Bobby Ologun
From OTMWiki
| Bobby Ologun | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Nickname | Bobby, The strongest amateur |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| Born | April 8, 1966 |
| Fighting out of | Saitama, Japan |
| Town of birth | Ibadan, Nigeria |
| Fighting style | |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Wins | 2 |
| By knockout | 0 |
| By submission | 0 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | |
Bobby Ologun (Birth Name: Alaji Karim Ologun) (Japanese: ボビー・オロゴン born April 8, 1966 in Ibadan, Nigeria) is a Nigerian foreign TV-personality (gaijin tarento) in Japan, and a K-1, mixed martial artist. Most of Japanese people call him "Bobbii" (ボビー). HEIGHT: 185cm, WEIGHT: 98kg. He speaks English, Yoruba and Japanese. He currently lives in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture.
Contents |
Profile
He is the third brother in a family of thirty one brothers and sisters. After graduating from a Nigerian university, he came to Japan as an assistant to a trading company which his father manages.
While he worked a part-time job in the kitchen of a cafe in Daikanyama, Shibuya in 2001, he first appeared in Sanma Akashiya's television program "Sanma's Super Karakuri-TV" on Tokyo Broadcasting System as a non-Tarento interviewee.
At the end of 2001, he was regularly on extremely popular the skit featured on "Karakuri-TV", "The Funniest Language School", as a student.
Fame by Gaffing
The Japanese find many of the foreign celebrities who have trouble with the language amusing, such as Vivian Hsu or Steven Seagal, which explains the immediate success of Bobby Ologun. His frequent confusion (whether real confusion or simply a literary equivalent of a boke of the Japanese language) quickly made him an instant star on the Karakuri-TV show.
Some of his famous mistakes were:
- When asked once to compose a haiku poem, he quickly created this work of art:
A winter morning, The pigeon looks very, very delicious.
- He shouts "Don't screw around!" (ふざけんなよ) to people who have an obviously higher position than him. He also addresses the same with very rude pronouns, such as "Omae" and "Aitsu".
- He once called the famous diviner Hosoki-sensei (細木先生), "Usagi-sensei" (ウサギ先生 Rabbit teacher) on her TV show. Hosoki is Kazuko Hosoki.
- He frequently mixes up "genius" (天才) with "pervert" (変態).
- He once famously rearranged Ayumi Hamasaki's (浜崎あゆみ) name into "Amaguri Kayumi" (アマグリ カユミさん Itchy Sweet-chesnut). He is a fan of Hamasaki.
- He routinely mistakes "Kinchō" (緊張 anxiousness) with "Kanchō" (カンチョー enema).
- His facial expressions also routinely get a reaction from viewers as he frequently pouts his lips to the point of absurdity and bugs his eyes out. This brand of humor could be viewed as offensive or self-denigrating in the West, but not considered so in homogeneous Japan.
Fighting Origins and Records
One of the running skits on Sanma's Super Karakuri TV had Ologun try many different jobs and skills he had no previous experience in (he is the successor to Tamao Nakamura in these skit performances). Inspired from watching Bob Sapp vs Taro Akebono on "K-1 Dynamite!!" on New Year's Eve in 2003, Ologun tried judo on "Karakuri-TV".
Karakuri-TV's emcee Akashiya, who watched a VTR in which Ologun struggled in the martial art, said half-jokingly, "Bobby might be able to take part in a combat sport event at the end of the year", in reference to the New Year's Eve supershows put on by K-1, PRIDE, and at that time Antonio Inoki's BOM-BA-YE promotion. As a result, he tried various full contact combat sports on the program. In February, 2004, he was initiated into the pancrase stable, "GRABAKA" and studied under its founder, Sanae Kikuta. In March at the same year, he let him experience a sparring match with MMA and Jiu-Jitsu legend Royce Gracie. He lost, but Ologun showed did better than expected, as he was able to cut Gracie and make him bleed from his forehead.
In a joke turned reality, he faced French kickboxer Cyril Abidi in "K-1 Dynamite!!" at the Osaka Dome on December 31, 2004 (At first, he was going to face Mike Bernardo, but at the last minute, his opponent was changed to Abidi because Bernardo had an injury).
Ologun won by three round decision, and scored a surprise victory. It is important to note that this match was the only pure MMA rules bout on that night's card, giving Ologun a slight advantage due to his training and the fact that his opponent, while an accomplished kickboxer, wasn't prepared for MMA style fighting, given the fact that he was a last minute substitution. Abidi was also admonished for actions Ologun was doing repeatedly in the fight, such as mounted punches, which led fighting pundits to believe the fight was fixed (It is worthy to mention that K-1 has a television deal with Tokyo Broadcasting System, the producers of "Karakuri TV"). The Japanese media, which focused quite a bit of time on fighting evens such as K-1 and PRIDE, soon dubbed Ologun "The Strongest Amateur" (Saikyō no Shirōto, 最強の素人).
His next fight was against former Yokozuna, Akebono at "K-1 Dynamite!!" on New Year's Eve 2005. Akebono, already a laughingstock of K-1 and MMA due to his 1-9 record up to that point, fiercely attacked Ologun in the first and second rounds. However, Ologun steadily fought his way to another three round decision. Akebono would fight one more time then retire from K-1 and MMA afterwards to become a professional wrestler.
His younger brother, Andy Ologun, was also slated to make his debut as a K-1 fighter. The fight would have been held in Saitama Super Arena on February 4, 2006 but he couldn't fight because of an injury.
Assault Controversy and Fall From Grace
On January 25, 2006, Ologun allegedly assulted Katsuyuki Ito, the president of the entertainment agency, R&A Promotions, of which Ologun belongs to in Shibuya. Police are now deliberating whether to send prosecution documents to court in lieu of the charges. [1]
According to the investigation, Ologun reportedly seized the president's clothes and acted violently by throwing around furniture because of a dispute over payment. John Muwete Muruaka, who is a famous in Japan as the former private secretary of the scandalized House of Representatives Muneo Suzuki and the same agency as Ologun, was there by accident and tried stop the fight, resulting in a scuffle between the two men.
Ologun later denied the incident saying, "I didn't hit anybody. On the contrary, I was hit by Muruaka" at a news conference on the same day. It had come out later that Ologun was being paid per the stipulations of his contract, but he was not aware 100% of the Japanese legalese, so he made a deal he didn't have a full understanding of.
At the same time, it was found out that he lied about his age when the police identified his driver's license in Harajuku police station.
He claimed to be born in 1973 until now, but he was actually born in 1966. He has denied lying about his age.
Had a 3 month ban from Japanese television and confinement to quarters imposed on him by the geinokai following the assault incident from January to April 2006[2]. He'd since returned to television, but his appearances and bookings have been sparse as compared to his status before the incident. This is believed to be because the talent agency that holds his contract, R&A Promotions, isn't sending any jobs his way due to his actions. Ologun is still under contract to R&A until December 2007.
Even though he is under contract, and the legality of his actions are questionable, in May 2006, Ologun announced his own independent talent agency, Alemco Productions (japanese: アレムコ・プロダクション）.
Cameo Appearances
- Ologun is a character in the re-release of Shin Goketsuji Ichizoku ~ MATRIMELEE ~. [3] He appears as a midboss right before the final fight with the actual boss, Princess Sissy. His move set does not involve any moves associated with K1 or PRIDE, however, they are more comical, possibly owing to his comical origins in Japanese culture.
- Ologun had a cameo appearance in 2005's angling comedy Tsuribaka Nisshi 16, a long running movie series with Japanese actor/comedian Toshiyuki Nishida.
External links
- Bobby Ologun official blog "My Everyday" (posting function has been disabled)
- Fighting & Entertainment Group
- Bobby Ologun.com unofficial blog
