The legend of Baruto

The “New PRIDE” RIZIN Fighting Federation will conclude its open-weight tournament on New Year’s eve at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

ROUND 1 took place on September 25, 2016, at Saitama Super Arena. Winners are in bold:
Wanderlei Silva vs.BYE
Mirko CroCop vs. Hyun Man Myung
Szymon Bajor vs. Teodoras Aukštuolis
Amir Aliakbari vs. Joao Almeida
Baruto Kaito vs.Kazuyuki Fujita
Valentin Moldavsky vs. Karl Albrektsson
Jiri Prochazka vs. Mark Tanios
Shane Carwin vs. BYE

ROUND 2 (quarterfinals) took place on December 29. Winners are in bold:
Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic (heavyweight) vs. Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, replacing Wanderlei Silva
Baruto Kaito (super heavyweight) vs. Tsuyoshi Kosaka (heavyweight), replacing Jiri Prochazka who dropped out with a knee injury
Amir Aliakbari (heavyweight) vs. Heath Herring (heavyweight), replacing Shane Carwin
Valentin Moldavsky (light heavyweight) vs. Szymon Bajor (heavyweight)

The semi-finals and finals will take on December 31. One of the final four is Baruto (real name Kaido Hoovelson). The Estonian is 6′ 6.5″ tall, and weighs over 400 pounds.

He is 3-0 in MMA, beating Peter Aerts, Kazuyuki Fujita, and TK all via decision, and took a circuitous path to the finals.

He grew up on a cattle farm. The greatest wrestler and wrestling coach in US history, Dan Gable, was asked once the best way to develop strength. He explained it was hard physical labor. Like, say, working on an Estonian cattle farm.

His father passed away when he was 16, and he made his living as a bouncer. His Judo coach introduced him to sumo and he moved to Japan and in 2005 turned pro. By 2006 he has reached the top division – Makuuchi. He won a number of awards and retired in 2013 at age 28.

On New Years eve 2015 he started MMA, and if he wins two more fights, he will be something of a minor star in the sport, after five fights and 366 days.