This past weekend, star kickboxer, Kido Yosuhiro, was booked to fight former sumo wrestler, Terutsuyoshi, at K-1’s Japan Martial Arts Expo event. Kido — a devastating knockout artist and former K-1 tournament winner — may have thought his old promotion was giving him a lay-up against a much smaller man with zero pro striking experience.
However, unfortunately for Kido, things didn’t go as planned.
The fight was a “ganryujima” bout, named for an island that featured a legendary samurai duel. Ganryujima bouts can be won by KO, submission or ring out (pushing an opponent off the platform three times). In this bout, Kido failed to add a brutal knockout highlight to his personal collection.
Instead, he suffered an embarrassing ring out defeat:
Kido, who made the odd decision to fight along the edges of the platform against a man whose only offense is a push out, protested each of the three ring outs that lead to his defeat.
The last time Kido, a.k.a. “The Golden Hitman,” was in action things went more to plan. In May he fought fake Shaolin monk Li Long. Kido obliterated Li (whose gimmick was a supposedly iron chin) with a horrific head kick.
This was Terutsuyoshi’s first foray into combat sports since announcing his retirement from Grand Sumo earlier this year.
In sumo, Terutsuyoshi (real name Fukouka Shoki) amassed a pro record of 425-422. The highest rank he ever held was maegashira 3 in the makuuchi (top division). The M3 position is just three ranks below sumo’s san’yaku ranks. Those upper ranks include the sport’s most elite competitors, including the yokozuna.
Achieving a rank of M3 is an incredible feat in the sport. Especially for someone as undersized as Terutsuyoshi. At 5’5” and 245 pounds, Terutsuyoshi is one of the smallest wrestlers to compete at that high of a level.
Guys lucky hes not shitting in a spaghetti strainer to find his teeth…