Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto is a Japanese MMA fighter who currently fights in the Featherweight division of Japanese promotion DREAM. He currently fights out of the Purebred Tokyo/Krazy Bee gym. Although he is relatively unknown by casual fans outside of Japan, Kid is a huge star in his homeland and is considered to be one of the best pound 4 pound fighters in the world today (He is currently ranked number 8 on our very own Pound 4 Pound list). Kid quickly established a reputation as an aggressive, well-rounded fighter after his early performances for the Shooto promotion. As he had more and more fights his popularity continued to grow due to his exciting fighting style and controversial persona. With KO power in both hands and an excellent wrestling background, Kid presents a tough fight for anyone in the Featherweight or Lightweight divisions.
Kid’s wrestling is one of his biggest strengths, at one point he even took a break from MMA to concentrate on qualifying in Freestyle Wrestling for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He had hoped to win the Olympic Gold medal and follow in his father’s footsteps, (Ikuei Yamamoto represented Japan in the 1972 Olympic games in Munich). However his hopes of winning gold ended prematurely, after an injury prevented Yamamoto from competing in the wrestling qualifiers. With this injury, Kid would have no choice but to leave his hopes of competing in the 2008 Olympic Games and return to Mixed Martial Arts.
With only a single controversial loss on his record, which came at the hands of Stephen Palling in a fight that Kid was dominating until the referee decided to step in and end the bout due to a cut that Kid had suffered earlier in the fight, therefore declaring Stephen Palling as the winner. Kid’s record is otherwise almost spotless with 12 of his 17 wins via KO, he has never been KO’d or submitted and he is currently one of the top two fighters to beat in the Featherweight division. That other fighter being current WEC Featherweight champion Urijah Faber. A fight against Faber is considered to be Kid’s biggest challenge out there by many MMA fans and if this fight were to happen early next year then it would definitely be one of the most highly anticipated Featherweight matches in recent memory. Before this fight can take place however, Kid will need to get past one of Faber’s training partners at the next DREAM event. Joseph Benavidez has relatively little MMA experience with a professional record of 1-0, but he has been highly touted as one of the Featherweights to watch in the future, so Kid shouldn’t be taking this fight lightly if a fight against Faber is to take place in the near future.
