One of the biggest names in Japanese MMA, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (18-3, 1NC) finally finds himself in the UFC now that the promotion has included the lighter weight classes. He’ll make his debut on February 5th against Demetrious Johnson in just a few weeks as part of the upcoming UFC 126 event in Las Vegas.
Yamamoto is 1-2 in his last three fights, stopping Federico Lopez at a DREAM.14 event last May in his bantamweight debut. The back-to-back losses came after a fourteen fight win streak and, as “Kid” tells UFC.com that a nagging injury was a big contributor in those defeats.
The 33-year old fighter knows that he only has a few more years to compete at the top of the profession so he’s set his sights on one goal and that is to become a UFC champion before he retires.
“I can fight when I’m older, but I don’t want to fight at that age,” said Yamamoto (18-3, 1 NC). “Maybe a couple more years and then I’ll quit. I always wanted to fight in the US and now the UFC has my weight (135), so it’s the right time. This is my last season…”
“I changed my fighting style and I don’t believe my knee was (fully healed),” Yamamoto explained, speaking of his back-to-back defeats. “I didn’t use my footwork so that’ wasn’t good for me…”
“I don’t live in the past. I forget everything,” Yamamoto said. “I want to go to the top. I want the belt. That’s it.”