Ulambayar Byambajav ( mn, Уламбаярын Бямбажав, Ulambajarín Bjambazsav; 24 November 1984 – 28 February 2020), known professionally as Byamba, was a Mongolian sumo wrestler and entertainer. He began his professional career in Japan in 2001 under the name ; tiring of the lifestyle, he retired from professional sumo wrestling in 2005. As an amateur, he won the

Sumo World Championships The Sumo World Championships is an amateur sumo competition organized by the International Sumo Federation. The men's competition started in 1992 and the women's competition started in 2001, with both competitions having been held together. The com ...

twice in 2006 and 2007 and was a gold medalist at the 2009

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

and 2013

World Combat Games The World Combat Games is an international multi-sport event featuring combat sports and martial arts. The games were founded by SportAccord (now known as the Global Association of International Sports Federations) as a way of bringing various m ...

. He also appeared in the comedy show '' Impractical Jokers''. He died after a protracted illness in a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

hospital in February 2020.

Sumo career

He was born in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

, and took up

Mongolian wrestling Mongolian wrestling, known as Bökh (Mongolian script: ; Mongolian Cyrillic: Бөх or Үндэсний бөх), is the folk wrestling style of Mongols in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and other regions where touching the ground with anything other th ...

at the age of 9, but he preferred playing basketball. He won junior titles in wrestling,

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

and

sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

. He was recruited as a professional sumo wrestler (''rikishi'') by former ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

'' Onokuni who was on a visit to Mongolia. He competed under the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the '' rikishi''. Like standard Japanese names, a ''shikona'' ...

'' of Daishōchi Kenta. He was a member of

Shibatayama stable Shibatayama Stable (Japanese: 芝田山部屋, ''Shibatayama-beya'') is a Heya (sumo), stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki Stable, Nishonoseki Glossary of sumo terms#ichimon, group of stables. It was founded in 1999 by former ''yokozun ...

from July 2001 until September 2005, reaching a highest rank of ''

makushita Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' 15. However, tiring of the lifestyle, he quit at age 20 and as well as an amateur sumo career he also featured in film and television roles in Hollywood, and many commercials. He won the

in 2006 and 2007. He won the US Sumo Open Championship held in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

for eight consecutive years, from 2007 to 2014. His overall record at the US Sumo Open was 110 wins and 7 losses.

US film and television appearances

Upon retiring from professional sumo, Byambajav moved to

. Having limited English, he initially worked in menial jobs and manual labour. However, he was able to gain a role as a sumo wrestler in the film ''

Ocean's Thirteen ''Ocean's Thirteen'' (stylized as ''Ocean's 13'') is a 2007 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. It is the final installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy and the sequel ...

'' (2007), through the Californian Sumo Association. In 2010, he spent 1 week in the house of '' Gran Hermano 12'' (''Big Brother Spain''). In February 2013, he was featured on the American television show ''

King of the Nerds ''King of the Nerds'' is an American reality competition series co-produced by Electus and 5x5 Media. It was inspired by the ''Revenge of the Nerds'' films. The show is hosted by actors and executive producers Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstr ...

''. In April 2014, he appeared as the celebrity special guest on the CW comedy improv series ''

Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show originating as a British radio programme, before moving to British television in 1988. Following the conclusion of the British run in 1999, ABC began airing an American ...

''. In 2014 he was featured in

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the g ...

's video for "

Steal My Girl "Steal My Girl" is a song written and recorded by English-Irish boy band One Direction. It is the lead single from their fourth studio album ''Four'' (2014). It was released worldwide on 29 September 2014. The single was written by band members ...

" alongside fellow sumo wrestler

Yamamotoyama Ryūta , known by his ''shikona'' , or simply Yama, is a Japanese retired sumo wrestler from the city of Saitama in Saitama Prefecture. He made his professional debut in January 2007, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 2009. His hi ...

. In May 2015, he appeared alongside Yamamotoyama in an episode of ''

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

''. Byamba appeared in the April 16, 2015, episode of the

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

series '' Impractical Jokers'', titled "Pseudo-Sumo". The loser, Joe, was told he was going to be in a baby commercial, and was then surprised by Byamba. Byamba appeared again on '' Impractical Jokers'', on August 16, 2018, in an episode titled "Bull Shiatsu", in which Joe lost again. This time Joe was dressed inside a home-made massage chair, manually massages people at a mall. The punishment didn't end until he massages his former adversary, Byamba. In 2016, he appeared as a

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

sumo wrestler in a television advertisement for GEICO. In 2017 he promoted a new variety of

mandarin orange The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-colou ...

called the "Sumo Citrus" in

Lindsay, California Lindsay is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 12,659 at th2020 census Lindsay is located southeast of Visalia and north of Porterville and is considered part of the Visalia-Porterville Metropolitan Area an ...

. He featured as a model for the Subaru car company.

Personal life and death

Byamba died in a Los Angeles hospital on February 28, 2020, after a protracted illness. He was married, with one child.

Professional sumo career record

References

External links