Having won nine fights heading into this past February’s match-up with Mikhail Zayats in the second round of Bellator’s light-heavyweight tournament, Jacob Noe was riding high, maybe too high for his own good. Following a first-round submission loss to Zayats, Noe decided it was time to leave his native Tennessee and make the kind of move necessary to take his career to the next level. “I think I underestimated the guy,” said Noe of his loss to Zayats. “I just went in there without a game plan and tried to fight him and I think it backfired. He had a really good game plan and coaching. I kind of learned my lesson from that. “In Memphis I was kind of the only full-time fighter and didn’t have consistent training partners or experience to work with, so I made the change to Team Syndicate in Las Vegas.” Noe felt the change was a long time coming and the Zayats fight only helped crystalize the need to shake things up. “I always knew that beforehand I wasn’t growing as a fighter and I felt like I needed to make a change,” he said