After pulling the upset over Jeff Curran at Bellator 14, Bryan Goldsby has extended his contract with Bellator and will compete in the promotion's upcoming bantamweight tournament.
"I want to be the face of the bantamweights in Bellator," Goldsby told MMAFighting.com on Thursday. "I want to win the tournament, defend the belt and take it from there."
The 28-year-old of out of Macon, Ga. will take part in the season premiere card on Aug. 12 at Bellator 24 in Hollywood, Fla.
Goldsby primarily trains out of Rush MMA in Georgia, but also cross trains with the Hardcore Gym in Athens as well as the American Top Team in Florida.
Goldsby began Tae Kwon Do when he was 12 and started wrestling in the seventh grade. Upon leaving the military in 2006, Goldsby took up Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu to round out his overall MMA game and began fighting professionally soon after.
Last April, fighting in front of Curran's hometown fans in Chicago, Goldsby (12-11) put his name on the map by unanimously outpointing the respected WEC veteran.
"I always believe in myself," said Goldsby, on his mindset going into the Curran fight. "As long as my training is good, I feel like I could beat anybody, and he was a good opponent. He had a lot of fights, I had a lot of fights, I just saw him as another good opponent."
Goldsby showed not only could he beat a reputable opponent, but he did so while putting on an entertaining display of moves.
"That's just my style, doing flashy stuff," he said. "When I get in the cage, I'm just so comfortable, I can just let it flow and just do crazy stuff all the time."
Against Curran, Goldsby rolled out of a leg catch, threw capoeira kicks and jumping knees. His showmanship is just one part of his personality that he'll continue to bring out when he steps back in the Bellator cage next month.
"I've been like that my whole life," Goldsby said. "I've done Tae Kwon Do, I like all the power kicks, some break dancing, I might do some capoeira kicks, spinning back kicks and all that kind of stuff. I like doing unexpected stuff."
Currently announced for the 135-pound tournament are Ulysses Gomez, Travis Reddinger, Danny Tims and Nik Mamalis. Matchups are to be determined.
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