“Mr. Perfect” Ernesto Hoost heads into SENSHI 30 as the man generations still use as a measuring stick, yet he admits one rivalry still bothers him: Bob Sapp. We spoke to Hoost ahead of the February 28 fight event.
In the early 2000s K-1 boom, fighters like Sapp and Francisco Filho raised their own profiles by being the few who managed to beat Hoost while he was regarded as the most complete heavyweight kickboxer in the sport. Speaking ahead of SENSHI’s anniversary gala in Varna, the four-time K-1 World Grand Prix winner is open about how those Sapp fights still sit in the back of his mind.
Ernesto Hoost Talks Bob Sapp Matches
“In 2002, I became champion again, but honestly, that feeling wasn’t a hundred percent. Because I lost to Bob Sapp before that, it left something unfinished for me,” he said, tying his fourth Grand Prix title to the shock that came earlier. Their first bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Final Elimination ended with a doctor stoppage after Sapp battered forward with sheer size and power, a result that stunned fans and media used to seeing Hoost pick apart giants. Hoost still struggles with how it played out inside the ring.
“I still don’t really see that fight as a normal fight, you know? Sapp was such a huge guy, almost 170 kilos of muscle, and he hit hard. What I heard later was that the referee was told to let him get away with a lot. He was grabbing me with one hand and hitting with the other, almost like in a street fight. I looked at the referee like, ‘What is this?’ But the referee just said, ‘Go on, go on.’”
The rematch came quickly in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Final in Saitama, where Sapp’s pressure led to another TKO and sealed one of the strangest two-fight series of that era. “Later, I heard stories that they kind of programmed him to fight like that, to just go crazy. They gave me a rematch because the ratings were very high from the first fight,” Hoost said.
When Sapp pulled out of the tournament injured, Hoost re-entered as a late replacement and won the entire Grand Prix, beating Ray Sefo and stopping Jérôme Le Banner to become the first four-time K-1 champion, yet he says that triumph always felt complicated. “After that, though, I started to make mistakes. Losing that way affected me mentally. I lost again, and even today, that remains the biggest frustration of my career. Especially because I truly believed I could beat him.”
Hoost compares that frustration with his series against Francisco Filho, where he took a 2–1 edge over three fights and feels the rivalry reached a natural conclusion. “You know, I beat Filho the first time, lost the second, and won the third, that’s fine. But with Bob Sapp, I lost twice, and that stays with me. It’s part of my story, part of my frustration, but also part of what made my career what it is.”
He makes clear he does not carry anger towards Sapp himself.
“I have no bad feelings towards him. I don’t blame him for what happened. Maybe a little bit myself, maybe my trainer, there are always things you look back on and think you could’ve done differently. My trainer said, ‘Just fight him, he’s a big bum.’ Yeah, it’s easy to say when you were in the corner and you were outside to say what you should’ve done. But inside the ring, it’s different. Still, I’m at peace with it. I understand what happened and why. It was a tough situation for everyone, also financially, but that’s how this sport goes sometimes.”
SENSHI 30
These days Hoost is one of the main faces of SENSHI. He works as a head instructor at the SENSHI International Martial Arts Camps in Bulgaria, serves on the KWU SENSHI board, and is involved as a coach, referee, judge and commentator during the events. He has said that what he enjoys most is passing on his timing, combinations and ring sense to fighters who return camp after camp, and that SENSHI’s format reminds him of the K-1 nights that built his name.
“I think that the fighters and participants truly appreciate what I and my colleagues, legends in the fighting world, are doing for the SENSHI organization,” he explained in one recent interview, calling his work in Bulgaria a key turning point in his life after retirement.
SENSHI 30, set for February 28 at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, is billed as an anniversary gala built around a first-time Grand Prix at 75 kg. Twelve fighters from thirteen countries will meet under KWU FULL CONTACT rules in a direct-elimination format where the winner has to get through three fights in one night to become the first SENSHI Grand Prix champion in this division.
The card lists quarterfinal pairings including Gasham Mammadov vs Zhulien Rikov, Konstantin Rusu vs Florin Lambagiu, Jordi Requejo vs Konstantin Stoykov, and Máximo Suárez vs Christian Baya, plus reserve bouts Aibek Amanov vs Victor Krashevski (Bulgaria) and Fernando “Tigre” (Portugal) vs Dávid Kinkhefner.
Three super fights complete the line-up: Hirokatsu Miyagi (Japan) vs Samo Petje (Slovenia) at under 70 kg, Charalampos Digkas (Greece) vs Diyan Dimitrov (Bulgaria) at under 70 kg.
For Hoost, who calls SENSHI’s Grand Prix format a way to revive the old tournament feeling, SENSHI 30 is another chance to stand close to the ring, pass on hard-earned lessons from nights like Sapp–Hoost, and watch a new group try to write their own shock result into kickboxing history.