General Watch Sumo?

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MMAth

Active Member
Aug 25, 2024
18
29
This has to be one of the most fun combat sports to watch. Over the past couple of years I've gotten pretty deep into watching it, I'll try to explain some of how it works for the majority of people that just see big fat dudes pushing each other:

- There's 4 big tournaments a year that each last 15 days. Each wrestler has one match on each day. The wrestler with the best record at the end wins. If a rikishi (sumo wrestler) has a winning record (8 wins or more) they will be be eligible to increase in rank. If they have less than 8 wins, they will lose rank.

- Rules: Touch the ground, you lose. Get pushed out, you lose. Slaps, grabs, throws etc are OK. No punching/kicking.

- There's different styles of sumo. Some rikishi are all about belt grabbing and working trips/throws (the Mongolians tend to be real good at this), some are more "pusher/thrusters" and slap the shit out of their opponents and try to push them out of bounds. Wrestlers have their favorite grips/strategies and try to go for those. There are NO weight classes. The smallest guy in the top division (Midorifuji) is about 5'7 and 230 lbs.

- Their names aren't their real names, its kind of like pro-wrestlers. "Midorifuji" means "purple fuji". "Tobizaru" means "flying monkey." "Shirokuma" means "White Bear," etc.

- There's different ranks, yokozuna being the highest (there's one of those right now - a huge Mongolian dude), followed by Ozeki (there's a small handful of these guys), then Sekiwake, and a handful more. The top division is the top 5 levels of ranking. There's a lower division (think B-league) that has the lower ranked people. People get promoted/demoted each tournament similar to European soccer leagues.

- Mongolians tend to dominate. There's a whole bunch of solid Mongolian rikishi that have a real knack for it, probably due to Mongolian wrestliing in their home country having a similar rule set. In the top division there's a guy from Kazakstan, Russia, and of course a plethora of Japanese dudes.

- How to watch: NHK Japan puts out a really good reel of all the day's matches. It skips lots of the pageantry which can make the full show tedious. Link to current show:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rfCek-_t4


Some of my favorite wrestlers:

Tobizaru - smaller guy, unorthodox, relies on speed and trickery. MMA equivalent of maybe Shinya Aoki. Will likely never be Yokozuna but always puts on a show.

Onosato - HUGE dude, very young, this is his first year in the big leagues. Great physicality, largely regarded to be one of the next Yokozuna. Improving footwork, fun to watch. MMA equivalent of maybe young Ubereem.

Midorifuji - undersized rikishi, very fast, very good technique. Watching him dump dudes 2x his size is immensely satisfying. MMA equivalent: maybe BJ at Welterweight

Takerufuji - Not gigantic but super strong. Has sort of a powerlifter build, and solid technique. Also new to the top division, fun to watch. He sustained an ankle injury and is on the mend. MMA equivalent: Young Brock.

Check out the show "Sanctuary" on Netflix if you want a fun but ridiculous dramedy about Sumo. It was legit good, my wife cried at part of it.
 

Wiggy

We. Live. In. A. Fucking. Meme.
Oct 23, 2015
2,023
3,036
I always thought Sumo was interesting. I think, at least in other parts of the world, if it wasn't presented in such a traditional way, and without giant dudes in a thong, it'd likely be more popular.

The obvious misconception is that they're just fat dudes slamming into each other, but dang if some of these guys aren't strong AF & even (relatively speaking considering the circumstances) athletic.

I mean, if fucking Power Slap can be a thing, then so should Sumo.
 

MMAth

Active Member
Aug 25, 2024
18
29
I always thought Sumo was interesting. I think, at least in other parts of the world, if it wasn't presented in such a traditional way, and without giant dudes in a thong, it'd likely be more popular.

The obvious misconception is that they're just fat dudes slamming into each other, but dang if some of these guys aren't strong AF & even (relatively speaking considering the circumstances) athletic.

I mean, if fucking Power Slap can be a thing, then so should Sumo.
Yeh I think I a lot of people get turned off by the fat guys in underwear thing. Having lived in Japan and America, I understand how the West sees it. I was hoping they'd admit sumo the Olympics, I think it would be super fun to watch. Japan and Mongolia would dominate, but it would be interesting to see what other countries put forward. Would love to see someone train some of our D1 wrestlers or someone like JJ Watt to do sumo.
 

Wiggy

We. Live. In. A. Fucking. Meme.
Oct 23, 2015
2,023
3,036
Agreed - seeing a couple athletic hoss type dudes like linebackers, bigger D1 wrestlers, rugby players, etc trying to knock each other out of a Sumo ring would be super entertaining.

Fun random fact - if anyone remembers '80 WWF pro wrestler Earthquake (real name John Tenta), he was apparently a very successful Sumo wrestler before getting into pro wrestling.
 

Cornhole Champ

Formerly 'kvr28'
Nov 22, 2015
19,879
28,176
Didn't ESPN used to show the sumo tournaments back in the day. Say time frame as when they would play old world strongman competitions, morning workouts, etc. Instead of the stupid non stop talking heads they have now.
 

Wiggy

We. Live. In. A. Fucking. Meme.
Oct 23, 2015
2,023
3,036
Didn't ESPN used to show the sumo tournaments back in the day. Say time frame as when they would play old world strongman competitions, morning workouts, etc. Instead of the stupid non stop talking heads they have now.
Yeah, I think so. They (or at least ESPN Classic) used to show a lot of stuff like that - be it Sumo, strongman, bodybuilding shows, old Jack LaLane show episodes, old boxing, etc.
 

NotBanjaxo

Formerly someone other than Banjaxo
Nov 16, 2019
10,680
21,476
Back in the late 80s (if memory serves me well) Channel 4 in the UK showed sumo for a few years.

The rising star at the time was Konishki (sp?) who was from Hawaii. His nickname was "Dump Truck" and I remember he was close to becoming Yokozuna, not sure if he ever made it.

My favourite to watch was Terao (sp?) who was a small lightweight guy relative to the others, but who had great agility and lightning fast hands. He could push/slap opponents at a ridiculously fast rate. If I'm remembering correctly, his name means "whirlwind" or "cyclone", something like that.

Please excuse the vagueness of that post, I'm going back 35 years or more lol.
 

MMAth

Active Member
Aug 25, 2024
18
29
Back in the late 80s (if memory serves me well) Channel 4 in the UK showed sumo for a few years.

The rising star at the time was Konishki (sp?) who was from Hawaii. His nickname was "Dump Truck" and I remember he was close to becoming Yokozuna, not sure if he ever made it.

My favourite to watch was Terao (sp?) who was a small lightweight guy relative to the others, but who had great agility and lightning fast hands. He could push/slap opponents at a ridiculously fast rate. If I'm remembering correctly, his name means "whirlwind" or "cyclone", something like that.

Please excuse the vagueness of that post, I'm going back 35 years or more lol.
Konishiki never made it to Yokozuna, which was very controversial as many felt he had done enough (it's not a set in stone thing to get promoted to yokozuna- its kind of like college football voting). Musashimaru and Akebono both made it, however. Both guys repped Hawaii, I think Musashimaru was Samoan and Akebono was Hawaiian. I wish we'd see more Polys in sumo like back in the day.
 

Jam_Handy

I swear I do declare! How did she get back there?
Aug 13, 2024
1,185
2,867
Yeh I think I a lot of people get turned off by the fat guys in underwear thing.
From what I understand, the way they eat and train, the fat layer gets built on top of the muscle instead of in it...a better way of gaining weight?
 

buddie

Active Member
Sep 8, 2024
25
31
I dig it. I am not incredibly knowledgeable about it, but I certainly watch it whenever I see it on television or streaming. It’s a lot more skillful than most people realize. I’ve seriously wondered why they have never recruited a sumo to play o-line. It seems pretty damn similar.