Free fight: Bob Sapp snaps eight-and-a-half-year losing streak at Rizin FF 13

The sense of anticipation was in the air as one of the darlings of Japanese martial arts, America’s Bob Sapp, took on Abdelrahman Shalan, who fought under his sumo name of “Kintaro Osunaarashi” at Rizin FF 13, but the knockout many expected didn’t materialize.

Shalan, making his professional MMA debut, came flying out of his corner and unloaded a vicious barrage of shots that forced Sapp into the corner as the American cowered away from the punches in a manner familiar to longtime MMA fans through his career.

But, instead of the seemingly inevitable TKO finish, something different happened. Shalan ran out of gas. As the Egyptian’s arms started to get heavy, Sapp managed to extricate himself from the corner and eventually work his way back to the center of the ring as the crowd cheered and applauded his escape.

The action for the rest of the round was unsurprisingly slow, with both men popping out the occasional punch, but with Sapp battered and cut, and Shalan exhausted from his failed attempt to finish the fight, the first round turned into a stalemate and the two fighters returned to their corners.

The second round saw a change of approach from “The Beast” as he took Shalan to the mat and immediately secured full mount. But, with both men breathing very heavily, Sapp appeared unable to posture up to land what might have been fight-ending strikes as he instead opted to blanket his huge frame over the sumo wrestler and land occasional ground strikes to prevent the fight from being stood back up.

After a dominant second round, Sapp knew he needed more of the same in Round 3 and, after a little repair work in the corner by the cutman, “The Beast” was ready to go again. With both men starting the round looking absolutely shattered, the pair bit down on their mouthpieces and threw leather in a bid to claim a late stoppage. Unlike Round 1, it was Sapp’s punches that carried the greater weight as he swung for the fences and connected with the Egyptian, who looked almost ready to drop from sheer exhaustion.

After a seemingly mutually-agreed mid-round standoff to catch their breath, Sapp plodded forward in search of the finish, with every punch cheered by the Saitama Super Arena crowd.

The referee then gave both fighters a yellow card for timidity before imploring them to fight out the final seconds, and the pair swung for the fences once again as the fight went all the way to the final bell.

Both men were completely spent as the verdict was announced to the crowd, as Sapp picked up his first MMA win in eight and a half years in his most recent bout to date.

Recap Sapp’s long-awaited victory at RIZIN 13 via the video above.