Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto is arguably the most legendary lighterweight fighter in the MMA world, and looking at how he brings the fight to the majority of his opponents, it’s easy to see why the man is such a crowd favorite despite being notoriously wild early in his career.
He found himself set back by a UFC 126 loss to Demetrious Johnson, but with the UFC looking for a 2012 trip to Japan, Yamamoto finds himself in a winnable situation against newcomer Darren “BC” Uyenoyama.
There’s only one question: Who is Darren Uyenoyama?
From what can be gathered, Uyenoyama is a 6’3″ fighter who debuted against top Thai flyweight standout Rambaa “M-16” Somdet, and his only major defeat has come against Hideo Tokoro.
About his training, Uyenoyama has said
My main preparation is mainly my stand-up. Actually, I can’t say that, every day we do two hours of stand-up, basically boxing and Muay Thai for two hours, and we mix it all together with boxing and wrestling and jiu jitsu. I’d I train about six hours a day with about two hours devoted to each aspect with boxing, jiu-jitsu and wrestling.
How does Kid Yamamoto counter something like the mix Uyenoyama brings?
Well, we don’t know how good the jiu-jitsu of Uyenoyama is, and we also don’t know how good his wrestling is compared to Yamamoto’s, but takedown defense and that excellent wrestling game need to come into play in order to put Uyenoyama in danger and also neutralize whatever strengths he presents on the ground.
As far as the boxing and Muay Thai of the newcomer, Yamamoto has those tools himself and simply needs to get his shots off first, systematically breaking Uyenoyama down before swarming in for the kill on his man.
As long as Yamamoto picks his shots before turning the heat up on the newcomer, the odds of seeing Yamamoto come out of his fight on Saturday with a win is a near certainty.
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