Genki Sudo

Genki Sudo is the coolest man in the entire world. Including me.

I'm not joking.

Obviously, the problem with the internet is that you're now in a position to compare yourself with every other human being in the entire world, which can make you feel a bit insignificant at times. No matter how good you are at a thing, somebody else is almost certainly better at it, and the proof'll be on Youtube. Fortunately, for people who've yet to make peace with their own failings - like me - there's one easy way to get round this: you just do loads of different things, and console yourself with the fact that you're better at that combination of things that everybody. Someone's better at hitting people than me? He probably hasn't read that many books. Someone's really good at writing? He probably can't do an arm-triangle choke to save his life. Somebody's good at punching people and writing? Well, at least I make a kickass Hollandaise sauce.

This is, of course, several sorts of mental, but it keeps me happy.

Anyway, I've only ever met one person who was better at everything I like doing than me, and that was eight years ago: he was good at boxing, spoke Spanish, knew loads about politics, kicked my ass at chess and was a very, very nice bloke.

And then there's Genki Sudo.

Genki Sudo retired on New Year's eve. He probably wasn't good enough to be a serious contender for the K-1 lightweight championship, he's best mates with Pride lightweight champ Takanori Gomi and the UFC once stiffed him out of the worst decision I've ever seen, so I don't blame him, really. But here's an abridged list of stuff that he did before retirement.

-Beat heavyweight boxer Butterbean by bouncing off the ropes and doing a flying dropkick on him, then heelhooking him until he tapped like a giant baby.

-Did an entrance where he dressed up as a baseball player with 'Peace' on his shirt and danced with a load of cheerleaders who spelled out 'Love' with their pom-poms.

-Walked around Japan's famous 88-temple Shikoku island pilgrimage - something most people do in a luxury air-conditioned bus - and wrote a book called 'Happiness Theory' about it.

-Fought world-champion kickboxers Albert Kraus and Masato to questionable decision losses in kickboxing, even though he's better at Brazilian jujitsu.

-...and several other things.

I wish I was Genki Sudo.