Ulambayaryn Byambajav

Ulambayar Byambajav (; 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 twice in 2006 and 2007 and was a gold medalist at the 2009 World Games and 2013 World Combat Games. He also appeared on the comedy show Impractical Jokers. He died after a protracted illness in a Los Angeles hospital in February 2020.

Sumo career He was born in Ulaanbaatar, and took up Mongolian wrestling at the age of 9, but he preferred playing basketball. He won junior titles in wrestling, judo and sambo. He was recruited as a professional sumo wrestler (rikishi) by former yokozuna Onokuni who was on a visit to Mongolia. 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 Sumo World Championships in 2006 and 2007. He won the US Sumo Open Championship held in California 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 Los Angeles. 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 (2007), through the Californian Sumo Association. In 2017 he promoted a new variety of mandarin orange called the "Sumo Citrus" in Lindsay, California. He featured as a model for the Subaru car company. He appeared in a video for Vice Media showing the diet of a sumo wrestler.

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