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Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (山本徳郁, Yamamoto Norifumi^?, born March 15, 1977) is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter and kickboxer. He is associated with Purebred Tokyo and Killer Bee. He quickly gained popularity in the Shooto organization due to his aggressive, well-rounded style and controversial persona. He moved on to K-1 HERO'S, where he won their tournament in December, 2005 after defeating Genki Sudo via a controversial TKO due to punches.

Kid comes from a wrestling family with his father Ikuei Yamamoto representing Japan at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich and his sisters Miyu and Seiko both winning world championships in freestyle wrestling. Kid received his education in the United States and wrestled at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, capturing three state championships (with a third place finish as a freshman). He also trained briefly under Choi Mu Bae[1].

Yamamoto's natural weight is 143 pounds. Though most mixed martial artists his size compete in the bantamweight division (135 lbs), many of his most significant fights have been in the lightweight division (155 lbs) as it was the lightest division in HERO's.

Now competing in DREAM, Yamamoto is fighting in the Japanese featherweight division (139 lbs) which is closer to his natural weight.

MMA career

Shooto

KID made his professional Mixed Martial Arts debut on March 2, 2001 against Masato Shiozawa at Shooto - To The Top 2, where he won this fight by unanimous decision. KID would go on to win his next two fights both by TKO in the first round.

On May 5, 2002, KID suffered his first loss by TKO to Stephen Palling. KID received a cut as he went for a double-leg takedown. KID shot in and Palling countered with a knee, opening a huge cut to KID's face. KID then slammed Palling. However, blood began pouring out of Yamamoto's cut and the referee stopped the fight. The doctors determined that KID was unable to continue and Stephen Palling was declared the winner.

KID would then go on to win his next three fights by TKO and Decision over Tetsuo Katsuta, Jeff Curran and Caleb Mitchell.

K-1 HERO's

Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto made his K-1 HERO's debut on April 7, 2004 at the K-1 MAX - World Grand Prix 2004 Opening Round where he made the Lightweight division take notice by choking out Tony Valente only 58 seconds into the fight. KID wouldn't stop impressing there, as he would go on to defeat Kazuya Yasuhiro, Jadamba Narantungalag and Ian James Schaffa by TKO or Submission within the next twelve months.

Yamamoto faced Masato at K-1 Premium 2004 Dynamite!!, and lost via Decision. KID then faced Mike Zambidis at the K-1 World Max 2005 tournament, he would also lose this bout by KO early into the third round.

Merely one year after his HERO's debut, KID would etch his name into HERO's history where he defeated (and finished) three very highly regarded fighters in Royler Gracie, Caol Uno and Genki Sudo to win the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix.^[1]

On May 3, 2006 KID made Mixed Martial Arts history when he knocked out Kazyuki Miyata four seconds into the fight, making it the shortest fight in HERO's and one of the fastest knockouts in MMA-history. He went on to win his next fight against Istvan Majoros by TKO half way through round 1.

Olympic Freestyle Wrestling

In early 2007, KID announced an indefinite leave of absence from MMA to train for and compete in freestyle wrestling for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He had hoped to win the Olympic Gold medal for freestyle wrestling ever since he was a child, as his father Ikuei Yamamoto represented Japan in the 1972 Olympic games in Munich. However his hopes of following in his fathers footsteps stopped short, after an injury prevented Yamamoto from competing in the Japanese Olympic wrestling qualifiers. With this injury, KID would have no choice but to leave his hopes of competing in the Olympic Games and return to Mixed Martial Arts.

Return to K-1 HERO's

KID would return to Mixed Martial Arts on September 17, 2007 against Bibiano Fernandes at K-1 Hero's 11. KID went on to win this fight by unanimous decision, his first in HERO's.

At K-1 HERO's Dynamite!! 2007 on December 31 against BJJ expert and Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion Rani Yahya at a weight of 135 lbs [2]. Yamamoto won in the second round via KO due to kicks on the ground.

DREAM

In February 2008, it was announced by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1 and mixed martial arts organization HERO's, that they would be producing a new MMA promotion titled DREAM alongside former PRIDE executives from Dream Stage Entertainment that will succeed and will replace FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, HERO'S. Norifumi Yamamoto was one of the many former PRIDE and HERO's fighters that were named to compete in this new promotion.[3].

It was announced that KID would make his DREAM debut at DREAM 5 against Joseph Benavidez, however the bout was abruptly called off a mere three days prior to its scheduled date due to a knee injury suffered by KID.

Yamamoto announced his participation in the Dream Featherweight Grandprix which begun at DREAM.7, and (due to an injury) was seeded into the second round of the Feather Weight Grand Prix at DREAM.9 on May 26. Facing off against the relatively inexperienced Joe Warren in what would be his return after a 15 month lay off. Yamamoto landed several clean shots with counter hooks on the feet, stunning Warren, & was effective with hard knees in the clinch, Warren did however, show his Greco-Roman wrestling pedigree, executing three takedowns and maintaining top position for long periods of the fight. Yamamoto was defeated by Warren via a contentious split decision.^[2]

Yamamoto lost to SRC Featherweight Champion Masanori Kanehara via unanimous decision at Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year's Eve.

Kickboxing career

On July 13, 2009, under kickboxing rules, Yamamoto was defeated by Jae Hee Cheon via KO at K-1 World MAX 2009 World Championship Tournament Final 8. He is now 1-3 under kickboxing rules.

Personal life

Yamamoto is married and has three children; two boys and one girl.^[3]

Grappling credentials

High School Results Arizona State Championships

Freshman (date to follow) 119 lbs: 3rd place.

Sophomore 125 lbs: 1st place

Junior 130 lbs: 1st place

Senior 135 lbs: 1st place

High School Wrestling Record: 112-4

He had his best season in 2004 when he went 32-0 and had 159 takedowns.

Freestyle Results All Japan Freestyle National Championships (Emperor's Cup)

1999 128 lbs: 2nd place

2007 132 lbs: 4th place

Mixed martial arts record

Record	Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Location	Notes
17-3-0(1)	December 31, 2009	Loss	Masanori Kanehara	Dynamite!! 2009	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
17-2-0(1)	May 26, 2009	Loss	Joe Warren	DREAM.9 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 Second Round	Decision (Split)	2	5:00	Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan	DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal
17-1-0(1)	December 31, 2007	Win	Rani Yahya	K-1 - Premium 2007 Dynamite!!	TKO (Punches and Soccer Kicks)	2	3:11	Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka, Japan
16-1-0(1)	September 17, 2007	Win	Bibiano Fernandes	K-1 - Hero's 11	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan
15-1-0(1)	December 31, 2006	Win	Istvan Majoros	K-1 - Premium 2006 Dynamite!!	TKO (Punches)	1	3:46	Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka, Japan
14-1-0(1)	May 3, 2006	Win	Kazuyuki Miyata	K-1 - Hero's 5	KO (Flying Knee)	1	0:04	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan	Fastest knockout in K-1 HERO's history
13-1-0(1)	December 31, 2005	Win	Genki Sudo	K-1 - Premium 2005 Dynamite!!	TKO (Punches)	1	4:39	Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan	K-1 HERO'S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Final
12-1-0(1)	September 7, 2005	Win	Caol Uno	K-1 - Hero's 3	TKO (Cut)	2	4:04	Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan	K-1 HERO'S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals
11-1-0(1)	September 7, 2005	Win	Royler Gracie	K-1 - Hero's 3	KO (Punch)	2	0:38	Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan	K-1 HERO'S 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Quarter-Finals
10-1-0(1)	July 6, 2005	Win	Ian James Schaffa	K-1 - Hero's 2	TKO (Strikes)	3	1:23	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
9-1-0(1)	October 13, 2004	Win	Jadamba Narantungalag	K-1 World MAX 2004 Champions' Challenge	KO (Strikes)	1	1:55	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
8-1-0(1)	July 7, 2004	Win	Kazuya Yasuhiro	K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Final	Submission (Armbar)	2	2:40	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
7-1-0(1)	April 7, 2004	Win	Tony Valente	K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Open	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	0:58	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
6-1-0(1)	September 5, 2003	Win	Caleb Mitchell	Shooto 2003 - 9/5 in Korakuen Hall	KO (Punch)	1	0:40	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
5-1-0(1)	May 9, 2003	Win	Jeff Curran	SB 29 - Superbrawl 29	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
4-1-0(1)	September 16, 2002	Win	Tetsuo Katsuta	Shooto - Treasure Hunt 10	TKO (Strikes)	1	2:45	Yokohama Arena, Yokohama, Japan
3-1-0(1)	May 5, 2002	Loss	Stephen Palling	Shooto - Treasure Hunt 6	TKO (Cut)	1	0:30	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
3-0-0(1)	December 15, 2001	NC	Josh Thomson	Shogun 1 - Shogun 1	No Contest (Yamamoto Kicked in Groin)	2	2:00	Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
3-0	September 2, 2001	Win	Hideki Kadowaki	Shooto - To The Top 8	TKO (Strikes)	1	4:02	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
2-0	July 6, 2001	Win	Masashi Kameda	Shooto - To The Top 6	KO (Punch)	1	4:17	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1-0	March 2, 2001	Win	Masato Shiozawa	Shooto - To The Top 2	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Kickboxing record

Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Location
July 13, 2009	Loss	Jae hee Cheon	K-1 World MAX 2009 World Championship Tournament Final 8	KO (Left Hook)	1	1:20	Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
May 4, 2005	Loss	Mike Zambidis	K-1 World Max 2005 Opening	KO (Right Hook)	3	2:09	Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
December 31, 2004	Loss	Masato	K-1 Premium Dynamite 2004	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Kyocera Dome, Tokyo, Japan
February 24, 2004	Win	Takehiro Murahama	K-1 World MAX 2004 Japan Tournament	TKO (Referee Stoppage)	2	2:38	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan

References

External links

• Official blog
• Professional MMA record for Norifumi Yamamoto from Sherdog
• K-1 Profile