This is a blog that has been sitting idle in the dark recesses of my mind. It has been pushed forward and inspired to see the cold light of day by a few events that have happened recently. Mainly a very recent interview I saw on ‘Mma hour by Ariel Helwani’. His guest on the show was Bob Sapp.
Here are three brief points as to why this blog was hidden in the deep recesses of the mush that passes as my mind for so long and why I didn’t do it sooner.
Number 1: I don’t like to ‘fighter bash’ and if you’re going to talk about Sapp you have to do that. Sapp and derogatory comments are like Siamese twins perpetually joined together.
Number 2: I like Sapp. Before & after our fight I talked to him…Well actually it’s more like he talked AT me! Way more than I would usually talk to an opponent or even a family member come to think of it! He’s not a bad person.
Number 3: I don’t like talking about things I’m not sure about, but after hearing the Mma Hour interview I felt like the final piece in a Jigsaw had been placed to complete the puzzle. I’m not saying I’m 100% right, how would anyone really know? But I believe I’ve got it fairly spot on.
So that’s some of the reason I haven’t done this blog sooner. Now back to the reasons I’m doing it now and the interview that kick started it.
I was interested in listening to the interview with Sapp as he takes a lot of flak (and quite rightly so) about the way he’s been fighting or not fighting as the case may be. I wanted to see how Ariel approached all this and wanted to hear Sapp’s responses.
What I’ve attempted to do in this blog is amalgamate 3 things… my experiences and conversations with Sapp, the evidence that is watching his fights and what was said in the interview with Ariel. The results are written before you.
Right here goes…
Sapp has beaten some great fighters and had some great fights in his career. At the start of his career he would’ve been getting paid VERY big money to fight and after listening to his interview on Mma Hour you can clearly hear how much value Sapp puts on money… Money is a massive, MASSIVE motivation for him. I don’t think I have to make this clear but I’ll write it any way. Sapp’s not fighting for the love of the sport.
After a fall out with K1 and thus not fighting in Japan there’s no doubt his money would have dropped off significantly. I think we need to try and remember how big of a star Sapp was in Japan. He was huge, the biggest! His face was plastered over lunch boxes, mouse mats, music (he sang songs and did music videos, released Albums that people actually bought over there) you name it Sapp’s image was on it. Even with all the ‘celebrity’ status he was enjoying back then in Japan, he did actually seem to put more effort into his fighting. Some might say not that well but if you compare it to now, back then he had the warrior’s heart of someone from the film 300. He turned up to fight, even winning when he’d been knocked down in some cases (e.g. his fight with Ernesto Hoost)
Let’s fast forward a little. Sapp has his issues with Japan. We then don’t see him for a bit, and then all of a sudden after disappearing for a while he’s back on the Mma scene. At this point Sapp has to face the fact that he’s not getting offered the money that he’s used to… not even close, but it is money none the less. As these facts are slowly sinking in I can imagine Sapp picturing all the hard training, all the punishment that he’ll have to endure, the sweat, blood and the pain he has to go through just to get that Win and collect what he now sees as a small amount of money. (Well it is in comparison to what he used to get paid in his hay day in Japan). As a fighter I can tell you that with all the hard fighting comes hard training, it’s unavoidable. A lot of people don’t realise the hardest part of a fight isn’t the actual fight itself; it’s the months of preparing for it… the training! Sapp knows this too which is why I think he came up with a plan from this point on.
A thought occurs to Sapp, a ‘loop hole’ of sorts. I think Sapp thinks to himself ‘What if I forget the training, blood, sweat and tears part, fast forward to the fight then simply give up & collect my cheque. I don’t care anymore I’m passed caring! Even though I’m not getting paid much I can do a lot of these sort of ‘give up’ fights, receive almost no damage before moving on to the next one and the next one and the next and so on’. After watching his last ten or so fights, talking to him and listening to his interview I’m pretty sure that this was and still is his thought process.
I realise you’re probably thinking to yourselves ‘Wait a minute James, you fought him’ and this is right I did and I will say this, I was totally disheartened to hear him talk on the Mma hour interview as it would seem clear that my DOUBLE LEG OF DOOM that I thought ended the fight due to it giving Sapp a crippling injury… Was in fact, I’m pretty safe in saying, Sapp just deciding to bloody well give up.
Now I fought Sapp at the first SFL in India back in March of this year. This fight was talked about and agreed at least 6 months before it happened; meaning Sapp’s ‘tap tour’ wasn’t in full swing as it is now. Myself and Sapp seemed like a good idea because in India they are into their WWE. As me and Sapp look like big wrestlers, it was thought that this would help the WWE fans relate to Mma and help in the cross over.
That’s why I felt bad for the SFL, because the fight was such an anti-climax!! I also felt bad as I was proud to be part of the SFL and in doing my bit to bring Mma to India. That fight didn’t show the new fans what Mma is all about. Quite the opposite in fact.
That’s the thing you see, Sapp is thinking about himself. He’s not thinking about MMA and how it might reflect badly on the sport. He’s not thinking about the fans or the organization that’s trying to make things happen. He’s thinking he’s not getting paid much (for him) so he can’t be assed. Like I said earlier Sapp’s not a bad guy, a little over bearing at times but not bad. But this is beside the point. Sapp’s made his mind up on which path he’s going to take and that path is no good for Mma no matter how much of a nice guy he might be.
So we’ve got Sapp not being assed because Mma so hard, training is so hard and the actual fight, guess what? Is so hard. He turns up leaving his pride and dignity at home, gets beaten, takes the loss and is then on a plane en route to the next one… and so it goes.
About Sapp… I don’t know him well by any stretch but I have talked to him about his past- the NFL, films, his future plans etc. etc. and this is the impression I’ve got of Sapp. He’s a man that’s been around, he been to the apex of the mountain. Sapp’s definitely got a big ego, he will even admit it. When he’s making these choices i.e. not fighting in fights, he’s getting a lot of abuse from fans all over the world and everyone who watches his fights. I’m sure some people that don’t even know him or what he does get an unexplainable urge to throw things at him due to the dark stormy cloud of abuse which must hang over his head, which is a collective mixture of karma and negativity . This can’t be pleasant even for a sado masochist, so instead of focusing on the fight he focuses and talks about the ‘YouTube numbers, the attendance, the promo’ he does before the fights. He’ll pretty much talk about anything that moves the concentration away from the fight and at the same time feeds his ego with talk about still being some a massive draw to his fights, even when he’s knows he’s going to lose all of them.
Sapp didn’t expect a tough interview, not because he didn’t review Ariel’s style of interview but just because HE CAN’T NOT do an interview. It keeps him in the public domain; it allows him to talk about himself. Interviews are attention, not everyone gets asked for interviews and Sapp feels it give him importance to do one. Sapp has to give interviews as it’s what ‘celebrities’ do and in Sapp’s mind he is as big a celeb today as he once was in Japan.
Having heard the interview I felt sad for Sapp, the constant laughing he was doing, I actually heard as crying (ahhhh) But at the same time I love Mma and he’s not in any way helping the sport.
The last thing I have to say on all this is that in the interview (which if you haven’t heard, is below) I thought Ariel was very patient and tried every which way to talk Sapp to give him a chance to get his side across but Sapp was in show mode. I believe Ariel did get one thing wrong though. He mentioned quite rightly that it was the promotions that were at fault for booking Sapp as they know what he’s about and that Sapp is just turtles up, gets his cheque and goes home paying no price. Where I feel Ariel got it wrong in this statement was where he said Sapp goes home paying no price. That’s wrong… Sapp does pays a price just like (and forgive me for wandering just ever so slightly off topic for a second ) I believe porn stars or prostitutes or any female working in the sex industry pay the ultimate price. How much is your pride & self-esteem worth?? Every time Sapp does what he does, he pays with little piece of his soul! I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true! It’s worth bearing in mind that Sapp’s persona is his own creation. He is a ‘joke’ because he chooses to be a ‘joke’, the fact that others now come along and call him a joke means nothing to him as he already gave himself that title way before everyone else started saying it about him. He’s self-aware, he knows what everyone thinks about him but he thought it about himself first so as long as he’s making money, he’ll keep doing it.: But it’s not without consequences as no matter who you are or how thick your skin is, it hurts when you’re talking to someone and you can tell they don’t rate you as a fighter. It hurts when your explain to people what went wrong, it hurts when you’re lying in bed at night trying to sleep going over and over the fights.
You could argue that ‘Sapp doesn’t care he’s made up his mind so it’s different in his case’ and it is to a point, but I’m telling you 110% he cares. Whether he admits it to himself or not, he cares. I could hear it in his voice sometimes when I was listening to his interview
So what’s to be done? Well whether it hurts or not, Sapp is going to taking these fights no matter what. Ariel was right when he said that it has to be known that we all get it now, the shows over move on folks nothing to see here. Now that we’re all aware of what the score is with Sapp, any promotion that deals with him has to be accountable in some way. That means the Fans have to make it clear to whoevers putting the show on that it’s not going to fly and it will tarnish the Mma organisation. In basic terms now it’s out there and we’re all talking about it, having Sapp doing his thing on a show damages the organisation more than it helps and we all need to take note of that.
One last thing, seeing this is a blog about Sapp that I’ll share with you as it was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had. It was after we fought on the SFL show back in March. After the fight Sapp got on the same bus as me as we headed off to the after party. We were seated quite far away but he might as well been sat in my head as all I seemed to hear was his voice and laugh… that fucking laugh!!
Anyway we get to the door of the club. There’s an Indian lady waiting to talk and interview all the fighters about their fights etc. So the lady starts interviewing us all… but she doesn’t get too far because anyone who knows Sapp will know, that if there’s talking to be done then he’ll be the one doing it!
That’s right you guessed it… HE had the microphone and was interviewing each fighter about how their fight went and how they felt etc.!! As Sapp got inevitably closer to talk to me my thought process was ‘WTF!! This is to going happen’! The person I’ve just fought is going to be the person interviewing me about the fight!!’ Cue surrealism… I tried my best to talk Sapp through the fight he’d just had with myself, mentioning it was a shame it finished like it did due to his injured knee. He then tried to give me credit for the DOUBLE LEG OF DOOM that led to said injured knee. I explained to Sapp (my interviewer) ‘while that was true, no one likes to win like this and it’s was a bit of an anti-climax’ I can’t remember what he said back but it was bigging me up in some way. I then realised that I was arguing, some would say, his argument and he was arguing mine! My head was going to explode at this point and I wondered if I’d actually consumed mushrooms at any point.
HERE IS THE VIDEO LINK TO ARIEL HELWANI’S INTERVIEW WITH BOB SAPP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaWL7c0U4mE&feature=related
** Now the second reason I wanted to do this blog goes back to something I noticed in Sapp’s fight with Pudzianowski, which got on my nerves such a massive amount that I wanted to point it out. First watch Pudz first loss against Tim Silva. He gets tired, he turns a deep shade of red and then throws himself on the floor and taps shortly afterwards. Now watch his first loss against me. In the second round of that fight I go for a double leg (no doom in this one- I hadn’t quite mastered that technique yet) I don’t really get the double leg very well. But guess what!?! Pudz has had enough and does a ‘Tim Silva special’ and doesn’t really resist the take down. The choke I got him with- while it was tight – wasn’t on completely, yet he taps. This is why you’ll see as I get up that I’m shocked.
Ok now let’s watch the Sapp fight, Sapp turtles with Pudz standing over him (like the fierce but honourable Polish warrior he wishes he was) landing punches. Sapp taps, surprise and what does Pudz do? Carries on punching… Why? Because he’s a bully. He knows he was going to get the Win; he just wanted to do what comes naturally to him… I.e. Bully. It’s so clear to me that when it’s put on him, he falls to the floor, doesn’t want to know and taps. When he’s got it ‘in the bag’ he wants to do extra damage just for the sake of it to make him look like the big man. Just thought I’d highlight this as I hate weak behaviour like this. Please let me know if you think I’ve got it wrong.
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O dont think Pudz is Bully i think hi was angry on Sapp for all the staff that hi said.
Spot on sir. It’s sad to see this happen. I started listening to Ariel’s interview last night but couldn’t stand the torture of it. Good for him that he’s making more money than I’ll likely ever see in my life, but damned if I don’t think he’s worse than a whore. Prostitutes tend to recognize what they’re doing; Sapp might never realize how low he’s sunk. Just sad.
Never good when someone is just motivated 100% by money
totally agree!
Cheers
I disagree. Just look at Nick Diaz.
Don’t get it.
Thx again for sharing your point of view.
Excellent read.
Thanks m8, appreciate it
I feel bad for Sapp. The reality of what he’s become would probably be too much to handle if he was forced to seriously look at himself. If i could get 40 grand for 30 seconds of “fighting” i’d probably do the same though, so who am i to judge?
Think he was over enthusiastic with the numbers on that interview m8, and good point if you’re motivated by money but most of us would rather have our dignity intact I think
Cheers Dan
You do make a fair point mate, though to be honest Ive seen Sapp show similar behaviour and lack of sportsmanship to what Pudz does (I saw your second fight with him and was baffled as to how he got the decision). But as you say its probably just the personality Bob chooses for himself. Out of interest did he show any sign of injury when the show was finished, any sign of a limp?
He was limping up until he saw the ladies at the after party!
LOL!
Great read James, one of the things I love about your blogs and interviewing you on the MMA Mental Podcast is how honest and genuine you are.
Thanks Ray, really appreciate you saying
Cheers Pal
Excellent article that James. Really enjoyed such an insight into a guy that has been so frustrating to watch continuously roll over like a timid dog.. Selling his dignity for money..its sad to see, but also disgraceful. Why I continue to watch him.. why people pay tickets to his events..and why ambitious promotions continue to book this shameful circus of a man and expect to put on an attractive main event is beyond me. Maybe we are all to blame.
Thanks Shaun, It’s even sadder when you meet him as he’s genuinly a nice guy. Think he realises his time is numbered on the mma circuit which it why he’s taken so many fights in recent months. Getting the cash in while he can
Really enjoyed this, and your previous posts. Look forward to more!
Really enjoyable post. Look forward to more in the future. Appreciate you taking the time to do these!
Many thanks m8, appreciate your kind words
Wow James you are far more intellectual than I thought. Great blog mate, keep up the hard work and shedding your blood, sweat and tears in the business!
Alright fraser calm down with the ‘WOW’ I know people are surprised that my brain isn’t beyond repair after taking shots to the head but always surprises me that people think i’m simple.
Glad you enjoyed it m8
A very good article About Sapp. Very l, articulate and a great dissection of the fallen star in any line of work.
Don’t think the comparison to prostitution was needed though as that is part of a different thing entirely and devalues the points you made.
Good blog though never the less
Thanks Pal, appreciate your comment. The point about prostitution was about when you do something for the money it chips away at your self esteem and dignity, no matter how you try and gloss it up you’re selling out for cash. I have yet to meet a prostitue with their soul intact after doing what they do for money. The point is no matter how Sapp glosses it up, it effects his dignity.
Great read James. Hope u make this a regular feature. Enjoyed your last fight with Lashley for SFL and lol’d at the ‘half pushups’ at the end!
Would love to see you rematch Pudz and pound him out. He IS a bully and I thought his actions after the ref stepped in against Sapp were horrible.
Keep it up mate!
haha i’ll do one handed push up next time, proper ones lol. Cheers Leighton
Great read, Colossus, and I’m on board with what you’re saying. Also, big fan here! First time I ever saw you fight was against Kimbo Slice sadly although I wish I had seen you sooner (I’ve since gone back and watched a lot of your earlier fights as well). You always bring it and you’ve got my utmost respect! Grats on a couple really nice wins over Sapp and then Lashley and best of luck in your next contest whomever it might be against!
Thanks Josh, really appreciate it
Good write James keep them coming…
Nice blog James – it’s good to hear your opinion on such matters. I think it would be really cool if you wrote about more stories from your career that we wouldn’t have heard before. Stories from ‘backstage’ etc – bit like the Bob Sapp story when he was on the bus with you. I’m sure others would love to hear some of those stories too.
Either way, keep it up!
Thanks for reading the blogs Phil. Good to hear what people want to hear about. Got lot’s of ideas for future blogs and I try to fit in personal experiences to the blogs where i can, if i cant remember enough stories to keep a whole blog going then maybe i’ll make some up haha. Cheers m8
Dead on, James. Another great and very insightful blog. Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks Dan, appreciate you saying m8
Those lunch boxes must of been f**kick huge to get his fat head on….
HAHAHA!! brilliant m8
It might just about fit on the side of a hotdog van
Just when i thought it couldnt get any funnier! Cheers Wes
In anything I’ve seen him in he seems like a really nice guy and rather funny to watch I must say. But I think with his attitude as of late he is better suited the WWE or TNA Wrestling.
Nice article, James. I’m glad people are talking about this as it definitely hurts the sport.
BTW, you’re fight with Don Frye is one of the best things I’ve ever seen
Thanks Dan, When I get asked about the favourite fight i’ve had in my career, the Don frye one is way up there. Cheers Pal
A great read and a well-written article. War Colossus!
Hello Mr Thompson.
I’ve been following your career for years, since your PRIDE days, and i got to tell, i’m very impressed by your work here. You always looked scary, but here i found out that you’re really a smart and nice guy haha. You always answer fans too.
It is good to see MMA fighters with such class as you. This is how martial artists should be (well, actually any man should be like that), not like now where all “cage fighters” are acting like thugs, wearing skulls, like you said in another post, and they probably can’t write their own names.
Anyway, about the article. Well, i can’t say much since i agree 100%. ahaha
Sorry for my english, and good luck with your next fights.
Cheers from Brazil.
Funnily enough i think you write English better than me haha. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog Lobo, I appreciate hering opinions as I really enjoy writing and always find the feedback useful- luckily it’s been really positive. Again thanks very much M8
To be blunt to I really don’t like talking shit about people I never met but on the real he is kind of an embarrassment. I agree with you 100% that anyone who signs him is pretty much feeding his antics and insulting their viewers.
Thanks for readingthe blog m8 and sharing your views. Always interesting to hear opinions from everyone so cheers m8
I actually liked your comparison at prostitution, I always thought about it but couldn’t express it in words.
About Pudzianowski, I’m not so sure, at least he seems to be taking MMA somewhat seriously.
Maybe he just got angry that sapp took a dive?
Not that it justifies but maybe he is not a bully.
Great article
The best blog so far imo!
I hate what Sapp is doing and it’s about time people started speaking up and exposing this fool. People pay hard earned money to watch MMA shows, and they get a poor main event.
No offence intended to you there JT!
The thing is, people love us big guys fighting and ‘hulk’ fights are a good ticket seller. Let’s hope promoters stick to genuine fighters like yourself from now on and stop guys like Sapp from fighting!
Agree with you Jay, no offence taken, it was a shit main event and i felt sorry for SFL & the fans. That said it did create exposure in India- which is the argument Sapp would hide behind to justify having him being there. SFL learnt from that event and each one is getting better with the match ups. Thanks for sharing your thoughts m8, agree with you totally. Cheeos pal
Well Maruisz does try harder than Bob….. at least until he gasses. You took all his best punches and then laughed at him. We’ve all seen Rocky 4. “He’s not human! He is like a piece of Iron!”.
I thought Maruisz carried on punching Bob because he knew he was being ripped off. You know better than anyone how shit it is to get ripped off. Maruisz wants to feed his gargantuan ego, he wants to knock people out so he looks good. Maruisz probably trained his cock off after losing the second fight against you, and then went a bit polskie mental when he realised he wasn’t going to get any real payoff when bob did the flop.
PS… Congratulations on the AWESOME performance against Lashley. When are SFL going to give you a belt and make your position of “Baddest Man In India” official?
Maruisz does try a lot harder than Sapp. Think he does train hard i’m not buying that he was pissed when Sapp folded, he must of expect this as it’s what Sapp been doing, which makes it all worse. Thanks for the kind comments m8
Great insight mate into the views of a fighter who pays respect to the sport and to the fighters (where appropriate) and look forward to reading your next blog.
Thanks m8, theirs another one shortly on it’s way.
I am pretty new to MMA and haven’t seen you or Sapp fight, but heard him on the MMA hour and felt sad for him.
Thanks for the great insight on this topic. This was great to read.
Greetings from Germany.
Cheers and thanks fopr reading. It is all very draining and sad.
A brilliant read. It’s pretty sad because as you mentioned he was once a very competitive athlete and great to watch. I still watch his fights hoping that he will show some face and a glimmer of his past self turns up to fight. But it hasn’t happened for some time. Each fight is getting shorter and harder to watch, you almost feel embarrassed for the bloke! It’s evident he’s not. Even if he has no fighting spirit any more, one thing you can say is he’s got some serious backbone to keep on doing it!
In a way i guess to keep turning up doing what he does but wouldn’t say backbone i think he’s just numb. He’s made his choicwe and i can’t see anything changing.
A very interesting piece … I actually got in to following the fight sports when i once came home from bar and started to flip TV channels and caught Sapp doing his entrance in Eurosport Fight Club show and having a K-1 match. I was was mesmerized – he won it, and I was kind of shocked, because I thought, having dabbled with martial arts in my youth and later too, that technique should always prevail over brute strenght … obviously I was wrong. Later I saw Bob also losing, and I realized that he got some special treatment from the refs also (fouls weren’t called etc)In Japan, that was …
Later I listened to a Sapp interview, and was amazed again – I was expecting maybe grunting and growling, but he sounded like a law professor, explaining the intricacies of Japanese contractual system …
So I learned he’s a smart and funny guy who puts on a show and an act – not a guy who is passionate about fighting in itself.
Even without being a “true ” fighter, he just somehow managed to get wins again some really top guys in K-1 – with some bending of the rules and help from the ref – Ernesto Hoost is probably eternally pissed off …
and a true classic MMA fight against Big Nog …
But here’s a question to a pro (James):
watching Sapp doing a Piledriver to Nog, (illegal move?) i had a feeling that Sapp realizes that if he really drives it thru to the end, it spells death or paralysis for Nog … is it possible that Sapp performs it like a WWE move, just for the show, holding back?
—-
Glad your liking the blog m8. He didn’t hold back he put everything into it Nog was just lucky the way he fell if he would of maybe landed on neck that could of been it for him. When you slam someone like that you never no, watch Fedor v Randleman the slam Fedor should be dead but it just depends how you fall (plus fedor was relexed when slammed which helps} Sapp didn’t hold back on it though.
There is a fine line between letting the sport abuse you like Gary Goodrige and others have and what Bob Sapp is doing. If the money isn’t enough to risk fighting, simply don’t do it. As someone who has had health issues myself, you cannot put a price on your health. There is no amount of money that is worth the trade off. I am sure if Gary Goodridge had 10 million in his bank account he would not be content with his current condition. Quality of life is what makes life worth living! Fighters need managers that will be more like father’s and watch out for their well being FIRST.
Sapp has or will make 300K minimum ever since he left DREAM (if that is when the 30-40K price tag started) with minimal punishment. Many MMA fighters wish they could make this amount of money in a lifetime, let alone a year and a half. If ‘the Beast’ didn’t mail in each and every fight and look for a way out from the get go, I think people could overlook his lack of training, technique, etc.. because he would give fans an exciting fight, rather than a stop, drop and roll performance.
Sapp is doing what pro wrestlers do, “put over” the local talent and make them seem better than they are so they can draw a future gate and give them some highlight footage that looks impressive to the casual fan. Sapp’s fighting career is almost over, so he is more than willing to do this because he’s on his way out the door as far as being in the ring/cage.
James, when you fought Kimbo, coming to the cage, to me, it looked like you were being set up to put Kimbo over for Elite XC, with the way your ear looked like it was going to burst. I remember thinking that it looked like your ear was going to explode at any moment and that crooked ref would stop your fight. What was that backstory there?
Thanks in advance.
I 100% agree with you m8.
The ear wasn’t drain as my trainer was worried about it getting infected. It was madness and my trainer was a well edcated guy who really knows mma so god only knows why we didn’t drain it stupid mistake but such is life.
James, love reading your blog. Your style of writing puts you right in there with all the actions. More entries please!
Thanks Adam they’ll be more on their way
Didn´t know you were such a good writer, I think you are right about Pudz, if he wasn´t such a big star in Poland, nobody would watch his fights.
Cheers pal i try. Yeah he’s mainstream which isn’t his fault or a bad thing at least he’s tryiong to get better just don ‘t like the way he goes about thing.
Just came across this blog, absolute class. Nice to hear the views of a professional fighter that are not clouded by the “hype” of fights. Bob Sapp is done, once you sell out and become commercialized you lose that aggressive edge that is needed to be a fighter. You get all the rewards of being a “celebrity” (although Sapp did play a simpleton in longest yard, doubt there was much training required for that!) and lose sight of what made you.
Keep these blogs going mate
Thanks for the kind words. I think Sapp done as he decide to be done i.e not training or trying. You keep reading and i’ll keep writing m8
hey James, I am from Poland. I know you had your problems with the owners of KSW, yes, many polish fans of the MMA community hate these guys too. But there is another organisation in Poland, MMA Attack (fights are in a cage & totally different ownership). There were rumors they might want you to fight Damian Grabowski in September or so. I wonder, would you fight ever in Poland again?
Yeah i have a friend who’s fought for them Paul Reed. And yeah course i like fighting in Poland, most of the time
I very much enjoy reading your blogs James as well as watching your fights. I hope you keep both for a long time!
Cheers m8, will do on both counts.
“Sapp taps, surprise and what does Pudz do? Carries on punching…”
I noticed this, and I looked all over to try and find somewhere else that mentioned it, but I couldn’t (maybe I didn’t look hard enough?).
I was thinking that maybe Pudz has a stake in the company, and was annoyed that after paying so much, Sapp ended the fight like that, and he continued in a rage. But if he doesn’t have a stake in the company then my argument is invalid.
Pudz doesn’t have a stake in the company, he’s just a huge part of it due to him being so popular in Poland. He wasnn’t annoyed because he knew EXACTLY what he was getting with Sapp, hense the reason that i think it made it worse & I was even more annoyed as there really was no other reason to carry on striking him other than bullying and to come accross as a more devestating ‘out of control’ fighter. Thanks for comments Andy. Cheers m8
“Sapp taps, surprise and what does Pudz do? Carries on punching…”
I noticed this, and I searched the internet to try and find somewhere that mentioned it, but to no avail (maybe I didn’t look hard enough).
I assumed that maybe Pudz had a stake in KSW, and after paying Sapp so much money he was annoyed that the fight ended that way. But if he doesn’t have a stake in the company then my argument is invalid.
Thanks a lot for writing this though, very interesting to read.
He defintle doesnt have a stake in the company. The thing is he knows what was going to happen he wasn’t mad hence the bully view point.
Couldn’t agree more with this post. Spot on. Also agree with what you’ve written about Pudzianowski, behaviour like that is as bad as Sapp’s for MMA, totally classless.
Cheers my friend
Excellent blog once again James. I’m afraid that you’ll be re-writing this blogging 3 or 4 years switching out Sapp’s name for Rampage Jackson’s. The similarities between the two are striking. Hopefully Rampage regains his focus and doesn’t end up tarnishing his once great career. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Dave glad your liking them. Hope your wrong as that would be really sad plus i think it’s a massive strech to go from Sapp to Page. I do feel Page has lost his love for the sport though.
Great blog mate! I agree with you on almost everything you said.. just that I think Pudz should get some credit… his body went through hell in the Silvia fight so he tapped in the end…no surprise. And in the first fight with you too… he was so gassed and tired that he couldn’t keep his hands up, so it’s not surprising that he tapped to the choke, cause he was already hardly breathing even without the choke ! haha but that’s when he decided to change some things and fkew over to the US to train his ass off! And that’s why Pudz acted like that in his fight against Sapp imo – I mean,Pudz worked his ass off there and then sapp throws the fight in like 40 seconds…he must have felt bad/angry when sapp turtled like that…cause he knows that he gave his whole in the months before the fight preparing while sapp did nothing and just came to collect the paycheck.
(sorry for my weak English btw)
Props on the blog once again James.
Glad your liking the blogs. You English is better than mine. He was certinly gassed in both fights he lost but still don’t think thats an excuse to go out like that. I don’t think he was mad that Sapp tapped when and how he did i think he fully expected him to do that as that’s what he’s been doing for a while now.He does deserved credit as do feel he’s training hard and getting better.
Well, maybe you’re right . You are the one who fought him, not me… you know better for sure. Any chance for a third and last fight? maybe not in KSW even, England maybe? or SFL?
Not sure if it will happen m8. At the moment i’m contracted to SFL and for the time being think i’ll be fighting in India. Am sure they’ll go global at some point as there a good structured organisation but will take time to build the sport in India first
Great article Mr. Colossus.
“I’m sure some people that don’t even know him or what he does get an unexplainable urge to throw things at him due to the dark stormy cloud of abuse which must hang over his head, which is a collective mixture of karma and negativity.”
^This was a VERY well conveyed statement. I also think that people might want to throw things at him due to his signature laugh but you were right about this.
I watched Sapp vs. Hoost Pt. 1 & 2 yesterday and wow, he was a warrior. Who is his trainer is the question? Maybe you should invite him to train with you (i.e. Sonnen and Okami)
Sadly I dont think he trains these days, given the reasons he fights he doesnt really need to. As soon as he takes a bit of punishment he knows he’s not going to continue so the training part which is the hardest part, can be skipped as you train to win a fight, not just to take part in the show. Thanks for reading the blog Erik, appreciate you getting in touch. Cheers m8
Great read James. I do disagree a bit about Mariusz though – he was wrong to keep punching after the ref jumped in against Sapp but I don’t doubt his toughness. For whatever reasons his cardio is diabolical, but I don’t doubt that he held on against Sylvia and yourself to the point of complete exhaustion.
I think Mariusz is tough when he’s winning, he was undoubtedly tierd in the fights you mentioned but I don’t think you should just ‘give up’, guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Thanks for reading
Good read, but can’t blame Bob though really. It’s just a shame that a once dangerous opponent with some notable fights and wins has degraded himself, and the sport to an extent, to this.
You can kinda empathise with his argument that he doesn’t want to sustain any long term damage through putting himself through bloody battles. But the man doesn’t even ATTEMPT to try and win any more..
If you can’t blame, who can you blame. No one wants to take damage and if you dont want to risk taking damage more than you want to compete, then you should do something else. Good to hear you’re thoughts on it pal & thanks for reading
Some great points here James, I hope Sapp reads this and takes it into heart. Sapp is on a path to destruction unless he gets a massive wakeup call very soon, otherwise if he does come round much later on in his life he will regret this period for the rest of his life, and as a one-time fan of this guy I hope he does realise this ASAP.
One of the sadder things about this is that it ain’t just himself that he is affecting, as he is also damaging promising promotions that need to exist in the areas they are based in for the growth of MMA, such as the SFL for India. It was really insulting to hear that it was pretty much an over-hyped leg cramp that made him want to tap. At least you chose not to stand with him and try to give him some credit with a longer, technical fight, but when a guy like that is determined to get his money the quickest, easiest way possible you would just do an Art Jimmerson type ending by tapping out from being in the bottom full guard position.
What you’re saying is right and it is a massive shame, hopefully Sapp will leave the sport to do something he wants to do and that he enjoys becasue MMA is not it anymore.
Thanks for reading and sharing your view m8
It’s sad that Sapp has a routine of losing very early into the first round of his kickboxing and mma fights, you can tell that he puts little to no effort into what he does. Money is nice but it shouldn’t be the only reason to get in there and fight. Love your blog, looking forward to more articles.
Thanks m8, appreciate your kind words
Great Blog…
As I had felt like Sapp was turning MMA into a WWE event…if this is true EVERYONE should NOT allow this!
I went on twitter after the SFL1 and was truely offended by his behavior!
Even as a newby to watching the sport, I felt cheated True Fighters Fight.
Sapp made a mockery of the sport and is being allowed to continue….
As I wrote earlier EVERYONE should be appaled by this behavior in tthis Sport and should NOT let it continue! For the INTEGRITY of MMA.
Good to get the perspective from fans of the sport m8, Didn’t realise at the time of my SFL matchup with him that he would be taking so many fights before we fought so apologies that it was a poor fight to watch (if its any consolation- even i was dissaponted!)
Cheers Pal
Sadly what you say is true, i thought the same things which is why I highlighted it in a blog. The more people that realise, the less likey it is to happen.
Thanks for the comments m8
Hate to admit, I never thought much about you, other than you were the usual meathead turned to MMA. Your blog shamed me for judging a book by its cover, I hereby offer my apology to you mr. Thompson. Your blog is very articulate, funny (though not overbearing which is even more of a plus) and thoughtful.
Take that back sir, I’m a meathead through & through. No worries m8, all good when you see a 19-20 stone massive guy, just run flat out at his opponent whilst shaking with rage, you can’t be blamed for thinking he’s a meathead haha. Glad your enjoying the blogs m8
Great article and I think quite accurate for what is going on with Bob.
I was in Japan for Pride High Octane in 2004, and remember seeing Bob’s face plastered in gargantuan proportions on the side of a bus as an ad for a TV dinner product…so he was definitely huge in Japan at that point, and likely very tough mentally to go from that scenario where you are a superstar, swarmed by people snapping your photo if you even step outside, to where he is currently.
btw – related to why I was there – I likely could have been one of your MMA opponents but for an injury in late 2004. I was there for that Pride event backstage as a dry run to get a feel for the whole ‘fighting in Japan’ experience, and have a bit more understanding of competing in a different country before being there under pressure of an actual match. I still train at a top gym, but had to give up the whole pro fighter career after the injury.
Anyway, that was the first time I saw you fight (vs Alex) and happy to see you are still competing and going strong.
I hope you’ll continue with your blog – you are giving MMA heavyweights a good name with these posts as you are quite well spoken and articulate, which as some of the comments here show, apparently people don’t expect.
I definitely enjoyed the CFS/WFS posts (just need to work in the tattoos as well beyond the flames and skull clothing…seems I’m often the only one in the entire gym without one, but maybe that’s a US specific thing), and look forward to your future posts as you have time.
Take care.
Thanks a lot for reading and commenting and sorry to hear about your injury. At least you can still train and practice mma. Remember, it’s never too late to get a tribal band or a ‘love and hate’ on yout knuckles! Thanks m8
I think Pudz just got carried away..
I agree completely with your comments about Pudzianowski. For that matter, it’s true of any other sulky little bully who continues to pound an opponent after they have tapped or in some cases even after they’ve clearly lost consciousness! I lost a ton of respect for Arona after he punched Overeem after he tapped in their fight.
It’s never nice to see, I genuinely try to give fighters the benefit of the doubt, but having being around Mariusz a fair bit-behind the scenes etc- this just cements what I already thought.. 100% bully. Cheers Tez
Loved this blog JT! Thought you’d like to see Bob’s follow up videos which I found on sherdog . Is he really this crazy?
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f61/bob-sapp-dissing-helwani-video-2110979/
Cheers Brandon, glad you like the blogs m8, appreciate it
Hi James, good blog!…nothing to say about Bob Sapp, you said it all. Just keep them coming. I feel like i know you better from your writing. Fan since Blog 1. Cheers from Chile.
thanks m8 nice of you to say. I’m like a big onion with lots of layers
You got a very great website colossalconcerns.com , Glad I noticed it through yahoo.
Thanks my friend
Hey James, your blogs are excellent. Only just saw them for the first time today.
You often see fighters carrying on throwing punches after the fight is over. I often give them the benefit of the doubt, in that i think they’re just pumped up, but with pudz, as you say, i think he’s just acting in character i.e. a bully.
With regards to Sapp, its hard to pin that guy down. On the one hand, yes, he is bad for the sport. On the other, if he has found a way to sell his dignity for cash, let him I guess. He’s the one that’s paying the price in the long run. In 10 years he will look back on his actions and feel nothing but shame. You’ll look back knowing you always fought hard and left your heart in the ring.
Glad you’re enjoying the blogs, agree with you, i believe 9 times out of 10 that fighters who carry on after the bell, are in the moment and get carried away etc. But in the case of Pudz, it’s just down to a twat like nature. I think although Sapp isnt single handedly going to bring mma to its downfall with his actions, I do think they reflect badly for the sprot. So it’s not just him but can see what you mean. Thanks for getting in touch pal
I’m impressed!!! Really informative blog post on colossalconcerns.com my friend. I just wanted to comment & say keep up the quality work.
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it
WOW i never expected such a thoughtful read, everything you wrote was spot on in my opinion, have you ever considered sports writing as a side career James?
(if you already do so then your welcome to pelt me with blunt objects as I hang my head in shame!)
haha thanks m8, not writing for anyone other than on my blogs at the minute so your safe from being hit on the head by an airborn mallet. Just enjoying writing on here but who knows what might happen in the future. Cheers