MMA

Bob Sapp: At a Crossroads

Posted By Brett Atchley on the Jun 26 2009

Much has been seen, said, documented, and written about former K-1 superstar Bob “The Beast” Sapp. Anybody that knows anything about the sport has surely heard or seen him in some capacity in person or in the media. I saw Bob Sapp on one of the very first occasions that he walked into an MMA facility. It was in Bellevue, Wa.in Maurice Smith’s Kick-Boxing Academy back in 2001. It was before he was known as “The Beast” and his only experience of any kind of public form of combat was on a televised Toughman event. His opponent was William “The Refrigerator” Perry. The rest as they say is a “grip” of history.

 

He experienced a meteoric rise in MMA. A person could compare his success to buying the winning lottery ticket. He is described as a virtual anomaly by his long time friend and coach Maurice Smith. “He was hungry then, both literally and figuratively but Bobs not hungry anymore, he’s full.” Maurice says. I know from being around Bob Sapp as of late that he indeed doesn’t appear or act like he is “hungry” in any sense of the term. “It boggles the mind, it’s frustrating and at times it’s just sad, because he’s a great guy with this god-given ability and opportunity and he just won’t use it,” said Ivan Salaverry, also a coach of Sapp’s, very recently.

 

The more I was around him, observed him and interacted with him, the more I wanted to just ask him what is really going on. One day after an incident that had happened with him the night before, I called him in Long Beach, Ca, where he was training with Antonio McKee for his upcoming fight with MMA up and comer Bobby Lashley.

 

How are things going and how is the training going down there for your fight with Bobby?

 

“Oh, it’s great. Man they train hard down here; all these lunges, conditioning and plyo-metrics, it’s just ridiculous and man. I gotta tell you I’m sore. It’s pretty intense, but Antonio (McKee), you know he’s good. I’m going to be ready for Lashley.”

 

Is that right Bob, how’s that?

 

“I’m training hard and I’m loosing a ton of weight. I was up to about 400 pounds at one time a little bit ago. One day I went into the toilet to take care of some business you know and well, I sat down and cracked the toilet. Maaaan, I knew right there I had to do something different.”

 

So you went down there?

 

“No, that happened before I went to Japan the last time to fight (Ikuhisa) Minowa.”

 

What happened there Bob, you were working on leg defense before you went in Seattle? (Sapp lost to Minowa by leg lock)

 

Ya, I know but it was just something I’d never seen before, it was just one of Minowa’s special moves that he figured out. I thought he was going for an Achilles lock but that wasn’t it. I didn’t know what he was doing and after he got it, it was too late and I tapped.

 

What did you get paid for that fight?

 

“$100,000.00”

 

Win or lose right?

 

“Yip, but they weren’t real happy with me; they basically kicked me out of Japan……again.”

 

Well, Bob so what’s really going on with you, not “The Beast” and all of that but, what’s happening with Bob Sapp the man?

 

“It’s a lot of things. You know personal things, physical things and emotional things. I made some mistakes back when I was playing football. I didn’t manage my money right, I was just lost after all of that and those are things that affect me today. Things got really good for awhile, I was fighting good, I made lots of money, I was having fun and at times maybe a little too much fun but I was still doing well…I was doing really well. I just didn’t figure that it would change over in Japan and when it did with the whole K-1 and me wanting out of my contract, I just wasn’t prepared. Looking back I can see that it was my fault. I should have gotten it all ironed out before it happened in Holland. I mean that’s what anybody would do you would think. I just wasn’t thinking and just wanted out of it. It just turned into a mess, like something out of a movie.”

 

Yes, I know, I was the one who wrote the story about it.

 

Oh ya, that’s right. The funny thing is that after it all happened and I left, they were talking about suing me and causing me all of these problems. I didn’t know what I was going to do but things worked out to be that I made more money that year than I had ever made before. I was doing a lot of movies, television, commercials, public appearances and fighting here and there. So it wasn’t that bad after all.

 

What happened that you attribute your rapid decline in MMA?

 

Well I met this girl over there and we were in a relationship, but I had to leave Japan and after I was over here for a bit she told me she was pregnant. It wasn’t mine though, so I thought well why is she telling me? I guess the guy didn’t want anything to do with the baby or her and it was a bad situation. I felt sorry for her and I cared for her so, I had to do what I thought was the right thing. I send her $5000.00 a month for her and the baby. I have it put in a trust, so that if I get mad at her or we aren’t getting along that the money still goes there regardless. We’re just good friends now.

 

That’s quite a gesture.

 

Ya, I’m like that. I do lots of things to help other people out. I’m a pretty good guy I think and I like to be around people. I like the fans, without them I wouldn’t be who I am.”

 

Do you see yourself trying to fight much longer, because you know this fight coming up with Lashley could be interpreted as a crossroads of such in your life and career?

 

Yes, I definitely feel that and I know that it’s a critical time in my life. This fight will determine a lot of things in my life as far as where I should go in it. If I win or at least fight a good fight then I can see some doors open up for me. I’m still under contract with Sengoku, so when this came up, I told them. They said, sure go for it. They are just lending me out until they and K-1 get the fights going in Hong Kong. Then I might just move over there. They love me over there. I plan to fight for about another three years. I have other things going on that I can fall back on and I have invested my money really well this time around so I’m guaranteed a stable future.

 

There is some concern amongst some of your close friends and trainers that you don’t train hard enough and that you just may not want to fight anymore, is there any validity to the concerns?

 

Well, I don’t know, it just depends on this fight. That’s why I came down here with Maurice to Antonio’s. Bobby’s a wrestler and there weren’t any big guys around up in Seattle that I could train with. Antonio’s got some good wrestlers down here and he’s showing me a lot about take-down defense and just the basics of wrestling. I think I can handle Bobby. I see it either being by me knocking him out or submitting him. I worked a lot over the years with Josh Barnett on my submissions so I’ll use it if I have to. Then Maurice has always been my kick-boxing and conditioning coach, along with Ivan. I just had to come down here to train differently for the fight. Fighters, as you know, do it all the time.

 

I know that, but weeks before your Minowa fight, I only saw you train perhaps 7 days for the fight and much less time working on your cardio sessions and you were up there pushing 360 lbs. as opposed to your fighting weight of the past of 330 or 340?

 

I had a lot of things going on in those weeks, I have this reality program that is getting started and I was back and forth talking on the phone to Japan about business things. I just couldn’t get there at the hours at times that they wanted me to train. I had a lot of personal things going on that I felt needed to be tended to. I’m here now and things are going good, I’m training and losing a ton of weight. If you saw me now you wouldn’t believe it. I’m a lot smaller than I was when you last saw me.

 

Well Bob, I really hope so and I would like to see you do well in whatever it is you do.

 

I will, I’ll smash Bobby Lashley. You wait and see, “The Beast” is back.