Jason Kelce’s cheeky new pivot has us unable to look away

Jason Kelce might be retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s done conditioning his body to the delight of onlookers.

The 38-year-old former Eagles center recently forayed into a different sport, one with a very ancient (and cheeky) history.

How about we take this to the next level?

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In a recent special edition of “Kelce Versus” on YouTube, the ex-NFL star dons a mawashi and locks bodies with a sumo wrestler, all in the service of answering one crucial question: is sumo wrestling the best training an offensive lineman can possibly have?

Kelce’s former O-line coach certainly thought so. Kelce tells us that while training, this coach would show him and his fellow Philadelphia Eagles teammates footage of a “220-pound sumo wrestler beating guys twice his size” with nothing but “leverage, technique, and fundamentals.”

“My job in the NFL was to move 300-lb. monsters or to stop them from moving,” Kelce says, a task not so different from what goes down in a sumo match, where men have to use gravity and their brains—not necessarily their brawn—to force opponents outside the line.

It led Kelce to wonder: could training in one help you advance in the other?

It would seem so—though to be honest, the thirst one clip of Kelce’s match has generated on X is likely less about his sumo skills and more about what the match reveals.

The roughly 1,500-year-old Japanese sport started as a prayer ceremony and has always been a crowd pleaser. In the video, Kelce’s numerous fans get to see the former footballer take on not one but three sumo champions, ending with Emperor’s Cup winner Ichinojo Takashi.

Along the way, Kelce learns all the techniques and rituals needed for sumo success, including some lesser-known details—such as the fact that wrestlers can get in each others’ heads by staring each other intensely in the face before beginning a match. Much like football, watching your opponent’s eyes and body language for any tells can make all the difference. (Though in sumo wrestling, there’s a lot more body to take in.)

Oh, and apparently sometimes wrestlers have to do 500 shikos, a form of wide-legged squat, just as a warm up. Hardcore doesn’t even begin to cover it!

Sumo wrestling was never meant as a sensual sport, but modern audiences may have a difficult time taking their eyes off those mawashis—and the assets they show off.

That was definitely the internet’s problem once these clips hit X.

It’s definitely not the point of Kelce’s (very respectful, informative) video special, but it must be said that in the museum of side butts, we may have just encountered the Mona Lisa.

The thirst is so strong that Kelce’s wife Kylie immediately had to step into the ring with a cautionary comment on her podcast Not Gonna Lie.

“If you do check out the sumo episode in particular,” she told listeners, “just remember that when you see that little chicken a**, it is mine.”

Respectfully Kylie, it’s giving more stallion than chicken, but to each his own, potato potahto, and all that jazz. Whatever it’s giving, the bear-appreciators among us are feeling very grateful for Kelce giving us a front row seat.

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