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Kenichi Yamamoto

Notes from the MMA jobber file, #30: The toughest thing about the jobbers of the MMA is how many of them almost broke out and became stars. Bob Sapp almost decapitated Minotauro Nogueira, Steve White almost knocked out Yushin Okami, Shungo Oyama almost punched out Wanderlei Silva. Kenichi Yamamoto is one of the longest-tenured jobbers in mixed martial arts, has one of the worst records in mixed martial arts--and was almost the undisputed champion of the world.

Yamaken's entire career was founded on his childhood love of shoot-style pioneer Akira Maeda. Watching his matches made Yamamoto train in Seidokaikan karate and, ultiamtely, join Nobuhiko Takada's UWFi, where he befriended fellow future MMA competitors Yoji Anjo and Yoshihiro Takayama as part of the Golden Cups, a triumvirate of shooters who alternated between comic promos and violent beatings. As with many, when the UWFi folded Yamamoto went a step further towards legitimacy by joining FIghting Network RINGS, and gradually, his wrestling turned into fighting.

As always, it's tough to tell what of the early RINGS matches were worked. What most certainly was not worked was Yamamoto's participation at UFC 23, the second and last Ultimate Japan tournament, where he in one night outgrappled both the talented Katsuhisa Fujii and the always-tricky, future-Anderson-Silva-defeating Daiju Takase. The performance earned him the tournament crown, and with it, a shot at the UFC welterweight championship when they returned to Japan the following year, at the time held by consensus #1 Pat Miletich. It was not a competitive bout: Miletich stymied Yamamoto's attempts at striking from range, Yamamoto had no answer for Miletich's wrestling, and two minutes into the second round Miletich choked him out. It was Yamamoto's first loss after a three-fight win streak. It would set the tone for the rest of his career.

Yamamoto fought across the MMA world after his UFC stint: He turned up in the short-lived Club FIght promotion, he returned to RINGS for one night only, he spent a year and a half with PRIDE, he showed up in BodogFight and he took part in Grabaka's house shows. Nearly every fight ended with Yamamoto staring up at the lights. His sole victory in the last thirteen years of his career was a 2005 knockout over the 2-3 German Reyes: Otherwise he was knocked out by everyone from Kevin Randleman to Ikuhisa Minowa to a 40 year-old Sanae Kikuta--one of only two men Kikuta was able to knock out in 31 victories. (The other was an 0-0 rookie with no MMA training.)

Yamamoto tried. He was athletic, he was charismatic and he always put forth the best effort he could--it was just inevitably, heartbreakingly, never enough. He retired at 5-12-2, with only one loss going the distance. But once, just once, he had his hands on the welterweight champion of the world. Once he could have been king.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (Pride 23 vs Randleman / Pride: Bushido 4 vs Minowa / UFC 29 vs Miletich / RINGS: World Title Series 5 vs Genki).