Goiti Yamauchi not impressed by Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov’s 27-0 record: ‘I’ll beat him’

Goiti Yamauchi is riding a three-fight finishing streak entering his Bellator 292 clash with Michael Page this Friday in San Jose, Calif., and hopes that a win over the popular Londoner earns him a shot at welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov.

Amosov impressed in his first fight back from the Russia-Ukraine war to unify titles against Logan Storley, earning a one-sided decision to improve to 27-0 in the sport. Yamauchi respects his abilities, but isn’t necessarily impressed himself.

“Amosov is an excellent fighter,” Yamauchi said on this week’s Trocação Franca podcast. “Honestly, I haven’t watched a full Amosov fight yet but when time comes, I will [watch them]. I’m not one to watch fights, but I know he’s champion for a reason. I’m his competitor, I’m his rival, so I can’t look at him like a fan does. I can’t create a monster inside my head. The only thing I see of Amosov are his defects because one day we’ll become rivals and I’ll beat him.”

With Kamaru Usman no longer UFC champion, having lost his title to Leon Edwards, some see Amosov as the best welterweight on the planet. The Ukrainian talent is 8-0 in Bellator with wins over the likes of Storley (twice), Douglas Lima, Ed Ruth and Erick Silva and is currently tied for the No. 7 spot in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.

Yamauchi couldn’t disagree more.

“It’s not about how many fights you have, it’s the quality of the fights,” Yamauchi said. “He has as many fights as Jon Jones and you can’t compare him to Jones. Jones has fought several champions. [Amosov] still has to be tested, and I can’t wait to test him too.”

Yamauchi is eager to “put my hands on the belt and bring it to Brazil, and it will be ours this year.” Victorious by knockout in his most recent Bellator appearance, stopping Neiman Gracie in a main event, Yamauchi feels he’s more well-rounded than the former title challenger.

“I believe I’m way more complete than Michael Page,” Yamauchi said. “Looking at our arsenals, our records, it’s definitely a clash of styles. This is MMA, I’m not there to box or kickbox with him, I’m there to do whatever it takes to win, but I can stand with him the entire fight if I have to, no problem. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“The longer the fight goes, more favorable it gets for me,” he continued. “But my first round is very strong, maybe one of the strongest in MMA today. I finish fights and most of them in the first round. It’ll be an advantage for me regardless. I’ll make it good for me. I won’t leave anything for him.”

Page was on a six-fight winning streak, which included a split decision over the only guy to beat him in MMA in Douglas Lima, when he lost a highly contested split decision to Storley for the interim title. Page’s inability to get Storley off of advantageous positions in grappling exchanges boosts Yamauchi’s confidence too.

“[Storley] is not a jiu-jitsu fighter,” Yamauchi said. “Michael Page won’t get back up. I’m not Logan Storley. Storley doesn’t know jiu-jitsu. He does a lot of scrambles but don’t put pressure. I don’t recall seeing him submit people with good jiu-jitsu. It’s not my game. I’m a finisher. When I put someone down is to submit them. It has always been like that, since jiu-jitsu tournaments as a kid until this day. If I take him down, and I will take him down, I’ll submit him.”