Getty Image
It’s not often that we at BroBible dot com delve into the world of sumo wrestling. But every now and then, a clip comes along that is simply too incredible to ignore.
That was the case recently thanks to 21-year-old sumo prodigy Aonishiki Arata.
Arata (born Danylo Yavhusishyn), a Ukranian who began sumo wrestling at the age of seven, squared off with 23-year-old Japanese foe Atamifuji Sakutarō (born Sakutarō Takei) at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of a five-day exhibition event.
There are, primarily, two ways to score in a sumo match.
You can either force your opponent out of the circular ring (dohyō), or you can make them touch the ground with any part of their body other than the soles of their feet.
Arata did the latter. And boy did he ever do so in impressive fashion.
The 5-foot-11, 310-pound wrestler is going viral after a video emerged of him sending the 6-foot-1, 417-pound Sakutaro flipping through the air as if he were weightless.
Arata used a common technique in freestyle wrestling called a wrist snap. The move involves unbalancing your opponent by getting them to step back, adjusting their center of gravity in the process. The attacking wrestler then uses a grip on their opponents wrist to snap (or pull) them toward the mat.
If times correctly, as it appears it was for Arata, the move can make an opponent look absolutely silly.
Former UFC champion Islam Makhachev went viral several years ago for hitting the same technique on a high school wrestler who was a student of Daniel Cormier.
Now, the move has come under some scrutiny in this instance. Sumo exhibitions have long been known to be less than authentic. Oftentimes competitors will not only compete at less than 100 percent, but also cooperate with one another to put on a show.
Whether or not that’s what happened here? Only Arata and Sakutaro could tell you. But there’s no denying that the move, and resulting clip, were absolutely incredible to watch.