Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
It wouldn’t be a Japanese MMA card without a little freak show on the menu. While American MMA fans will bite on the occasional sideshow, generally speaking we want to see top fighters square off in meaningful match-ups. Japanese fans have always seen things differently.
It is no news that Japanese fans latch onto different qualities in the fighters they support than their American counterparts.
And apparently one of those qualities is cartoonishly muscular black men who depict themselves as monsters in the media. It just never gets old in Japan, I guess. Japan has been eating up Bob Sapp’s act for a decade, and they keep coming back for seconds, thirds and fourths. Pour a bit of shamed Sumo sauce on the proceedings, and that’s one spicy potsticker for Japanese MMA fans. And that is what brings us to Bob Sapp vs. Shinichi Suzukawa.
Both men will hold up their end of the freak show bargain.
Bob Sapp just never goes away. At least in Japan. It is incredible how many top fighters, sideshow freaks and journeymen the American behemoth has faced over the years. Sapp has almost 40 MMA and kickboxing matches on his record. He loses as often as he wins, and he has no commercial appeal stateside, but you have to credit him for getting in there with a bunch of legitimate ass beaters. It takes balls of steal for an NFL reject to step into a kickboxing ring with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović.
After all these years, Sapp is still willing to take a beating for money. And most likely his shamed opponent has no choice.
Shinichi Suzukawa was fired by the Japanese Sumo Association in 2009 after being arrested in Tokyo for possession of marijuana. Naturally, Suzukawa has zero chance of making an impact in MMA, but he needs to eat too. In fact, I’m thinking he needs to eat a lot.
I would hate to fight a stoned sumo for the last doughnut.
I imagine that as the world becomes more and more outlandish, we will be seeing more and more Sumos emerge from the conservative and confining sport and stepping into MMA and professional wrestling. A shamed or disgruntled Sumo is a great starting point for any Japanese promoter. Antonio Inoki has been working similar angles for profit for decades.
It is always a guilty pleasure to see a Sumo get pummeled by a more complete fighter. There is also always the sense of a fallen angel when a former Sumo is forced to lace ‘em up in a no holds barred type of a match-up with a real fighter. A fall from grace always makes a nice back story to any blood bath.
So even though it is meaningless, I will enjoy watching these two tarnish their honor and dignity for profit.
And the best part is, Dynamite!! offers all the guilty pleasure fights I could ever watch, and none of the guilt. I just blame it on Japan.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: thefastertimes.com
Copyright: 2010 THE FASTER TIMES
Contact: Contact us | The Faster Times
Website: DYNAMITE!! 2010: Bob Sapp vs. Shinichi Suzukawa; The Can Meets the Cannabis « MMA
It is no news that Japanese fans latch onto different qualities in the fighters they support than their American counterparts.
And apparently one of those qualities is cartoonishly muscular black men who depict themselves as monsters in the media. It just never gets old in Japan, I guess. Japan has been eating up Bob Sapp’s act for a decade, and they keep coming back for seconds, thirds and fourths. Pour a bit of shamed Sumo sauce on the proceedings, and that’s one spicy potsticker for Japanese MMA fans. And that is what brings us to Bob Sapp vs. Shinichi Suzukawa.
Both men will hold up their end of the freak show bargain.
Bob Sapp just never goes away. At least in Japan. It is incredible how many top fighters, sideshow freaks and journeymen the American behemoth has faced over the years. Sapp has almost 40 MMA and kickboxing matches on his record. He loses as often as he wins, and he has no commercial appeal stateside, but you have to credit him for getting in there with a bunch of legitimate ass beaters. It takes balls of steal for an NFL reject to step into a kickboxing ring with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović.
After all these years, Sapp is still willing to take a beating for money. And most likely his shamed opponent has no choice.
Shinichi Suzukawa was fired by the Japanese Sumo Association in 2009 after being arrested in Tokyo for possession of marijuana. Naturally, Suzukawa has zero chance of making an impact in MMA, but he needs to eat too. In fact, I’m thinking he needs to eat a lot.
I would hate to fight a stoned sumo for the last doughnut.
I imagine that as the world becomes more and more outlandish, we will be seeing more and more Sumos emerge from the conservative and confining sport and stepping into MMA and professional wrestling. A shamed or disgruntled Sumo is a great starting point for any Japanese promoter. Antonio Inoki has been working similar angles for profit for decades.
It is always a guilty pleasure to see a Sumo get pummeled by a more complete fighter. There is also always the sense of a fallen angel when a former Sumo is forced to lace ‘em up in a no holds barred type of a match-up with a real fighter. A fall from grace always makes a nice back story to any blood bath.
So even though it is meaningless, I will enjoy watching these two tarnish their honor and dignity for profit.
And the best part is, Dynamite!! offers all the guilty pleasure fights I could ever watch, and none of the guilt. I just blame it on Japan.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: thefastertimes.com
Copyright: 2010 THE FASTER TIMES
Contact: Contact us | The Faster Times
Website: DYNAMITE!! 2010: Bob Sapp vs. Shinichi Suzukawa; The Can Meets the Cannabis « MMA
