Bellator 279: Now A Welterweight, Goiti Yamauchi “Ready to Finish Everybody in the Division”

Making his welterweight debut at Bellator 279 was Goiti Yamauchi — and as it turned out, the move paid off.

After competing as a featherweight, then lightweight, earlier in his career, Yamauchi’s 170 pound debut saw him secure an arm-bar submission of Levan Chokheli.

The Japanese-Brazilian fighter told Cageside Press after the bout that he was feeling much better in his new weight class.

“I feel great. I feel much better, actually. For me, I’m a grappler, so it’s important for me, for the type of guy that I am, to have good muscles, to play on the ground,” he said following the event in Honolulu, Hawaii, speaking at the post-fight press conference. “I can’t grapple without muscles, that’s a rule. If you want to grapple in MMA or in a grappling match, you have to lift weights, you have to have muscles. It’s different than the striking game.”

When it comes to the striking game, Yamauchi (27-5) continued, “you don’t need much muscle, not in my division. You just need to be quick and fast. But when we talk about grappling, yeah, this 15 pounds made a lot of difference. So I feel great, I feel confident, I feel happy, and ready to finish everybody in this division.”

Those grappling skills were a big part of the game plan against Georgia’s Chokheli, who had never before been submitted or finished, on Saturday.

“My strategy for this fight was using my grappling, using my cage and ground skills. I was planning to finish the fight in two rounds, but not surprised that I finished in the first round,” Yamauchi stated. “I had an awesome, great camp. We just do what we do, what we did in the whole camp, in the whole year. Actually, I’ve been working for this result my entire life, so this was the result of all my hard work.”

Watch the full Bellator 279 post-fight press conference with Goiti Yamauchi above. More coverage can be found below.