Slome
10-12-2010, 17:32
UFC inks Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto
http://mmajunkie.com/dyn/images/fighters/norifumi-yamamoto-1.jpg
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed featherweight standout Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (18-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
UFC president Dana White recently took to Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/danawhite/status/13132431225786368) to confirm the signing.
Along with recent signee Michihiro Omigawa, Yamamoto represents a key acquisition following the announcement of a WEC-UFC merger. The WEC's final show takes place next week, and as part of this past weekend's UFC event (The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale), the UFC hosted its first-ever featherweight fight.
Now, the organization looks to stock the newly adopted featherweight and bantamweight divisions, and Japan's crop of lighter-weight fighters could be prime pickings.
Yamamoto, the 2005 K-1 HERO's middleweight (155-pound) grand-prix champion, in May was set to make his U.S. debut in a fight against Federico Lopez at "Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery." But he subsequently was pulled off the card at the request of DREAM officials and instead fought Lopez at DREAM.14, where he delivered a first-round knockout. The win snapped a two-fight skid that included decision losses to Joe Warren (in the quarterfinals of the 2009 DREAM featherweight grand prix) and Masanori Kanehara (at DREAM "Dynamite!! 2009").
During a 14-fight win streak from 2002 to 2007, he defeated the likes of Jeff Curran, Caol Uno, Bibiano Fernandes and Rani Yahya.
Once the top-ranked featherweight in the world, Yamamoto considered a run for the 2008 Olympic games in freestyle wrestling but was forced to abandon that goal by a serious elbow injury.
http://mmajunkie.com/dyn/images/fighters/norifumi-yamamoto-1.jpg
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed featherweight standout Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (18-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
UFC president Dana White recently took to Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/danawhite/status/13132431225786368) to confirm the signing.
Along with recent signee Michihiro Omigawa, Yamamoto represents a key acquisition following the announcement of a WEC-UFC merger. The WEC's final show takes place next week, and as part of this past weekend's UFC event (The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale), the UFC hosted its first-ever featherweight fight.
Now, the organization looks to stock the newly adopted featherweight and bantamweight divisions, and Japan's crop of lighter-weight fighters could be prime pickings.
Yamamoto, the 2005 K-1 HERO's middleweight (155-pound) grand-prix champion, in May was set to make his U.S. debut in a fight against Federico Lopez at "Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery." But he subsequently was pulled off the card at the request of DREAM officials and instead fought Lopez at DREAM.14, where he delivered a first-round knockout. The win snapped a two-fight skid that included decision losses to Joe Warren (in the quarterfinals of the 2009 DREAM featherweight grand prix) and Masanori Kanehara (at DREAM "Dynamite!! 2009").
During a 14-fight win streak from 2002 to 2007, he defeated the likes of Jeff Curran, Caol Uno, Bibiano Fernandes and Rani Yahya.
Once the top-ranked featherweight in the world, Yamamoto considered a run for the 2008 Olympic games in freestyle wrestling but was forced to abandon that goal by a serious elbow injury.