Billy Goff (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) capitalized on his UFC debut when he TKO’d Yusaku Kinoshita (6-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) with a body punch and ground strikes at UFC Singapore on Aug. 26.
It took a few days for the win to sink in for Goff, who returned home soon after his victorious debut to play video games in his UFC sweatpants while he heals up.
“The high from the win and everything has kind of come down, but I’m still super excited for what’s next,” Goff told MMASucka.
Goff said he was in a state of “kind of shock” when he dropped Kinoshita around 3-and-a-half minutes into their welterweight bout with a body shot. He pounced on his foe and landed some ground and pound before the referee stopped the fight. While Goff didn’t expect the body shot to crumple Kinoshita, he felt the momentum was swinging his way.
“I knew when I was looking at his face, not right in the moment, but in the moments leading up to it, I was recognizing that he was getting tired,” Goff said. “I knew the tides were kind of turning more in my favor. I think it was pretty back and forth the whole the way through, but I could see him getting tired. I could see it in his face. The shots were wearing on him. My coach called the shot, and when I hit it, you could see that as he’s dropping, I’m coming back up for more punches, so there was a bit of a shock that he dropped. But it was a quick transition to cover and finish.”
Goff and Kinoshita went tit-for-tat for a few minutes before the finish. Kinoshita landed a shot to Goff’s left eye that he said blurred his vision temporarily.
“I remember thinking ‘That one was pretty heavy,’” Goff said. “But outside of that, the one I threw a naked kick on him and he shot my head back, that’s the heaviest-looking shot, but it didn’t really hurt.”
Avoiding throwing naked, soft lead leg kicks is something Goff said he worked on after the Shimon Smotritsky fight on the Contender Series in August 2022.
“If you go back and watch the Shimon fight, I wasn’t rocked,” Goff said. “I got dropped because I was throwing a lead leg kick. I was on one foot. If you get hit with a really hard kick while on one foot, it’s gonna sit you on your ass. I wasn’t throwing any soft lead leg kicks this fight.”
Goff said he isn’t sure what the UFC will do with him next.
“No matter who they pick or they put me against, I think the outcome is going to be the same,” he said.
Goff wants someone who he feels will help get him toward the rankings.
“I’m not going to break the top-20 anytime soon, but I’d like to get closer.”
All that matters to Goff is that he gets to fight around November. Ideally, he wants Madison Square Garden in New York City as his next back drop.
“I’d like to fight at MSG. It’s a big card. Everyone wants to get on it, so chances aren’t too, too high. But if I can get another one in before the year, I’d be happy. Since it’s close by, there are always last minute cancellations and pull outs. People missing weight. I’ll be ready for any of that if I don’t get something else booked.”
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