If all had gone according to plan, UFC Vegas 58 on
July 9th would have featured a bantamweight showdown between former champ Cody
Garbrandt and Rani Yahya. Unfortunately, that bout was scrapped after Yahya
suffered a neck injury in training.
We have confirmed via sources close to the fight
that Garbrandt vs. Yahya has been rebooked for an October 1st UFC Fight Night.
The event, currently dubbed UFC on ESPN+ 69, is set to be headlined by a women’s
strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern vs. Yan Xiaonan. No location has been
announced for the card at this time, although the UFC Apex is still the venue
of choice for most non-major Fight Night cards.
Cody Garbrandt is on a 1-5 skid and most recently
lost his flyweight debut to Kai Kara-France via first round TKO in December
2021. He’s returning to bantamweight where he’s spent the vast majority of his
career and won the UFC bantamweight belt off Dominick Cruz in 2016. His reign
was a short one, though. He lost the title to TJ Dillashaw in his first title
defense, and then was defeated in an immediate rematch several months later.
Rani Yahya comes into this fight with Garbrandt on a
two fight winning streak and is 2-0-1 over the past two years. The 37-year old
grappler continues to hang in the ultra-competitive 135-pound division, despite
being longtime veteran who came into the WEC back in 2007. Yahya has a 28-10
record in MMA, with 21 submission wins ... and zero KO/TKO wins.
When originally announced, many saw this as the
UFC’s attempt to give Cody Garbrandt a rare turnaround fight, which only seems
fair after matching him with number 7 ranked bantamweight Rob Font and number 3
ranked flyweight Kai Kara-France. Neither Garbrandt nor Yahya are ranked at
bantamweight right now, and Yahya is one of the few UFC veterans with no
knockouts to his name.
That perception will only increase now that the UFC
has rebooked Garbrandt and Yahya four months after their original booking fell
through. “No Love” will still have to watch out for Yahya as the Brazilian is
known for his aggressive and unconventional submission game.
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