Watch: UFC vs Sumo Wrestling! Late fighter Anthony Johnson goes up against sumo wrestler in interesting battle
Anthony Johnson, a late UFC fighter, engages in an intriguing matchup against a sumo wrestler.
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Anthony Johnson wrestling against a Sumo wrestler (Image Courtesy: MMA Fighting)
Anthony Johnson and Curtis Blaydes once geared for a full fledged sumo wrestling competition. The SubStars grappling event took place in February in Miami three years ago where both the UFC fighters decided to try out sumo. Blaydes and Johnson went against wrestlers Takeshi Amitani and Ryuichi Yamamoto respectively.
This happened in a “Celebrity Sumo Round Robin” after that they finally fought with each other in an all-MMA sumo showdown. Blaydes was against Yamamoto who was the lighter opponent but wasn’t able to do anything much against him. The experienced sumo fighters easily dominated and threw the MMA fighters out of the ring with ease. It was shocking to see such heavyweights being dragged like amateurs by the sumo wrestlers.
Johnson then took on Yamamoto who is well known for being the heaviest and the most popular sumo wrestlers in the world. At a whopping weight of 600 pounds, Yamamoto tossed around the former heavyweight champion like a child.
Finally, the MMA fighters got an opportunity to go face to face against each other and Blaydes showed the retired fighter his skills. After losing the first round, Blaydes held his ground and won two consecutive rounds by tripping Johnson and throwing him down.
Related: “Big giant, big bones” – Joe Rogan reacts to the Jon Jones of sumo wrestling
How Daniel Cormier paid his tributes to Anthony Johnson after the fighter passed away in 2022
Anthony Johnson is a MMA legend and has solidified his name in the UFC as one of the best to ever do it. Expectedly, the news about his sudden death shocked a lot of fans as well as UFC superstars.
‘Rumble’ has fought some of the toughest fighters in his professional career and one of them was Daniel Cormier. Both fighters once fought for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 187, where DC submitted Johnson in the third round.
Since then both fighters had developed a lot of mutual respect for each other and his death hit DC pretty hard. The fighter made a emotional video on his official Instagram account where he talked about his corner opponent.
He said: “When I think of Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, I think of power. Power inside the octagon, for sure. But also outside of it. Because, there’s nothing more powerful than being there for people when they need you. As ‘Rumble’ was for me, when my mother passed away… He was the guy that reached out, no matter what you had going on, if he felt that he can help or just check in to see how you’re doing, you could expect a text message or a call from Anthony Johnson.”
Other than DC, many other fighters also shared their condolences towards the fighter when they heard about the tragic news. It proves that Johnson was true warrior and had earned a lot of respect in UFC and in the MMA world.
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Anthony Johnson, a man who dominated MMA across multiple weight classes
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Soumya Ranjan
(2167 Articles Published)