After seven years with the UFC, perennial middleweight contender Yushin Okami (29-8) has surprisingly been released from the world’s leading MMA promotion.
Having challenged Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight championship in 2011, UFC president Dana White labelled ‘Thunder’ as “The best fighter to ever come out of Japan”.
With a 13-5 UFC record, the 32-year-old most recently had a 3-fight win streak ended by Ronaldo Souza via TKO in the first round, however was still ranked as the division’s No.6 contender prior to his release.
Of his thirteen UFC victories, the wrestling specialist holds notable wins over Alan Belcher, Mike Swick, Evan Tanner, Dean Lister, Mark Munoz, Nate Marquardt and Hector Lombard. Okami is one of just five men to have beaten Anderson Silva, however the result came due to Silva being disqualified for an illegal upkick, at Rumble On The Rock in 2006.
