A well-balanced body with 187 cm of height and 93 kg of weight makes Okami a world standard fighter with rigidity and flexibility that makes him stand out from other Japanese fighters.
He began training judo in high school and aimed to become a professional wrestler after graduation. After Okami failed the admission tests of New Japan Pro-Wrestling twice, he was introduced to Wajyutsu Keishukai to build a foundation for becoming a professional wrestler. Six months later, he fought his first match as a fighter in the "PRE-PRIDE 4" tournament and won a spectacular victory in his professional debut match. In February 2004, he made his first appearance at PRIDE and became the champion of "PRIDE: Bushido 2". In November 2005, he fought in HERO'S for the first time and won the fight with Myun Joo Lee via TKO. In August 2006, he fought his long-awaited first match of the world's top stage "UFC" which is a major league in the martial arts industry. He defeated Alan Belcher at "UFC 62". After that, he defeated Kalib Starnes at "UFC 64", Rory Singer at "UFC 66" and Mike Swick at "UFC 69", making him the first Japanese fighter in history to ride a four-fight win streak. By that time, he was known overseas by the nickname Yushin "Thunder" Okami. In November 2010, he won the fight against Nathan Marquardt at "UFC 122" and became the first Japanese fighter to qualify for the UFC Middleweight Championship. In August 2011, at "UFC 134", he fought against the UFC Middleweight Champion and the best pound-for-pound fighter Anderson Silva (the strongest player across all weight classes) who was thought the most likely to win. Anderson defended the UFC Middleweight Championship 8 times which was the most number in UFC history at that time and was an absolute champion who kept the UFC record of 13 consecutive wins. The location of their fight was Anderson's homeland, Brazil. Away from home and amid intense booing, Okami was dropped by a right hook at the beginning of the second round and defeated via TKO. After that, he accumulated winnings in order to get a rematch with the absolute champion Anderson Silva. However, after three consecutive victories and a defeat in September 2013, he was released by the UFC. Okami was officially ranked 6th among Middleweight fighters and it is rare for the UFC to release a highly ranked fighter. In 2013, he changed his main battlefield to "WSOF". He fought against Svetlozar Savov at "WSOF 9" in March 2014 and won via arm triangle choke submission in the second round. Okami faced David Branch for the WSOF Middleweight Championship at "WSOF 15" in November 2014. In September 2017, Okami replaced another fighter at "UFC fight night" held in Japan and returned to UFC after 4 years. In April 2018, he won the fight against Dhiego Lima at "UFC on FOX" and became the Japanese fighter with the most number of victories at UFC (14 victories). He is still trying to break the Asian record for the most appearances at UFC21 now. In February 2019, he signed a contract with Asia's largest martial arts organization "ONE Championship". In May 2019, he had his first match after signing with "ONE Championship" against Kiamrian Abbasov in "ONE: FOR HONOR" held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Okami also keeps an unbeaten record against Japanese opponents. MMA fighter Yushin Okami who is the pride of Japan and Asia aims to become the world's "top fighter" without any compromise, and still continues to fight.
Okami is also the director of LDH martial arts. Through the training gym "EXFIGHT" he wants to share training experience that he gained in various parts of the world and the fun and importance of sports.