Nakamura had trained in various martial arts until February 1984 when he enrolled at the Tiger Gym of Satoru Sayama.
In November 1985, he became a full-time staff member of Sayama's gym. He trained in Sayama's style of shoot wrestling and in June 1986, he competed at the first Shooto event. In January 1989, Nakamura went to the United States and became a student of Dan Inosanto in Jeet Kune Do.
In 1992, he founded USA Shooto Association and on returning to Japan the same year, he became the founder and head instructor of Inosanto-Methods Unified Martial Arts Association (IUMA). At the age of nineteen, Yorinaga (Yori) Nakamura learned that Satoru Sayama would soon open his Tiger Gym.
