He was a freestyle wrestler in Russia, but as his weight continued to increase past the 120-kilogram (260-pound) upper limit for competitions, he switched to sumo.

[3] He came through with nine wins against six losses in his top division debut, and a 10–5 mark in January 2008 saw him move into the upper maegashira ranks for the March 2008 tournament.

Fighting all the top-ranked wrestlers for the first time, he defeated ozeki Kaiō and secured his kachi-koshi, or winning record, on the final day.

During the May 2008 tournament he was reprimanded by the Japan Sumo Association after he smashed a door in the dressing room following a defeat to Harumafuji (then known as Ama) by the technique of utchari.

Wakanoho had winning records against Kakuryu, Harumafuji, Kisenosato and Goeido, and was considered to have potential to reach ozeki, but suffered from a lack of guidance at his stable, following the death of the stablemaster's wife and Magaki himself having a stroke.

He was known for occasionally jumping straight up into the air at the tachi-ai, or initial charge,[6] a highly unorthodox move which some commentators put down to youthful bravado.

Police had also searched his apartment and private quarters at Magaki stable and recovered a small quantity of cannabis in a bag, and a pipe used to smoke the drug.

[10] However, on 8 September, after eight days in police detention, he was released without punishment, as he was a minor at the time of the incident and the amount of cannabis in his possession was very small.

[11][12] Speaking to the press Wakanoho apologised for his actions and asked for forgiveness, but denied ever smoking with Rohō and Hakurozan, both of whom were also dismissed after failing drug tests for cannabis.

In January 2009 Wakanoho dropped all legal action against the Sumo association and the two sides reached an amicable agreement regarding his severance pay, believed to be 5.8 million yen.

[23] In a third article he suggested that he smoked cannabis in Makagi stable with Georgian wrestler Tochinoshin, contradicting his sworn police statement that he was alone.

[24] On 28 November he retracted these claims and apologised to those he had implicated, saying he had been told by the magazine that he would be back in the Sumo Association "in one week" if he made the allegations.

In 2010, Gagloev began playing college football for Webber International University, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school in Florida.