1. Emmanuel Yarbrough was particularly known for his career in amateur sumo, and held the Guinness World Record for the heaviest living athlete.
20 Facts About Emmanuel Yarbrough
1. 2.
Emmanuel Yarbrough started his sports career at Morgan State University, where he became an offensive tackle for the college football team before joining the college wrestling team.
3.
Emmanuel Yarbrough was given the ironic nickname "Tiny" due to his large size.
4.
Emmanuel Yarbrough achieved NCAA All-American Division II wrestler status in 1983 and 1985, the university later ascending to Division I in 1986, while in football he was a Division I athlete in 1982 and 1983.
5.
Emmanuel Yarbrough won silver medals in the Sumo World Championships in 1992 and 1994, as well as a bronze medal in 1993.
6.
Two years later, after his appearance in Ultimate Fighting Championship, Emmanuel Yarbrough increased his previous weight by 282 lbs.
7.
Emmanuel Yarbrough quickly became the World Amateur Sumo Champion, leading him to be one of the most famous sumo wrestlers outside Japan.
8.
In 1994, Emmanuel Yarbrough applied to mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship and took part in the event UFC 3 representing sumo.
9.
Emmanuel Yarbrough was pitted against the much smaller Keith Hackney, a kempo representative, who opened the match by immediately knocking Yarborough down with a palm strike.
10.
Emmanuel Yarbrough recovered, pulled Hackney towards his chest and unloaded strikes on his neck, and then literally pushed him out the cage through the door in spectacular fashion.
11.
Emmanuel Yarbrough faced Tatsuo Nakano, a former shoot-style professional wrestler whom Yarbrough outsized greatly.
12.
Only months later, Emmanuel Yarbrough fought his third and last bout, for the Japanese promotion Pride Fighting Championships, facing his smallest opponent in the form of Japanese grappler Daiju Takase.
13.
Takase avoided engaging Emmanuel Yarbrough and earned a yellow card for inactivity in the second round.
14.
From 1996 to 1997, Emmanuel Yarbrough competed in professional wrestling for Catch Wrestling Association in Germany, where he had gimmick matches based around his sumo career.
15.
Emmanuel Yarbrough later won another tournament, beating the likes of Osamu Nishimura and Jason Neidhart, Jim Neidhart's storyline cousin.
16.
Emmanuel Yarbrough appeared in a 1997 Bollywood film Mr and Mrs Khiladi which features Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar and has appeared on several talk shows, as well as in a commercial for Motorola.
17.
Emmanuel Yarbrough has appeared on the HBO drama Oz as an inmate named Clarence Seroy.
18.
In 2007, Emmanuel Yarbrough was hospitalized for a week due to heart failure.
19.
Emmanuel Yarbrough saw an obesity specialist and changed his diet, losing 130 pounds.
20.
On December 21,2015, Emmanuel Yarbrough died at age 55 of a heart attack.