#kamal “big kimo” basira

[moonmothmama]

Fathy Aboelrokab (the smaller guy with the long hair) verses Kamal "Big Kimo" Basira, Feb 18th World Championship Sumo.

both of these guys are Judo black belts.

Fathy had won his first match earlier in the evening (against Kyle Ferriter); i was really impressed with him. honestly, i was rooting for both of these guys. but oh, Big Kimo!

to be very honest i think we (me and @ibelieveinthepowerofstuff) both fell a little bit in love with this guy. there's just something about him. his spirit... like, listen: all of the athletes we saw were incredible. you could tell how dedicated they all were. but this guy is definitely something special. i don't know how else to say it.

now, about the match.

i was both looking forward to this one, and apprehensive of it, because i liked both of these guys a lot, and i wanted to see both of them succeed. i knew it was gonna be rough. one of them was going to lose! but actually, tbvh, i did see them both succeed.

Fathy executed an extremely impressive trip in the first bout after being forced nearly to the edge of the dohyo; ultimately he lost this match, but ohhh man. no way was anyone about to forget that. he has got amazing moves.

Big Kimo won the next bout by forcing Fathy outside the dohyo, meaning the match would be decided by a third bout. excitement! aaaah! and then he kept the momentum, starting out with open hand strikes, then both of them back to grappling, ending up with Fathy outside the ring again.

watch [here]! this match begins one hour and four minutes in.

you can follow Big Kimo on instagram @ big_kimo_sumo

this whole event was absolutely amazing, i'm still so hyped that i actually got to see sumo wrestling in person, and i'm already looking forward to the next one in March! i'm probably going to blab about a few more matches tbh, there were a lot of moments that really struck me. so stay tuned for more of my shitty screenshots and rambling commentary, i guess. do i know what i'm talking about? not really. but that's not gonna shut me up <3 one thing i do know: sumo is cool as hell.

once again, much love to these amazing athletes. i hope to see more of both of them in the future!