The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed yet another Japanese mma star Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (18-3) according to the promotions president, Dana White, who confirmed the signing via his Twitter account on Thursday.
we did sign kid
Yamamoto will make his UFC debut at UFC 126 on Feb. 5th against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in a bantamweight bout. The news was first reported by MMAWeekly.com who noted that both men have made verbal agreements for the fight.
The former K-1 HERO’s 2005 Middleweight (155 lbs) Grand Prix tournament winner made the drop to featherweight back in 2006 and is 5-2 so far. His recent record of 1-2 comes after a 14 fight win streak that saw him lose to Joe Warren at DREAM 9 by split decision. The “Kid” would then go on to lose to Masanori Kanehara at the Dynamite!! 2009 show, and then defeat Federico Lopez at DREAM 14 by knockout in May of this year.
“Mighty Mouse” Johnson debuted with Zuffa earlier this year losing to Brad Pickett at April’s WEC 48 event. Since then he’s gone on to win two more times putting his record at 8-1 as a professional. This year he’s gone on to defeat Nick Pace by unanimous decision at WEC 51 in September and Damacio Page by submission at WEC 52 last month. Johnson has only won by decision once, ending the other seven wins by stoppage.
The announcement comes on the heals of the recent signing of another Japanese fighter Michihiro Omigawa. With the upcoming WEC-UFC merger the UFC is looking to lock up some of the worlds talent from the smaller weight classes now that the promotion will showcase featherweight and bantamweight fighters.