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Pro Martial Artist Takes On Mantaro
Added by gia manry on Dec. 22, 2008
4 comments

Bob Sapp and Mantaro
Bob Sapp and Mantaro
Those of us who wallow in the gutters of the anime fandom tend to be less aware of the world outside of it, so I'm not sure how big a deal it is that I hadn't heard of mixed martial artist / kickboxer Bob Sapp, who also used to be a pro (American) football player.


Anyway, judging from his career, it looks like he may be a bit of an otaku: almost all of his MMA fighting has been in Japan, where he has also managed to score a few movie roles. One of them was in the 2005 Devilman flick, and another in You're Under Arrest!'s 2003 live-action drama.


He's adding a new piece of otaku cred to his resume, however: on New Years Eve, he'll be fighting Mantaro, the main character from Kinnikuman Nisei. How will this be accomplished? Well, it'll really be a guy in a Mantaro outfit. But come on, tell me that's not kind of cool.


Seriously, if only we had this kind of thing in the US. Wouldn't you love to see, say, Tiger Woods take on Eric Cartman or something?


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4 Comments

ScottGreen
on Dec. 22, 2008
I chalk this up to the business model of Japanese fight promotions.  This isn't the only "freakshow" on the card.  Hong Man Choi vs. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic features a 7'2" Korean celeb-athlete versus a fallen super star.  On the other hand, Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki and Gesias "JZ" Calvancante vs. Joachim Hansen are top notch, relevant fights.  Those four are all top ten, or contenders for top 10 in their weight classes

This seems to be another facet of a quality that many admire in anime/manga.  A work like Fullmetal Alchemist is not strictly light-hearted, or strictly serious.  It features elements of both.  I don't think an American audience would put up with this mix of serious fights and circus, but Japanese fights fan accept it the way anime fans accept something like Fullmetal Alchemist.

At the same time, Japanese combat sports have long been tied to pro-wrestling, and pro-wrestling has had ties to anime/manga.  After all, Jushin Liger and Big Van Vader were characters developed by Go Nagai.

SimonJones
on Dec. 22, 2008
"a fallen super star"

You take that back, sir.  YOU. TAKE. THAT. BACK!

Also, you gotta give Choi some credit.  He lasted a whole minute longer against Fedor than Sylvia did. ;)

ScottGreen
on Dec. 22, 2008
Sorry.  I probably shouldn't defame Mr. Filipovic considering that he seems to be fighing aliens, devils, mecha and cenobites in his video game http://dreamfighters.com/?p=814 :-)

maxwell
on Dec. 23, 2008
my friend used to be married to Bob Sapp (no joke), apparently he didn't make a great husband. but he sure knows how to kick people in the face!


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