5 Forgotten MMA pioneers

#2 Yorinaga Nakamura

Yorinaga Nakamura is a Shooto competitor who fought in several non-sanctioned MMA bouts. (* Credits- USAShooto.com)

We go from one JMMA star to another. Now, it’s essential to note that Yorinaga Nakamura competed in the sport of shoot-wrestling and not MMA, so to speak. Now, shoot-wrestling is also considered to be a form of mixed martial arts combat.

It involves legitimate sporting competition between the in-ring practitioners and is different from the entertainment-based pro-wrestling-leagues of Japan and America. Although most shoot-wrestling matches are not counted as pro-MMA bouts, Nakamura and several other shoot-wrestlers are legitimate fighters and martial arts practitioners.

In January of 1989, Nakamura travelled to the U.S. and became a student of Dan Inosanto in Jeet Kune Do (JKD), Filipino martial arts and silat. The JKD lineage goes from Bruce Lee to Inosanto, and from Inosanto to Nakamura.

Nakamura also proudly represents the Shooto lineage- Bill Riley/Frank Wolfe to Karl Gotch; Gotch to Satoru Sayama; Sayama to Nakamura. Furthermore, Nakamura founded the USA Shooto Association in 1992. In the very same year, he became the founder and head instructor of Inosanto-Methods Unified Martial Arts Association (IUMA), in Japan.

Nakamura’s Shooto lineage, the practitioners that preceded him, as well as his disciples, have played an essential role in shaping the sport of MMA as we know it today. Nakamura and his fellow Shoot-wrestling practitioners provided a tremendous impetus to the evolution and refinement of modern-MMA.

Nakamura’s contribution to JKD, Shooto and the grappling arts have landed him the 2^nd spot on our list.