Sam Greco

Salvatore "Sam" Greco (born 3 May 1967) is an Australian retired full contact karateka, heavyweight K-1 kickboxer, and mixed martial artist. He was the 1994 Karate World Cup champion and holds notable kickboxing victories over Branko Cikatic, Ernesto Hoost, Mike Bernardo, Stefan Leko, and Ray Sefo, as well as MMA victories over Heath Herring and Shungo Oyama.

Biography and career Salvatore Greco was born on 3 May 1967, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and grew up in the suburb of Brunswick. In 2015, Greco stated that he considered the part of Brunswick that he grew up in was 'rough' at the time, and ultimately contributed to his fitness and mental development from a young age. His Italian-born father of greek origins, Vittorio, encouraged him to get involved with soccer from an early age and joined the local Italian backed club, Juventus.

Soccer

Greco joined Juventus (later Brunswick United Juventus) at the age of six, playing as a junior for nine years where in 1983 he would win the club's best-and-fairest for their under-sixteen squad. Prior to the 1984 National Soccer League season, Greco signed a one-year semi-professional contract with the senior squad, who had just been promoted from the Victorian State Premier League to the former national league, making him the club's youngest player to sign for the senior squad.

Greco made his national debut in the fifth round of the season on 1 April 1984, two days before his seventeenth birthday. Greco started and played the whole home match against Footscray JUST at Gillon oval that finished in a 0–2 loss. At the conclusion of the season and after ten years playing for his local club, Greco decided to focus solely on karate and discontinued his soccer career at the age of seventeen.

Karate Greco started training in Kyokushin karate at the age of 11 and commenced tournament fighting at the age of 18 establishing himself as one of Australia's best Kyokushin fighters in the late 1980s and early 1990s winning the heavyweight division of the Australian championships five times in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992. He made his pro wrestling debut in December 2000, when he was working in WCW's developmental territory NWA Wildside. In November 2002, he was signed up by Wrestle-1, then a co-promotion between K-1 and All Japan Pro Wrestling. In the first Wrestle-1 event, Greco teamed up with masked lucha libre exponent Dos Caras Jr. against Kaz Hayashi and Taiyo Kea, all while wearing his own mask and playing a Dos Caras body double named "Sam Grecaras". They won, with Greco receiving good reviews in the process.

He wrestled again in December 2003, appearing in AJPW to team up with Keiji Mutoh and Abdullah the Butcher against Taka Michinoku, Jamal and D'lo Brown from the villainous faction RO&D. His third and last venture in professional wrestling would be two years later, as part of the briefly revived Wrestle-1 concept. This time he formed a team with fellow K-1 fighter Jan Nortje against Giant Bernard and The Predator, who defeated them when Bernard pinned Nortje.

Acting career In 1995 Greco had a small part as an enforcer in the Richard Norton movie Under the Gun, also known as Iron Fist, which was filmed in Victoria. He played the stunt double for retired professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin in the 2007 action thriller The Condemned and also had a small part in the 2008 Australian boxing drama film, Two Fists One Heart which was shot in Western Australia. He has also appeared occasionally in movies as a fight consultant and martial arts advisor.

He had a small part in the fourth episode of the Australian mini-series Underbelly, playing nightclub bouncer Bruno Bolotzi. The episode was first broadcast in February 2008.

He had a small part in an episode of the Australian comedy Pizza, playing the Roman soldier Glutious Maximus. He made another appearance for Pizza this time in a two-part episode Holiday Pizza, playing Pauly's Italian cousin Luigi. The last appearance he made in Pizza was in the Cracker Pizza episode, playing Crackerus in the last season of the series. He also had a part in the Australian comedy Swift and Shift Couriers as Louie "Luigi" Marietti. Both Pizza and Swift and Shift Couriers were created by Greco's good friend Paul Fenech.

He played the Masked Wrestler Zarkos in Scooby-Doo. In the movie Zarkos appears as one of N'Goo Tuana's henchmen, but later he sneaks up on Daphne and captures her and steals the Daemon Ritus from her. Later in the movie he tries to sneak up on Daphne and capture her again but instead they end up fighting; near the end of the fight, he grabs Daphne and throws her onto his back and puts her in a hold but she escapes and defeats him.

Personal life On 23 March 2018, Greco suffered a heart attack prior to and during his fighter Jimmy Crute competing in the Hex Fight Series and had triple bypass surgery.

Titles and accomplishments 1999 K-1 World Grand Prix 3rd Place 1999 W.A.K.O. Pro World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Champion 1995 The Best of the Best Tournament Champion 1994 W.K.A. World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Heavyweight Champion 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup Champion 5-time Australian Kyokushin Karate Heavyweight Champion

Kickboxing record

Mixed martial arts record Win

Shungo Oyama KO (knees and punches) Hero's 3

Tokyo, Japan Win

Heath Herring TKO (knee injury) Hero's 1

Saitama, Saitama, Japan Loss

Lyoto Machida Decision (split) K-1 MMA ROMANEX

Saitama, Saitama, Japan Win

Stefan Gamlin Submission (rear-naked choke) K-1 Beast 2004 in Niigata

Niigata Prefecture, Japan Draw

Masaaki Satake Draw Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001

Saitama, Saitama, Japan