No Pain, No Gain for Goiti Yamauchi

More than a year has passed since Goiti Yamauchi’s patella tendon exploded and sent shivers down the collective spine of the mixed martial arts community. He believes the experience made him stronger.

Yamauchi will suit up for his first post-injury assignment when he makes his Professional Fighters League debut in a PFL 3 rematch with Neiman Gracie this Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. A Michael Page leg kick did the damage at Bellator 292 on March 10, 2023, resulting in a technical knockout loss, reconstructive knee surgery and an extended layoff. Yamauchi took it all in stride.

“It wasn’t a loss for me as much as an on-the-job injury,” he told Sherdog.com. “I don’t wish to take any credit away from Michael. He kicked and I defended, but I’m the one who got hurt. The chances of that happening are one in a million. If you kick someone’s knee, what will break is the shin of the person doing the kicking. In my case, my knee gave out. I believe I had a pre-existing injury. Right where I got hurt, I had already been feeling some sort of pain.

“Mentally, I feel as well as I can,” Yamauchi added. “I’m truly a fighter. An injury like that would never stop me. It only made me hungrier to be champion. That’s what champions are made of. It’s good that it happened. I’m making the best of it.”

It was the first stoppage defeat of the 31-year-old Anjo, Japan, native’s 34-fight career and interrupted a three-fight winning streak that included a second-round knockout of Gracie at Bellator 284. Yamauchi, who grew up in and now represents Brazil, does not put much stock in the victory in relation to their rematch.

“Neiman isn’t the same as two years ago, and neither am I,” he said. “We’ve both changed. The only constant in life is change. I made sure that I would change for the better. I don’t know about Neiman. We’ll see on fight night. I’ll be ready for the best version of him. I would never expect things to go smoothly just because I had an easy win last time around. I’m ready for his best, but I don’t expect a close fighter, either. I’ll make sure my skill set overwhelms his.”

Yamauchi enters his first appearance in the PFL with a proven track record. An accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, he has secured 21 of his 28 professional wins by submission. Victories over Isao Kobayashi, Ryan Couture, Adam Piccolotti, Daniel Weichel, Saad Awad, Daron Cruickshank and Levan Chokheli anchor Yamauchi’s outstanding resume.

“Looking back at my career thus far, I’m very thankful for what life has granted me,” he said. “Despite some hard lessons learned in losses, I’ve been very successful. Whenever I lost, I never felt defeated. Some losses were very close fights. I feel victorious in my career but, I’m not yet satisfied. I’ll only feel satisfied on the final day of my career. I have a lot yet to do. I haven’t yet captured a title.”

To that end, his attention has shifted to the PFL regular season and earning enough points to qualify for the welterweight playoffs. The potential for a $1 million payday also piques Yamauchi’s interest.

“It’s just another positive,” he said. “The bigger the win, the better. Winning fights and becoming champion is what I aim to do. The money goes along with that. It doesn’t stress me out. It’s a huge motivator.”