Other names Yamaken Total 19 Weight 96 kg Years active 1998-present Height 1.80 m | Team Power of Dream Role Mixed martial artist Nationality Japanese Name Kenichi Yamamoto Movies Pride FC: Bushido: Vol. 4 | |
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Division Middleweight
Light Heavyweight (formerly)
Welterweight (formerly) Teacher Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda | ||
Kenichi Yamamoto (山本 喧一, Yamamoto Ken'ichi) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. Known for his pro wrestling career in UWF International, Yamamoto also competed against some of the best MMA fighters of his era in RINGS, Pride and the UFC, taking on Kevin Randleman, Genki Sudo and Pat Miletich, among others.
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He returned to the ring against former Pancrase Light Heavyweight titlist Keiichiro Yamamiya on Oct. 27, 2012. He lost via unanimous decision.
Billy scott vs kenichi yamamoto
Career
A fan of Akira Maeda, Yamamoto was trained in karate since his chilhood and entered the Seidokaikan school before turning his attention to professional wrestling. In 1993, he was accepted in Union of Wrestling Forces International and debuted on October 14 in a match against Kazushi Sakuraba. After two years on the mid card, he joined Yoji Anjo and Yoshihiro Takayama to form the Golden Cups stable, in which he gained fame. In 1996, UWF International closed and Yamamoto moved to Kingdom, before eventually joining Fighting Network Rings in 1998. While in Rings, he had to skipe several months of action due to a surgery to remove a benign tumor, and ended leaving the company in 1999.
In November 1999 Yamamoto had his Ultimate Fighting Championship at the UFC 23 event, taking part on the night's tournament. His first opponent was Wajutsu Keishukai representative Daiju Takase. The fight was slow, with Yamamoto being the superior striker and Takase constantly pulling guard to stop the action, so Kenichi resorted to headbutts to the midsecion to damage him and even performed a cartwheel guard pass inspired on his training partner Sakuraba. Takase tried some high kicks and a triangle choke, but Yamamoto blocked them and landed punches and elbow strikes to the body, winning the decision. The final fight was against Katsuhisa Fujii, which proved to be a tougher bout. Fujii took Yamamoto down several times and attacked with ground and pound, consistently endangering the former Rings wrestler. At the end, however, Kenichi surprised Fujii with a kneebar from the guard and made him tap, winning the fight and the tournament.