Cody Garbrandt vs Rani Yahya booked for UFC Fight Night 209
It appears former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt has his next bout lined up, and he’ll be going back up to 135 lbs for it, as he faces longtime WEC & UFC staple Rani Yahya at UFC Fight Night 209.
This event is to go down on July 9, 2022, at a to-be-determined venue.
‘No Love’ is one of the most hyped prospects this sport has ever seen, and for a good reason. He went from unranked to world champion in less than a years time, and he defeated the greatest bantamweight of all-time, quite handily we might add, to claim the championship.
Coming to the UFC with a 5-0 record, Garbrandt went 5-0 inside the octagon in a year-and-a-half, securing four knockouts in that time, before challenging Dominick Cruz for the title.
This title winning effort saw him climb to 11-0, but a great fall would soon follow.
Garbrandt has since gone 1-5, losing to the likes of TJ Dillashaw twice (TKO & KO), Pedro Munhoz (TKO), Rob Font (UD), and Kai Kara-France (TKO) in his flyweight debut. The lone victory came over Raphael Assuncao, who was on a two-fight skid himself, and is now on a four-fight losing streak.
Brazilian talent Rani Yahya however comes into this bout on a two-fight win streak, having gone 5-1-1 over his last seven encounters, 9-2-1 over his last 12, and 12-3-1 over his last 16.
As you see, Yahya has actually done very well for himself as of late, following a 4-5 stint toward the end of his WEC run, and the beginning of his UFC tenure.
But, this is perhaps the best match up the former champion could’ve gotten, as he’s been knocked out in four of his defeats, four of his last six fights, and Yahya is an elite grappler boasting a 3rd-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Don’t get it mixed, he could certainly hurt the former champion; he does have very underrated striking. And though Garbrandt went 32-1 as an amateur boxer prior to his mixed martial arts career, he doesn’t seem quite as confident in his striking as he once did.
That being said, though he was knocked out in his last fight, we did see some improvements out of him.
Once he got hurt the first time, he didn’t just bite down and throw recklessly like we’re used to seeing out of him. Instead, he shot on a takedown and tried to recover. Though it didn’t work out for him, as he still lost the fight badly, that was a good thing to see out of him.
Garbrandt comes into this fight with a record of 12-5 (10 knockouts, 0 submissions, 2 decisions), and Yahya comes in with a record of 28-10-1-1 (0 knockouts, 21 submissions, 7 decisions).
Garbrandt has never been submitted, and Yahya has never knocked an opponent out throughout his 40-fight career.
That’s got to be a good sign for the former champion, right?
Who walks away from this epic bantamweight contest the victor?
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
