Manny Yarbrough, a sumo who was dubbed the “world’s heaviest athlete,” said he wants to lose some weight. Yarbrough competed in several mixed-martial arts promotions more than a decade ago.
Yarbrough is possibly best known for competing in UFC 3 in 1994 when he fought and lost to the much smaller Keith Hackney. He also competed in Japan’s PRIDE promotion several years later.
But Yarbrough, who also goes by the name Emmanuel Yarborough, said he wants to shed some weight as he is currently 6-foot-7 and 719 pounds. He said he’ll lose weight when he retires from fighting in 2014.
“I’m desperate to get back to my best college shape in time for the nationals next year,” Yarbrough told ABC News.
“It’s the sportsman in me, that never-give-up attitude,” he said. “It’s a challenge. I had to give it a shot because of that inner athlete in me pushing me to do it.”
Yarbrough recalled that when he was a child, he was athletic but notes he was “always the ‘big kid.’”
“I'd do what everybody else did growing up, but from the age of about 6 I knew I was bigger than the others and probably always would be,” he said. “When we were playing with friends, I had to remember to hold back so I didn’t hurt anyone.
Yarbrough, who was born in New Jersey, started wrestling at Morgan State University and got All American status in the Heavyweight class in 1986.
He also appeared in the HBO prison drama “Oz” as an inmate.
Guinness World Records named him as the largest athlete.
