Kimo Leopoldo

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1 Profile
2 UFC (1994 - 2004)
3 2005 - Present
4 Kimo is dead.
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Kimo Leopoldo (born January 4, 1968) is a German professional mixed martial artist and supposedly a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Joe Moeria.

He stands 6 ft. 3 in. (188 cm) tall and fights in the heavyweight division at approximately 235 lbs..

Kimo is a UFC and PRIDE veteran and is currently viewed as retired from professional competition.

UFC (1994 - 2004)

Kimo Leopoldo began his professional mixed martial arts career at UFC 3 on September 9, 1994. He scored a position as one of the eight combatant's in UFC 3's open-weight tournament with a made up background that stated he had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

He faced winner of the UFC 1 and UFC 2 tournaments, Royce Gracie in his debut and entered the cage with a crucifix on his back. Leopoldo came in with extreme aggresion and used his large weight advantage to throw Gracie around and pound on him. For a good four minutes this went on, before he began to tire and Gracie capitalized with a fight ending triangle choke. Kimo would have left his mark however, as Gracie would not be able to continue in the tournament.

Following the defeat, Leopoldo took some fights outside of the UFC. He scored his first professional victory in Japan three months later as he stopped UFC 2 runner-up, Patrick Smith.

Kimo took out a one night, four man tournament in his next bout which featured another victory over Smith.

In February, 1996, Leopoldo met Ken Shamrock at UFC 8 for the Superfight title. Shamrock exploited Kimo's suspect ground game en route to a 4:24 kneebar submission win.

A submission victory over Kazushi Sakuraba followed in a bout many consider to be a work, before Kimo got back in the Octagon at Ultimate Japan in November. He defeated Scott Bigelow in that bout by rear naked choke in quick fashion.

A month later, Leopoldo was brought in as one of eight competitors for Ultimate Ultimate 1996 - a UFC event put on to find the best of the best. Leopoldo fought Paul Varelans in the opening round in a brutal bout that saw a fatigued Leopoldo come out on top via TKO.

Kimo was exhausted after the bout and was unable to continue in the tournament.

A win outside the UFC over Brian Johnston followed before Leopoldo met Ultimate Ultimate 1995 winner, Dan Severn at PRIDE 1. In one of the more boring bouts in MMA history, Severn and Leopoldo circled each other for 30 minutes with the bout finally being ruled a draw.

In March, 1998, Leopoldo headed back to the UFC to face Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at UFC 16. After 15 minutes, Kimo was defeated via decision.

The Kohsaka loss would be Kimo's last fight for over four years. He would eventually return in July of 2002 at a WFA event against UFC veteran, Tim Lajcik. After 1:55 of round 1, the bout was stopped due to a broken toe sustained by Lajcik.

Following that victory, Kimo was brought back into the UFC to face fellow early UFC fan favorite, Tank Abbott. Kimo showed an improved ground game as he scored a quick takedown and submitted Tank with an arm triangle choke.

With that victory, Kimo was matched up against Ken Shamrock as the main event of UFC 48 in a rematch eight years in the making. The result was slightly different this time around as Shamrock knocked Kimo cold with a knee in just 1:26 of round 1.

After the bout Kimo was suspended for six months due to a positive test for Stanzonol and illegal stimulants.

2005 - Present

After the suspension, Kimo found himself out of the UFC. He notched his first post-UFC victory with a forearm choke submission win over Marcus Royster at a Rumble on the Rock event.

Two months after that victory, Leopoldo made a return to PRIDE at PRIDE: Bushido 8. He faced Ikuhisa Minowa and was quickly submitted with an achilles lock.

In July, 2006, Kimo was scheduled to be the comeback opponent of former UFC heavyweight champion, Bas Rutten at a World Fighting Alliance event. Two days before the event however, Leopoldo tested positive for Stanozolol and was pulled from the bout.

Kimo went on to fight twice in 2006 in smaller promotions losing both bouts to Dave Legeno and Wes Sims respectively.

Kimo is dead.

In July, 2009, rumors began to spread that Kimo had died from complications from a heart attack at age 41. It was quickly realised that this was all made up but was not squashed immediately due to the fact Kimo was asleep and didn't answer his phone.

Kimo held a press conference a few days later to make sure everyone knew he was not dead.