That didn't last long
In July, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto announced he was quitting MMA to concentrate on earning a spot on the Japanese Olympic wrestling team. Today, K-1 announced that Yamamoto will fight on it's Dynamite card.
Kid's an exciting aggressive fighter, so this is good news for MMA fans. But, it leaves you wondering exactly what has been going on behind the scenes with Kid for the last few months.
Update 10/23/06: For all the Kid fans, here is a clip one of his complete fights. Make sure you don't blink. Enjoy.
del.icio.us tags: norifumi, kid, yamamoto, k-1, video, whaledog
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Kid's an exciting aggressive fighter, so this is good news for MMA fans. But, it leaves you wondering exactly what has been going on behind the scenes with Kid for the last few months.
Update 10/23/06: For all the Kid fans, here is a clip one of his complete fights. Make sure you don't blink. Enjoy.
del.icio.us tags: norifumi, kid, yamamoto, k-1, video, whaledog
1. there was clamor among japanese mma fans for gomi x kid. there was somewhat believable rumor that dse company went to k-1 to make the match, and maybe tanigawa and kid arranged the olympics story to take away pressure for the gomi x kid match.
2. other possibility is that kid will not appear on k-1 new year's eve. announcement may be just cheap way to sell a few early tickets. then kid gets taken off event after all.
Posted by kaku | 10/24/2006 7:48 PM
As of now Kid is still slated to wrestle on November 25 for the first time since returning to the sport. If he wins this tournament he would qualify for Japan Nationals in December. If he does not win he can still qualify for the nationals in another tournament a couple of weeks later. If he does qualify for the nationals in December he would have to place in the top 2 to advance to the Asian championships. From there he would have to place in top 3 in order to get consideration for the Japanese olympic team. Right now most people in the know in Japan would rank him around 8-10 in his weightclass. There has been no official confirmation of him fighting on NYE from his team (Killer Bee).
Posted by Anonymous | 10/24/2006 11:25 PM
One other thing. The announcement might have been made due to the fact that most people do not expect him to get past the Japan segment of the qualifications due to his inactivity. Kid was 2nd place in the nationals when he was active (lost to Takeshi Mori in the finals) There are at least 6 very tough competitors for him in his weight class including the bronze medal winner from the Greece olympic games.
Posted by Anonymous | 10/24/2006 11:31 PM
Correction: Looks like his first tournament back will he the International Championships (November) in New York City followed by the All Japan tournament at the end of November.
Posted by Anonymous | 10/29/2006 7:47 PM