Football star Ronaldo’s career was in jeopardy in 2002 after a series of devastating knee injuries kept him sidelined for months, but he dug deep to come back and score eight goals to lead Brazil to win its fifth World Cup title.
Two decades later, Ronaldo’s comeback inspired Goiti Yamauchi’s return to MMA in 2024.
Yamauchi, who was only 9 when Ronaldo scored twice in the 2002 World Cup final against Germany, suffered a gruesome knee injury in March 2023 when his patella tendon ruptured due to Michael Page’s kick seconds into their Bellator 292 fight.
“We were very upset at the time, but I kept positive thoughts that I would come back from that, and come back stronger,” Yamauchi told MMA Fighting. “My coach ‘Alemão’ pushed me hard. I asked him if it really was the same injury Ronaldo had and how long it took for him to recover. He was like, ‘I don’t know [how long], Goiti, but he became world champion a year later, so don’t worry.’ That encouraged me a lot.”
Yamauchi said the recovery process was shorter than expected and he made the most of the time off to heal his body and mind. Bellator was absorbed by PFL over that time, and now Yamauchi enters the 2024 PFL welterweight season “in my prime,” set to face Neiman Gracie in a battle of Bellator veterans for the first match of the season Friday in Chicago.
Yamauchi and Gracie fought once before inside the Bellator cage, and Yamauchi won via second-round knockout.
“A lot has changed since,” Yamauchi said. “I don’t know about him, but I’ve changed a lot. I know I won’t be facing the same Neiman, and rest assured that he’s not fighting the same Goiti. This Goiti is 1,000 times better now.”
Gracie rebounded from that first defeat with a decision win over Dante Schiro in February 2023.
Yamauchi vows to hunt for the finish in Friday’s rematch and secure extra points for the PFL regular season.
“We’ll be ready for whatever comes, but I’ll give my best not only to win, but to finish him,” Yamauchi said. “If you look at my record, you’ll see that I’m always going for the finish, I don’t like to go to a decision. I want to end the fight as soon as possible, and I’ll pressure him to end it early.”
The 2024 PFL season features plenty of names that were brought in from Bellator, and Yamauchi looks forward to a dream fight with former interim Bellator champion Logan Storley for the $1 million prize later this year.
“I would really love to do this final against Logan Storley,” Yamauchi said. “I’m clearly more experienced than him but he was an interim champion before in Bellator and put on great fights against great athletes. I’ve been asking for this fight for a while, that’s why I would like to fight him in the final.”
