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MMA legend ‘Kid’ Yamamoto announces he’s fighting cancer

One of the top MMA fighters ever from Japan and a pioneer of the lighter weight classes shared bad news on social media Sunday.

Kid Yamamoto wrote on Instagram that he has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently battling the disease. Yamamoto wrote the post on Instagram in his native Japanese, but it has been translated by multiple outlets.

Few details are known outside of his diagnosis and an apparent promise to return to fighting.

Yamamoto, 41, was one of the top smaller fighters in the world in the mid-to-late aughts.