Emmanuel Yarbrough, mixed martial arts fighter, Died at 51

  Sports

Emanuel “Manny” Yarbrough was born on September 5, 1964, and died on December 21, 2015.

He was an American amateur sumo wrestler and mixed martial arts (MMA) competitor, also having competed in judo, wrestling and American football.

Manny was coached in judo by Don Spears, who is currently the highest ranking practitioner of Aikido, having reached the ranking of 8th “Dan” in 2005.

He was recruited for wrestling and football at Morgan State University and achieved All American status in the Heavyweight class in 1983 Division II and 1986 Division I.

Manny was 6 ft 8 in (2.03 meters) tall and has weighed up to 882 lb (400 kg), holding the Guinness World Record for the heaviest living athlete.

He was the 1995 World Amateur Sumo Champion and is considered to be one of the most famous sumo wrestlers outside Japan.

From 1996 to 1997, Manny competed in professional wrestling for Catch Wrestling Association in Germany, where he had gimmick matches based around his sumo career.

Manny took part in a sumo tournament against the entire staff of the promotion, being declared winner after beating everybody except August Smisl and Terminator Mastino.

He later won another tournament, beating the likes of Osamu Nishimura and Jason Neidhart, Jim Neidhart’s cousin.

Manny 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.

He has also appeared on the HBO drama Oz as an inmate named Clarence Seroy.

In 2000, Manny played himself in the German wrestling film Sumo Bruno.

Emanuel “Manny” Yarbrough passed away at age 51 in December 2015.