Bob Sapp, an athlete born September 22, 1972 in Colorado Springs, Colorado,is an accomplished kick boxer and martial arts fighter. He is known as “TheBeast” and is most famous in Japan and Korea where he has appeared intelevision commercials and has even released a music CD called “Its SappTime”.

People almost always ask Bob Sapp if he is related to the Oakland Raidersdefensive tackle, Warren Sapp, but he is not related in any way. He did,however, begin his athletic career in football, just like Warren Sapp, but as acollege offensive lineman for the University of Washington. He won the covetedMorris Award during that time and was scouted by the NFL draft in 1997. Heslipped to the third round draft pick but was picked up by the Chicago Bears asnumber 69 and was under contract for four years — but with four differentteams. Each team cut him within only one season. Unfortunately, he appeared inonly one regular season game and, because he failed a mandatory steroid test,he was washed out of pro football.

Bob Sapp met William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry while participating in a Toughmanboxing comptetition. He was recruited by the Japanese Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)organization known as Pride and he fast became well know and a fan favoritebecause of his size and aggressiveness.

In Japan, Bob Sapp fought lots of well-skills Japanese fighers and won allhis bouts, largely because of his overpowering strength and huge size. His fanslocated his ‘bullrush’ technique where you’d rush his opponent, quicklydefeating him. He was defeated by Antoniono Rodrigo Nogueira, then the worldchampion, during a New Year’s Eve show.

Bob Sapp became involved in K-1 fighting. He defeated the four-time champ,Ernesto Hoost by TKO. His stellar roll in K-1 ended when he was knocked out byMirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in only 86 seconds during the Saitama event heldMarch 30, 2003. During the fight, Filipovic broke Sapp’s orbital bone.

Bob Sapp has been seen on American television and may be in the process ofsigning a deal with a food company that produces chicken dinner productsbecause of his reputation for eating a whole chicken before any fight. He hasperformed as a professional wrestler and his ever-evolving career is expectedto continue change. Who knows what we will see from Bob Sapp in the future.

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