Originally posted by: tcsenter
Originally posted by: JackBurton
Akebono vs Bob Sapp
Akebono looks as though he is just as apt to suffer a massive freaking heart attack as a knock out punch.
Hackney could have won by making Yarborough chase him around the cage a few more times.
I can't believe some of these morbidly obese dudes are allowed to fight. Don't they have a maximum allowed blood pressure in pre-fight medical screening?
This was YEARS ago, I think in the early or late 90s. Back then there were no commission that oversaw everything from the rules to the health precautions. Now days, there is no super heavy weight division in the USA so that would mean this guy would have never been able to fight. Also if this was in the present time he would never fight someone out of his weight category.
Just remember that this is at the UFC's infancy stages where they were actually owned by an entirely different company.
In regards to the Akebono fight, he fought in Japan. Even as of today, they do not have a sanctioning committee like the NSAC or CSAC to oversee everything from rules to health issues.
Although I am fairly certain that Akebono underwent some type of physical. He lost a lot of weight compared to when he was still doing Sumo. He lost a ton of weight. And in Japan, there are and were a lot of freak show type matches. Again it all has to do with no athletic commission overseeing things there.