Has there ever been a fighter for mentally destroyed than Bob Sapp?

He got paid lots of money to entertain.


He had the "get-paid"-mentality like any entertainer, which meant that when he got big in Japan, he not only participated in freakshows, but also sang and danced.



Anything to pay the bills, if the money was right.

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Always loved the Dancing Sapp-figure.
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To be fair I think Sapp post Crocop until that Aerts fight with the phantom knee in 2006 wasn't as bad as he's been since. He was afraid of taking punishment in a way he wasn't previously but he wasn't folding the instant he was in any trouble like he does now, look at the Kimo fight for example.

Even so I'm not sure Sapp recently is "taking dives", he's throwing real punchs and if he landed well early could finish but isn't willing to take any punishment at all himself so as soon as an opponent lands on him or gets him in a bad spot the fights over.
 
cheesus said:
Not exactly the same thing, McCall has had his issues battling drug addiction and mental illness.
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Prime Lennox Lewis had that effect on his opponents. I remembered Akinwande, Golota, McCall all mentally checked out in their fights against Lewis, 3 fights in a row.
 
Sapp has said himself that he will not take damage for a mediocre paycheck, so he throws instead of getting damaged
 
Sapp figured out a long time ago that (1) he was not elite, and (2) he would get paid regardless of the outcome of the fight. He chose to basically be a jobber to real fighters, because he knew that he was never going to reach the top, and could still make a good living off his size, appearance, and infamy alone. Kind of surprised he didn't make a serious attempt at pro wrestling.
 
Yashabo said:
Sapp has said himself that he will not take damage for a mediocre paycheck, so he throws instead of getting damaged
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Which is somewhat different than throwing, Sapp probably isn't being paid to loose and if he caught someone clean in say the first few seconds could win but promoters know he folds.

Perhaps as Sapp says it was something of a business decision as well, around the start of this decade Sapp was taking a ton of fights every year. The promoters he was working with weren't rich enough to give him big money for one match but by folding fast he could fight many times taking the same amount of damage.

Honestly I can't say it ever bothered me much by that point as Sapp was only ever viewed as a sideshow not a real MMA fighter.
 
moreorless87 said:
Which is somewhat different than throwing, Sapp probably isn't being paid to loose and if he caught someone clean in say the first few seconds could win but promoters know he folds.

Perhaps as Sapp says it was something of a business decision as well, around the start of this decade Sapp was taking a ton of fights every year. The promoters he was working with weren't rich enough to give him big money for one match but by folding fast he could fight many times taking the same amount of damage.

Honestly I can't say it ever bothered me much by that point as Sapp was only ever viewed as a sideshow not a real MMA fighter.
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I think if he had a good attitude he could've been a great. He was great for a few fights.

Honestly he will be able to retire with all his faculties. But I honestly think he bets on himself to lose and goes down at the first sign of trouble. Because hey, what's the point in even putting up a fight that'll damage him.

He's lived off of past memories. And in my opinion hasn't done badly considering his peak was about 5 fights.
 
Philtard said:
I think if he had a good attitude he could've been a great. He was great for a few fights.

Honestly he will be able to retire with all his faculties. But I honestly think he bets on himself to lose and goes down at the first sign of trouble. Because hey, what's the point in even putting up a fight that'll damage him.

He's lived off of past memories. And in my opinion hasn't done badly considering his peak was about 5 fights.
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Fame likely played a part but perhaps he simply didn't have the mentality to come back from a bad injury?

Again I think its a mistake to say Sapp right after Crocop was booking out in every fight were he took any punishment. He was more afraid of punishment definitely but was still trying to win, look at a match like Kimo were he could barely stand at one point yet won.

That fight with Aerts in 2006 were he went down from that tiny knee amid rumours of a serious falling out with K-1 was the turning point when he turned into a total joke.
 
I asked my friend which one of them he thinks is a better fighter, and he said the guy on the right

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legedema said:
He did very well against Ernesto Hoost,
Dont know what happened to him but there are not many fighters that can stand against Hoost
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Think about that fight the same way Chael v Shogun.

One single sleep and is too late.

Its a fight,anything can happen.
 
He was in it to kickass and make a lot of money... Didn't need to risk his acting career by taking to much damage.
 
Fihlo in the second sonnen fight.

I dunno what daduq happened there.
 
How much could he have possibly been paid towards the end? I mean the guy has lost 14 fights in a row and hasn't won a fight in 10 years. You'd think by loss 7 or 8 in a row promoters would have lost interest.
 
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