Norifumi Yamamoto

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Norifumi Yamamoto

Statistics
Nickname	Kid
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)
Weight	143 lb (65 kg)
Born	March 15, 1977
Fighting out of	Tokyo, Japan
Town of birth
Fighting style	Freestyle wrestling
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	14
By knockout	10
By submission	2
Losses	1
Draws	0
No contests	1

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

Yamamoto wrestled during his high school years in the United States. Wrestling at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, Yamamoto achieved great success in his exploits, capturing 3 state championships in 4 years, along with a 3rd place finish as a freshman.

Yamamoto recently announced an indefinite leave of absence from MMA to train for and compete in freestyle wrestling for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.^[1]

Perhaps most impressive about Yamamoto's career is that he has fought many fights in the lightweight (155 lbs.) division, despite the fact that he is a natural featherweight (145 lbs.) Because many of his opponents cut weight in order to fight, it is not uncommon for Yamamoto's opponent to weigh 20 to 30 pounds heavier than him. Because of his continued dominance of much larger fighters, many consider Yamamoto to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport today.