Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson is a South African martial artist and powerlifter, born in 1963 into a family of martial artists. His father was among the first Shotokan karate practitioners in South Africa and his grandfather was a judo pioneer there. Robinson became South African heavyweight judo champion in 1982, then took up amateur wrestling in both Greco-Roman and freestyle, winning medals at the African Wrestling Championship and African Games between 1994 and 1996. He won the openweight class at the 1996 Sumo World Championship after only a few months of training, and in 2001 won the +99 kg division of the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, beating Jeff Monson in the final. Alongside his grappling he powerlifted, winning the +140 kg class at the 1990 WPC World Championship. He also had a brief mixed martial arts career that included a bout at UFC 30, and he opened a martial arts academy in South Africa in 2001.