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2008-02-25 02:23:53
Bob Sapp Gets Knocked Out in First Fight on US Soil
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It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Bob "The Beast" Sapp was supposed to knock out the overmatched (or so we thought) Jan "The Giant" Nortje in his triumphant return to the US. Not only was Sapp fighting in the US, but he was also fighting on his home turf - he lives in Seattle and was a Pac-10 allstar at the University of Washington. The 7,000 fans on hand to watch the event at the Tacoma Dome were almost all Bob Sapp fans.
Not only that, but Bob Sapp and Jan Nortje seemed to be mismatch on paper. Nortje had an appalling 1-5 record, having been submitted 4 times in his career. On the other hand, Sapp had a record of 9-2-1, having fought in PRIDE and K-1 with a fair degree of success.
Besides, you stand these two up against each other, and how could you not take Sapp? Sapp is 6'5, 350 pounds of pure muscle. Nortje is big but didn't look to be in even moderately good shape heading into the fight. Bob Sapp is a legend in Japan and was set to make a name for himself in the United States.
It didn't get off to a good start this weekend in Tacoma. Sapp was thoroughly destroyed by Nortje. It's not like Nortje floored him with a lucky shot either - he completely dominated Sapp over 55 seconds to knock Sapp out in the first round. According to this article, Nortje landed 21 punches to the 0 punches that were landed by Sapp. Not exactly a close match.
Perhaps people overlooked Nortje's 10-0 professional boxing record, and instead focused too much on his lackluster MMA record. It sounds as though Sapp certainly overlooked Nortje's boxing background. Nortje also apparently lost 40 pounds while training for this fight, which certainly would have helped him against the bigger and slower Sapp.
What's next for Sapp? Apparently he will returning to fight in Japan, where he is still a huge name. Sapp almost certainly had aspirations to make a name for himself in the United States as well, and this weekend certainly won't help him achieve that goal.
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