Goiti Yamauchi Reflects on Catastrophic Knee Injury, Details Road to Full Recovery

Three months after suffering a torn patellar tendon in his right knee against Michael “Venom” Page at Bellator 292, Sherdog Brazilian correspondent Marcelo Alonso talked exclusively with Goiti Yamauchi, who detailed the agonizing injury and his road to recovery.

Yamauchi, who is already participating in light kickboxing drills, is mentally prepared for the hard road back and plans to return to the Bellator cage in December. Success stories in major league sports are limited regarding this specific injury, but not unprecedented. In fact, Yamauchi is well aware of Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo Nazario’s experience with not one, but two torn patellar tendons to the same knee. Some say the second of which was the most devastating soccer injury they had ever seen. Nazario made a complete recovery and then led his team to the promised land.

“He got exactly the same injury and three years later he was the main player who guaranteed the 5th [World Cup championship] to Brazil.”