Bob Sapp played briefly in the NFL before being suspended for alleged steroid abuse. He tried his hand at professional wrestling, and, while not successful, was noticed by the Fox FX Celebrity Toughman series. There he fought and beat William “The Refridgerator” Perry.

That appeared to be the end of his fighting career. Broke, overweight, and depressed, Sapp was considering employment as an assistant at a funeral home, moving corpses for $125 per body.

K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii saw a tape of the Fridge fracas, and called up a skeptical Sapp. The next day a limo picked him up and he was flown to Japan.

There he achieved extraordinary popularity, landing on the cover of Time Asia, and becoming in all likelihood as he put it “the only fighter (who) has a dildo named after him here in Japan.” Sapp also earned spectacular wins including winning the 2005 K-1 Japan Grand Prix, and beating Ernesto Hoost, twice. There was serious talk about matching him up with Mike Tyson.

Sapp titled his fighting approach “NFL style.” Tape reveals a lack of technique, initially compensated for by a massive quanity of muscle – over 300 pounds in all. However, holes in Sapp’s game quickly became evident, like an inability or unwillingness to take a shot or fight beyond a few mnutes.

Starting around 2008, Sapp’s success ended, and since then, between MMA and kickboxing, he has gone won two or three fights, while losing over two dozen.

In his latest outing, vs. Volkan Duzgun in Den Bosch, The Netherlands, Sapp again robbed his opponent, the fans, and the entire sport of what he was paid for – a fight.

Unless there is a major change, it is time for Sapp to retire, and barring that, for promotions to stop using him.