You’re not going to see a welterweight fight with as wide of a size disparity as this Saturday’s contest between Billy Goff and Trey Waters. Standing 5’10” tall, Goff will be a full 7 inches shorter than his opponent and at a 5-inch reach disadvantage. However, despite that difference, the UFC welterweight isn’t worried about how to deal.
“Luckily there’s a guy, named Trevor Goode, he’s been training with me. He fights out of [Massachusetts]. He’s 6’7″ and has a 77″ reach and he’s at 170lbs,” Goff explains of working with the Bellator veteran. “It’s basically the same.”
In addition to having Goode working with him, he also has experience fighting someone of a similar size. When in CES, Goff fought Justin Sumter, a middleweight with longer reach than Waters. He notes that the experience up at middleweight will help, but also recognizes that Trey Waters is a whole different riddle.
“It certainly changes things. You feel the difference in defense. You feel the difference in the striking,” he said. “Trey fights in a very specific way – he fights you as a boxer, heavy on that lead leg. He keeps his hands down, leans away and tries to bait you into throwing at his face. He’s certainly a puzzle that will need to be figured out.”
With the training and experience that he has, Goff is confident that he’ll figure out that puzzle and is prepared to win by any means necessary.
“I see me overloading him on the striking and that’s going to open up a takedown,” he said. “I’m shooting for the first round finish and preparing for 15 minutes of hell.”
You can catch his fight with Trey Waters at UFC St.Louis this Saturday. The fight card begins at 4pm EST on ESPN+.
You can hear this entire interview at 18:17.
