Goiti Yamauchi suffered a nasty knee injury at the conclusion of his Bellator 292 scrap with Michael Page.
Yamauchi and Page shared the cage inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California. This one only last 26 seconds as Page landed a leg kick that totaled Yamauchi’s knee for the TKO finish. It was not a pretty sight, and it was quite clear that Yamauchi suffered an injury that will keep him out of action for a while.
Bellator President Scott Coker provided an update on the welterweight during the Bellator 292 post-fight press conference (h/t Bloody Elbow).
“Based on the X-ray, it’s a patella tendon rupture,” Coker said. “So that sounds very painful.”
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Abbasi uploaded a video on his YouTube channel and discussed the severity of Yamauchi’s injury and why surgery is required.
“There seems to be a pattern here…. MVP causes serious damage to skeletons. This gap in knee is patella fracture. This needs to be brought back together & fixed surgically (screws & sutures) to allow him to extend knee again. So you want to be a fighter?”
Speaking to reporters during the Bellator 292 post-fight press conference, Page recalled the moment he knew Goiti Yamauchi wasn’t going to continue fighting.
“I saw him go down and I just thought, I don’t know — nerve [damage] or whatever,” Paige said. “But when I saw him grasp his leg, I was like, ‘He’s not getting back up.’ I didn’t see the lump [in his kneecap] until I looked up at the screen. I’m in my celebrating element, and then I actually looked up to see what it was, and it kind of took the energy out of me.”
It’s a tough pill to swallow for Yamauchi, who was hoping to continue to ride the wave of momentum he had with a three-fight winning streak. Yamauchi was also coming off a second-round knockout win over Neiman Gracie. This is Yamauchi’s first defeat since April 2021.
