Only one day remains until Cage Titans 40. With weigh-ins underway, many talented and young fighters make the final preparations for tomorrow’s event. Amateur Billy Goff of Dexter MMA is among that group. His preparation is nearly complete, nearly all that remains is patience.
In a little over 24 hours, Goff takes on Sanad Armouti of Florian Martial Arts Center. It is a new type of opponent for the Premier FC amateur lightweight champion. Armouti is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The high level of grappling presents a challenge that hasn’t presented itself to Goff during his short amateur career.
“I know he’s going to be a really high-level jiu-jitsu grappler so it’s going to be awesome because it’s something I haven’t seen,” Goff told MMASucka. “I’ve seen other grapplers but it’s just going to be, better experience. Other than that, I know that 10 other guys have turned him down and I’m not going to.”
Without a challenge so daunting, Goff wouldn’t be a part of this Cage Titans card. Dexter MMA located in Groton, Connecticut has a bit of a reputation among the New England fight community. One would be hard pressed to find someone willing to question the heart and toughness of those who train at the gym.
Goff himself remarked at the attitude of Dexter MMA fighters. He recalled his first moments at the gym and realizing short after how tough his eventual gym mates were.
“I went there when I was younger and right off the rip, I heard those are some tough sons of bitches down there. Those are cream of the crop. You’re not going to shy away from anything. I didn’t think they would take any fight any time, I didn’t know it that well going in but I shortly realized it after my teammate Austin Schalla took a fight. Actually my first fight at Cage Titans, the guy dropped out the day of. They found another guy and we just took the fight the day of. That’s just the way they are, and it’s the way I am now. I like it, I love being there, and I wouldn’t want to be at any other gym”.
While this matchup proves challenging for Goff, it does so for Armouti as well. The Florian fighter hasn’t competed in the realm of mixed martial arts since 2014. Compounded by his long layoff, is his lack of cage time. The high-level grappler took a little more than 1 minute to submit his only opponent.
Goff believes this will prove to be an advantage for himself come fight night. While that is the case, he isn’t counting on it to be a deciding factor.
“Stepping into that cage is an extremely mental thing and taking a lot of time off it’s just going to make him a little rusty. It might not make his jiu-jitsu that bad but getting punched in the face, [you] can’t really re-create that in practice, it’s really hard. It’s an advantage, but there is no real way to take that into account in training or anything but it is there.”
Since late 2017, Goff fought five times. A stretch that represents the entirety of his amateur mixed martial arts career. He has blown through the past 10 months. Now he sets the stage in the same place he began as an amateur. As the first of fifteen fights, Goff vs. Armouti is as close to a guarantee of a good fight could be.
