was Connette with Sapp to argue for K-1 to release Sapp out of his contract? If Connette showed up with Sapp, was Connette associated with DSE Inc. as their lawyer when K-1 alleges that Sapp breached his fighter contract with them? Is it true or false that K-1 has a lawsuit filed against Sapp for this alleged breach? Also, is it true or false that Connette is Sapp’s lawyer if that lawsuit exists? Furthermore, is it true or false that Connette was acting as a DSE lawyer in a hotel room meeting with Ed Fishman on February 25, 2007 (the day that Fishman alleges that Sakakibara asked him to rip up his 5-year consultant agreement contract with DSE)?”

After a lengthy dispute with K-1, Sapp ended up back with the promotion. He was booked against Peter Aerts (the man who replaced him at the 2006 Holland event) at the same building in June of 2007. Aerts crushed Sapp in under 30 seconds. Sapp, six months later, would face comedian Bobby Ologun on New Year’s Eve 2007 in Osaka and win. In February of 2008, Sapp lost in humiliating fashion to Jan “the Giant” Nortje in Seattle on a Strikeforce card. In 2009, Sapp has lost to Ikuhisa Minowa and Bobby Lashley.

There is no question that Bob Sapp made his mark in the fight business this decade and established himself as one of the strongest names in the business. The unfortunate part about his legacy is that he left you wanting more, but not intentionally. He left you wanting more in terms of him reaching his potential, of becoming more skilled as a fighter, and ultimatelly winning more fights.

He may entertain the masses and always have a fan base, but Bob Sapp could have bigger than life. He could have been bigger tham his larger-than-life body. Instead, Sapp found himself playing the role of a giant as opposed to actually fighting and acting like one in the ring. If you had to use a Punchout video game comparison, what we expected Sapp to become was Super Macho Man and instead he ended up becoming Bald Bull — memorable, but average-at-best as a fighter.

Historically, Sapp wlll be forever mentioned in the record books. Right now, the clock is running out on his career.