MMA Hit Pit caught up with new CFC World Welterweight Champion Yasubey Enomoto, Hi Yasubey thanks for talking to MMA Hit Pit how was the fight (against Henrique Santana) for you?
It was really good because it was the first time i fought against a black belt and I felt really comfortable on the ground. I expected to stand with him but he tried always to take me down. It was really good to show the people that I’m also a good ground fighter.
I notice that you used the rubber guard quite a few times, is that something you do a lot in training?
I do it a lot because I know that most of the Brazilians are not comfortable when you put them in the rubber guard, and also it’s a good position when you don’t want to get punched, because I don’t like to get punched.
Not a lot of UK fans will know much about you; tell us about your background and history...
I started with BJJ maybe 6/7 years ago, then 1 year later I started boxing and thai boxing. I’m a thai boxing Swiss champion and an AKBO thai boxing world champion so I’m really comfortable in my stand up. I’ve made maybe 40-50 tournaments (in Jit Jitsu) and I’m also a purple belt in BJJ under Jeffrey Anis who’s a black belt under Fabio Santos. I’ve trained with him probably 4 years and right now we have our own academy, called Team Enomoto, me and my brother have our own dojo.
Whereabouts are you based?
In Zurich, Switzerland.
Have you lived there all your life?
Yeah. I’m half Swiss, a quarter Peruvian and a quarter Japanese, but I totally live like a Swiss guy as my father lives in Peru and I’ve never met him.
Where do you fight mostly?
Right now I’ve fought all over Europe...Greece, now in England, Czech Rep, and Germany. I’ve had Jiu Jitsu tournaments also all over Europe, and I was in Abu Dhabi Jiu Jitsu competition, not in grappling, but Jiu Jitsu last year for purple, brown and black belt...
How did you do?
Not really good! I lost my first fight against a black belt who was also from Gracie Barra (like Henrique Santana) but I lost on points. For me, it was not embarrassing because he was a world champion in Jiu Jitsu and I lost only on points against him, so for me it was a win, because I did not tap and he went on to win the tournament. It was really good because I was thinking I can go also with gi with people who are really really good because in 2008 he was world champion.
What are your plans for 2009? Now you are CFC World Champion, will you continue to fight all over Europe?
My next fight will be in California, if it works out, then we go to Russia as my brother will fight there and maybe i will fight there too later in the year. In the summertime we go to the Philippines to fight in the biggest organisation there. I was in Thailand this year and met the promoter who asked us to come and fight there. For me it’s nice, I like my job because I can see all the world for free.
And get paid to beat people up!
I don’t like to beat people up. For me it’s only the competition to see how good I am. I’m not like a thug or a fighter, I was never like this! I was good in school and stuff like that. For me it’s always to be the best in everything I want to do. When I started jiu jitsu I wanted to be better than my trainer. In boxing, I wanted to be better than my trainer...I always want to compete to be the best. That’s my only goal, to be the best.
Are there MMA events in Switzerland, and what’s the scene like?
There is no scene! There are no fights, you must go everywhere else. Switzerland has no background in MMA. They have a couple of thai boxing competitions, but in MMA you can fight one time in a year. And I don’t want to fight in Switzerland because for me, it brings nothing to my career. When I win a title in Switzerland, everybody asks “where is Switzerland?!” (laughs)
I can understand that! Well thank you for your time, it was an excellent fight tonight and hope to see you over here again soon.
I hope so too, it was really nice. Big event, good crowd, it was good.
Yasubey spoke with Michael O’Mahoney after defeating Henrique Santana at CFC: Sudden impact