Wrestling / Yoshihisa Yamamoto

Born To Fight

"This time I am willing to do it. This time I will win, at any price."

Yoshihisa Yamamoto (born July 4, 1970) is a Japanese former Professional Wrestler and Mixed Martial Arts fighter. A highschool judoka and black belt, Yoshihisa joined the Newborn UWF as a trainee until a jaw injury took him out of training, but he recovered just in time to join Akira Maeda’s Fighting Network RINGS promotion as one of its earliest trainees. Debuting in 1992, he started off as a tough but low level rookie who steadily made his way up to the midcard during the first 2 years of his career. Then he was select to represent RINGS in Vale Tudo Japan 1995 and was matched against the man who tore through the tournament last year, Rickson Gracie. In a stunning display of ingenuity on his part, due to the rules not disallowing it, he kept himself near the ropes and hung on them for dear life whenever Gracie closed in to prevent himself from being taken down and lasted over 20 minutes before he got exhausted, let go of the ropes and got choked out. Despite his loss, he lasted longer than any other person who faced Gracie and this elevated his status in his home promotion. He was catapulted into the main event as Maeda’s number 2, with victories against big names and was the runner-up in the 1995 Mega Battle Tournament (behind Maeda himself of course). Unfortunately RINGS decided to put him back to doing real fights, first with a questionable win over outsider Maurice Smith, where Mo Smith bludgeoned him with punches and kicks that left Yoshihisa with a broken and bloody nose. Then they put him in a "Vale Tudo Rules" fight with a giant Brazilian in the form of Ricardo Morais, where Morais proceeded to demolish him in under a minute by knockout. RINGS tried to save face by putting him against a grappler in the form of Judo Olympic gold medalist David Khakhaleshvili, who he did defeat, but the damage to his image was done and a lost against a newly recruited RINGS fighter in Kiyoshi Tamura in a shoot cemented his return to the midcard. After winning rematch with Smith and a surprise victory over fan favorite Volk Han, he took time off to heal from an injury, before being selected to be Maeda’s opponent for his retirement match for in his return match. After that, he got put over everyone who wasn’t Tamura, until the change to King of Kings rules, where he was unable to keep up in real fights and finally left RINGS after a surprisingly good performance (for him) in the second King of Kings tournament. After a brief appearance for Pro Wrestling ZERO1, he went to fight in PRIDE as a freelancer under the name Norihisa Yamamoto, but his fight with Assuerio Silva showed him that he needed some serious help, so he went to his former master’s enemies for it, in the form of Takada Dojo. With their help, he defeated the giant South African kickboxer Jan Nortje via armbar, before getting knocked out by a then in his prime Bob Sapp, took Guy Mezger to the judges (Mezger won by unanimous decision), got lucky in his fight with Alexander Otsuka who injured himself, put up a good fight against Heath Herring before being submitted, DDTed Mark Kerr of all people for the biggest win of his career, got destroyed by Mirko Cro Cop (like almost everyone else really), and finally took a young Choi Mu-Bae to the judges (which he lost by unanimous decision again) before leaving PRIDE and Takada Dojo. After a brief brawl in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he stumbled into HERO’S which was coincidently run by his former master Maeda, where he was thrown to fighters like Kim Min-soo (Judo Olympic silver medalist and Maeda’s Korean pet project), Don Frye (who needs no introduction), Katsuyori Shibata (who beat him in less than 10 seconds), and Lee Tae-Hyun (a Ssireum champion (a Korean style of wrestling similar to Sumo Wrestling) who’s only win in MMA was over Yoshihisa) before leaving there as well. He then rounded off his career with a loss against Hidetaka Monma at a DEEP event and losses at two Grabaka promoted events against Pancrase veterans KEI Yamamiya and Jong Wang Kim.

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"Unyielding and Indomitable Tropes":

• A Day in the Limelight: After he did exceptionally well against Rickson Gracie, Yamamoto was looked to be pushed as the company's next main eventer. After he did exceptionally bad against Ricardo Morais, it was all forgotten and he was given back to the low/midcard. Plus Kiyoshi Tamura came over from UWFI and stole what was left of his thunder by beating him in a shoot.
  • He actually did get somewhat pushed briefly over everyone who wasn’t Tamura after wrestling Maeda in his first retirement match, until the King of Kings rules came into effect, where he was once again proved unable to keep up in real fights.
• Aborted Arc: His pro wrestling career outside of RINGS. He appeared in Pro Wrestling ZERO1 in 2001, attacking Naoya Ogawa and demanding a match to settle the score between them from their cancelled RINGS bout a few years earlier, but he never appeared again. He later appeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in similar manner in 2005, getting into a brawl with Yuji Nagata, but once again left right after. It should be noted that he is the only RINGS native (aside from the pretty much forgotten Yukihiro Takenami) that has never done pro wrestling outside of RINGS.
• Alliterative Name
• The Apprentice: To Akira Maeda, and later to Nobuhiko Takada at Takada Dojo when he left RINGS.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Of the boastful variety.
• Badass on Paper: If ever was one. Most of his fame came from lasting three rounds against the mighty Rickson, but it was due not to fighting skill, but merely to capitalizing in the legality of grabbing the ropes and holding for dear life to them not to be taken down. Yamamoto's soon potential, or rather lack thereof, was soon exposed in his next shoots, although it is up to debate whether he could have become legitimately good in mixed martial arts had he really tried.
• Big Eater: According to training partners.
• The Big Guy: The physically strongest of the RINGS Japan team and was for a long time the only heavyweight on the team before Tsuyoshi Kohsaka came along.
• Boisterous Weakling: He was brave, plucky and big, and often carried himself in interviews as if he was among the best fighters in Japan, but he was one of the worst Japanese fighters ever came out of the U-system.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Had a strong judo background and could have been a solid fighter with the proper training, but it is a known fact that he wasn't interested at all in fighting. When in the gym, he rarely sparred, and instead just lifted weights, slacked around and ate the food sent by his fans.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Mixed with Too Dumb to Live in his PRIDE fight with Mirko Cro Cop, where he taunted Cro Cop by offering "free shots" throughout the fight and naturally got destroyed and the crowd even turned against him when he claimed that he suffered an eye poke.
  • While it is not known if its a work or shoot, in one match with Hans Nijman, he seemed to have tried to shoot on Nijman, as instead of starting out by feeling him out with a striking exchange like he usually begins matches, he immediately tries to take him down and submit him. It takes about 6 attempts before Nijman and his corner figure out what’s going on and a pissed off Nijman proceeds to knock him out shortly afterwards for his trouble.
  • In what might have been his first shoot fight against Greg Douglass at a Universal Kickboxing Federation event in 1994, they made an agreement where they wouldn’t punch to the face, which Yoshihisa broke the moment he could, with Douglass responding with two punches to the face in retaliation (it didn’t end the match, Douglass won by being dominate for most of the figgt).
  • Surprisingly, he was the dragon for once in a match against Herman Renting, after Renting busted him open with an elbow strike on the ground, Yoshihisa locked in a rear naked choke to tap out Renting. He didn’t even celebrate his victory and just quickly went to the back.
• Butt-Monkey: From his shoot fight with Ricardo Morais onwards and it only got worse for him as time went on.
• Catchphrase: "Futou Fukutu" ("unyielding and indomitable").
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: White tights and boots. Before the Rickson fight, he wore different colored gear usually twice before switching to another color.
• Combat Pragmatist / The Unfettered: Was notably dirty and willingly to use underhanded tactics to win compared to his fellow stablemates, such as his shoot fight with Kiyoshi Tamura in 1996 where he dug his fingers in Tamura’s face and eyes to try and get a choke, and actually cut Tamura's face and drew blood and not to mention his fight with Rickson Gracie.
• Cool Teacher: Was briefly a trainer at Takada Dojo.
• David Versus Goliath: His MMA fights with Ricardo Morais (who KO'ed him), Semmy Schilt (who also KO'ed him), Jan Nortje (who Yamamoto submitted with an armbar), and Bob Sapp (who as expected KO'ed him).
• Determinator: Between 2003 to 2004, he suffered a series of medical problems like appendicitis, ileus, early colon cancer, and hematochezia and underwent surgery to correct them. He also got into a traffic accident in 2005. He still came back to fight after all that. In 2022 he announced that he had fought stage 4 colon cancer for seven years and states he wants to get back in the ring when he fully recovers.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training with Masakatsu Funaki. After cornering Masayuki Naruse in his fight with Yuki Kondo in 2014, Yoshihisa remarked that he would like to fight Funaki due to said incident, but Funaki never responded.
  • According to Katsumi Usuda, he also tried to get into the SWS promotion and even passed the physical test for it but they didn't accept him for some reason.
• Embarrassing Nickname: His training partners called him "Georgie", for some unknown reason.
• Expy: Career-wise, he was one to Nobuhiko Takada. Both were great workers despite their lack of technical fighting skills who failed to live up to expectations in shoots, both rarely sparred for real, was sent food by their female fans, and both faced and lost to Rickson Gracie and Mirko Cro Cop. This makes his transfer to Takada Dojo after he left RINGS actually make a lot more sense.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Downplayed as he didn’t win against Rickson Gracie, but lasted a lot longer against him than any of Rickson’s other Vale Tudo Japan opponents and was the first to actually be able to mount any sort of meaningful offense against him. His performance in that fight made people believe he was a better fighter than he actually was and it was only until his fight with Ricardo Morais that got people to see he wasn’t a great fighter.
• Fearless Fool: Say what you will about his fighting ability or attitude towards fighting in general, he still fought some of the greatest names in the sport without backing down.
• Foil: To Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, as both were former judokas that were recruited to RINGS by Maeda as the only heavyweights of the team and were expected to be the stars of the promotion at one point or another. They both failed in their own ways, Yoshihisa due to disinterest and poor performances in shoots, while Kohsaka had to share the spotlight with Kiyoshi Tamura and despite his hard work and great grappling skills, still couldn’t take out world-class opponents.
• Glass Cannon: Arguably his Achilles' Heel in shoots was that he really didn’t know how to defend himself against closed-fist punches and ground-and-pound, he was however a decent grappler when he actually tried.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: Was a good worker and his fight with Rickson Gracie got him pushed by Maeda and even placed second in 1995 Mega Battle Tournament (behind Maeda of course). Unfortunately he didn’t have the skills nor the mindset for real fighting and often lost to guys that he should have had no problem with like his last MMA opponent Jong Wang Kim, who was a longtime Pancrase Jobber. In fact his only legitimate win outside of RINGS was against Jan Nortje, who despite his size and background in boxing and Kickboxing was a notable MMA Jobber. The rest of his wins were by pure luck, the Mark Kerr fight mentioned below and his win over Alexander Otsuka was by Otsuka injuring himself by attempting a jumping knee drop.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Once broken his own arm on the ring while posting it on the mat to attempt a kani basami.
• I Know Judo: A 1st dan black belt. How did he get it is a Riddle for the Ages.
• Improv Fu: Managed to turn a ill-performed double leg by Mark Kerr into a DDT of all things to knock him out, although the pundits were skeptical about whether it had been an intentional technique or he had been simply lucky enough that Kerr drove his own head against the mat.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After the mentioned DDT, Yamamoto boasted in the post-match interview about how he had trained all along to perform it on the ring and such. PRIDE's general manager Takada, who was also Yamamoto's trainer and knew it was all Blatant Lies, proclaimed that if it wasn't pure luck, he had to repeat it in the match he was going to put him against Mirko Cro Cop.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Despite his bad performances overall, he could be a tough opponent if he wanted: he beat Maurice Smith in a mixed rules fight (technically twice, he won on points in one of them, after being beaten up for 30 minutes and left with a broken and bleeding nose. The other fight was when he tapped him out by rear naked choke in about 6 minutes), knocked out the always technical Chris Haseman in the second King of Kings, and even tapped out the notoriously hard-to-submit Daijiro Matsui in a grappling match in the Takada Dojo, not to mention his famous three-round Rickson match.
• Paper Tiger: Before his fight with Ricardo Morais exposed him, he was built up to be the next star of the promotion due to being a consistently good worker, popular among female fans, and his surprisingly long fight with Rickson Gracie.
• Power Copying: He has a been known to borrow moves from former opponents in his shoot style matches, from his trainer and boss Akira Maeda, his fellow debuter Masayuki Naruse, his kohai Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Volk Han, Andrei Kopylov, and most notably Rickson Gracie.
• Power Trio: Was part of the Japanese "A" team along with Hiromitsu Kanehara and Wataru Sakata for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.
• Red Baron: "The Outlaw", "Yamayoshi", "Maedaism Keishosha" ("The Inheritor of the Maeda-ism"), "Rickson O Oitsumeta Otoko" ("The Man Who Chased Rickson").
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: After his fight against Rickson, Yamamoto adopted his attire (though he actually also wore white trunks when he faced Rickson), techniques and even facial mannerisms to an almost parodic degree. It was soon phased out, although the attire part remained among his traits.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: During the mentioned 30 minute fight with Smith, Yamamoto kept breaking late his holds, which normally would have granted him a yellow card, but as he was the native and Smith the foreigner from Pancrase, well, you can guess.
• Spell My Name With An S: Went by the name of Norihisa during his PRIDE run for some reason.
• Stone Wall: Got his aura (and its subsequent push) after stalling Rickson Gracie for three rounds via the Loophole Abuse of holding the ropes for all the match.
• Technician Versus Performer: A performer and was arguably RINGS Japan’s most consistently good worker as he put on constantly good matches in non-shoots. He unfortunately didn’t have anything to make up for his lack of technical fighting skills in actual shoots.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His style was based around powering out of holds when possible and opting for eat any punishment instead of trying to outstrike as he was the least skilled striker on the team.