Experience shapes characters and yields a body of work worthy of
veneration. However, in the competitive and brutal sphere of combat
sports, that can be the paramount discriminator that separates an
experienced veteran from hungry contenders.
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight mainstay
Rani Yahya’s
career has personified this notion as a seasoned warrior who has
fought some of the best athletes the sport has had to offer across
three weight classes.
A former Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World
Championships gold medalist, Yahya’s MMA record stands tall with 28
career victories—a staggering 21 of them having been secured
through submissions. In his next assignment, the Brazilian will
take on
Victor
Henry at
UFC on ESPN 55 this Saturday in Las Vegas. With another
submission win, he will surpass
Urijah Faber
for most such victories in the 135-pound weight class. For that, he
figures to be keen on mobilizing past know-how of expertise
accumulated against stiff UFC competition for over a decade.
Ahead of Yahya’s looming battle with Henry at the UFC Apex, a look
at some of the rivalries that have forge him into a formidable
competitor:
Having compiled a solid 12-4 run to that point in his professional
journey, Yahya took on Japanese MMA legend
Yoshiro
Maeda in a catchweight clash at WEC 36 in 2002. From the
opening bell, Yahya proved to be the aggressor, taking the fight to
Maeda and threatening him with grappling advances. During one of
the takedown attempts, Maeda managed to lock a jumping guillotine
and squeezed hard. It looked like he had Yahya in a world of
trouble, but the Brazlian stayed composed. He managed to break free
from the attempt, and when they got back on their feet, Yahya
returned the favor with a guillotine choke attempt of his own. With
the perfect application of the technique, he managed to secure the
submission win at precisely the 3:30 mark of the very first
round.
At UFC Fight Night 39, Yahya and Bedford barely spent 39 seconds
with each other before their fight witnessed an anticlimactic
ending. The match was declared a no contest after an accidental
clash of heads. Bedford was visibly frustrated since he thought he
had secured the finish. Yahya later narrated the episode, claiming
he understood his plight and that “Brutal” apologized to him in the
locker room. Five months later, the stage was set for the rematch,
and Yahya’s strengthened resolve to draw a definitive ending to the
rivalry was apparent. The Brazilian secured a second-round
submission victory via kimura and went on to pick up three more
victories in succession.
Lopez was an undefeated prospect with an 8-0 record on his ledger
before he took on Yahya at UFC Fight Night 91. The bout proved to
be a battleground of wild flurries in the opening stanza. Lopez
held his ground in grappling advances and showed necessary
reluctance in engaging in scrambles. As he grew confident in the
exchanges, Lopez threatened with an armbar and deep inverted
triangle attempt. However, in the third round, he gave away top
position to Yahya and paid the price immediately. Yahya locked up
an arm-triangle choke and squeezed out the submission finish at the
4:19 mark of the third round.