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For Bellator 210’s Goiti Yamauchi, loss to Michael Chandler was a necessary career experience

Goiti Yamauchi had high hopes for his Bellator 192 meeting with former champion Michael Chandler earlier this year.

As he told MMAjunkie at the time, Yamauchi planned on doing to Chandler what he’d done in the three fights that came before: Get him out of there within two rounds. And then, after that, Yamauchi planned on getting his stab at Bellator’s lightweight title.

Yamauchi was, instead, dominated for three rounds and lost a clear-cut unanimous decision. And it’s Chandler who, after going on to rack up another win, is now set to fight for the title.

Looking at it from the outside, that seems like quite the bummer. And maybe it was a bit, at the time. But 10 months later, as he prepares to return at Bellator 210, that’s not how Yamauchi looks back on it.

“I think it was a key point in my career,” Yamauchi told MMAjunkie. “I needed to go through it. A champion isn’t made only of wins, they also need to learn something from failing and losing. So it was – not only for me, but my entire team, we grew together. We saw what went wrong, improved on our flaws. We’ve been doing excellent, very solid and professional work. Totally different than the version people saw in January against Michael Chandler.

“I’m very happy with the work that’s being done. (The loss) only gave me motivation to improve. Of course, we get sad with losses – nobody likes losing. But it’s important to go through it, especially in the current stage of my career. I’m still developing. I’m young, still, so I need to go through these things.”

That improvement process wasn’t confined to the gym. In fact, Yamauchi says, speaking of it in terms of technical adjustments is way too reductive for the kind of changes that he says the loss to the ex-champ inspired in his decision-making process in life as a whole.

“(It changed) some concepts, some thoughts, the way to train – to live, really, you know.” Yamauchi said. “So it was a deeper thing. He touched my life not only with punches and strong elbows to the face, but he also touched me in regard to Goiti, the fighter. In my mindset as a champion. It was very important for me.”

This kind of pragmatic, level-headed thinking isn’t uncharacterestic of Yamauchi. Although patience is not a feature one usually associates with 25-year-olds, it’s a virtue that the lightweight relies on whether it’s assessing his future or musing about his past.

Take a recent incident, for instance. Before Nov. 30’s meeting with former 145-pound title challenger Daniel Weichel (39-10 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) came together, Yamauchi (22-4 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) was briefly linked to a fight with contender Patricky Freire. It was a big opportunity, no doubt, but Yamauchi never got to take it.

A few weeks before their scheduled date, Yamauchi suffered an injury on his left ankle that wasn’t too serious but that would require a three-week resting period. Yamauchi didn’t have much time to prepare as it was, so he and his team decided to withdraw.

As we know, that’s not something any fighter particularly enjoys doing. But it’s something, Yamauchi acknowledged, that comes with the territory when you’re a professional fighter. Once that was established, he saw no point in moping about it.

“Everything happens in due time and for a reason,” Yamauchi said. “It didn’t bother me at all.”

Thankfully, as far as reschedulings go, Yamauchi didn’t do too bad for himself. While Weichel is just coming up to lightweight for the first time in years, he also happens to be a two-time 145-pound title challenger who’s just coming off his most recent failed bid. Overall, Weichel has only suffered two losses in his Bellator run – both to current featherweight champ Patricio Freire.

The strength of Weichel’s record, combined with Yamauchi’s own solid credentials, left some in the MMA community puzzled by their placement in the MMAjunkie-streamed preliminary card, rather than the main card. As it turns out, you can add Yamauchi to that group.

“I was surprised, because it’s a fight worthy of a co-main event, or even main event,” Yamauchi said. “It’s a more high-level fight than the main event of that day (Chidi Njokuani vs. short-notice replacement John Salter). There won’t be any fights of that level that day, so I don’t know what their policy to choose is.”

Surprised, however, doesn’t mean disappointed. And, like his opponent, Yamauchi says he’s indifferent to his position on the card.

“I don’t care at all,” Yamauchi said. “I’m there to fight. It can be the first or the last fight, I’ll be prepared. The most important thing is for Daniel to show up.”

His approach to the matchup is also similar to Weichel’s; Yamauchi sees a strong opponent, with the potential to put on a great fight. But he also believes he has the ability to win in basically every manner – whether it’s a submission, a knockout, or even a decision.

Nevertheless, Yamauchi says he’s simply not too into predictions. And while he meant that about fight outcomes, it seems he’s not too inclined to muse over the future beyond that, either.

“I’m very patient,” Yamauchi said. “Although I’ve been at Bellator for quite some time, I’m a young guy and I’m not there to whine for a title. I want to earn it. So if (Bellator president Scott Coker) tells me I deserve it, if (Bellator matchmaker Rich Chou) tells me I deserve it, I’ll fight. Until then, I don’t want to beg for a title. I want to be patient.

“I want to fight the best. I want to fight for a title. I want to be champion and the best in the world. But this will come in time. It has to be earned, not given.”

For more on Bellator 210, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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