In what might’ve been one of the strangest fights of the year, sumo wrestler Chiyotairyu Hidemasa demonstrated the precise reason why weight-classes are required in contact sports as he dominated his MMA fight against 5-0 professional boxer Jorge Menasalvas.
The peculiar bout, which pitted the 320lbs sumo wrestler against a 192lbs boxer, was put together by Spanish promotion Dogfight Wild Tournament, for their fourth event, Tokyo Blood, in Madrid, Spain.
According to their website, their events provide “an experience where the fight breaks all traditional formats and each match takes the spectacle to the next level.”
In what was dubbed their “wildest event to date”, the other bouts included a tag-team war, a five-way last-man standing, and the first-ever rap battle that ended in a physical fight.
Chiyotairyu Hidemasa vs Jorge Menasalvas
Former top-division sumo wrestler Chiyotairyu Hidemasa (whose real name is Hidemasa Meigetsuin) traded the dohyo for the cage as he faced off in a one-of-a-kind bout. After graduating from university, Hidemasa questioned whether he should continue his sumo career or quit to become a teacher after his debut tournament in March 2011 was delayed due to a match-fixing scandal that rocked the world of sumo.
Throughout his 11-year career, Chiyotairyu managed his one and only championship in the Juryo rank, the second-highest division in professional sumo. He was also awarded a special prize (Sansho) called the Gino-sho, or technique, for his impressive 11-4 in November 2013. The sumo wrestler has also gained three gold starts, which are awarded after a lower-ranked wrestler beats a yokozuna, the highest rank in sumo wrestling, after twice-beating Harumafuji and also besting Kisenosato.
His MMA opponent came in the form of professional boxer Jorge Menasalvas, who currently boasts an unbeaten 5-0 record in the ring. The Spaniard’s first professional bout came in November 2024 with a unanimous decision victory over Diego Jair Ramirez, before Ramirez was disqualified in their rematch to hand his opponent the second win of his career. A points victory over Marius Mihai Dumitru and a first-round knockout over Leonid Arseniev meant that his unanimous decision victory over Frank Rojas in November 2025 took him to a 5-0 record.
Although Menasalvas may have had much more experience of striking, Chiyotairyu’s grappling experience from his sumo days set him in good stead going into the cage. With both fighters coming in at 6’0″, there was no real reach or height advantage for either, but the almost 130lbs in weight difference would prove to be somewhat of a determining factor.
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From the outset of the fight, it was clear that there would only be one winner. Time after time, Menasalvas was met with the terrifying sight of his almost-150kg opponent sprinting across the canvas and slamming him into the fencing, with one such instance almost completely detaching the surrounding barriers. With Menasalvas up against it, the sumo wrestler would use his grappling experience to good effect, slamming his opponent to the floor and administering multiple hammer-fists.
Following five gruelling rounds, neither fighter managed to floor their opponent for good, meaning that the bout went to the scorecards. Unsurprisingly, Chiyotairyu saw his hand raised after winning via unanimous decision.