Rani Yahya is set to step in for a March 13th UFC fight against Ray Rodriguez. As reported by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting on Saturday, Yahya will join a UFC “Fight Night” card that does not have a location confirmed at the moment.
Yahya will take the place of Irwin Rivera, who was pulled from a fight against Rodriguez earlier in the month after being arrested and jailed over two counts of attempted murder.
The fight will see Yahya, a UFC veteran, look for his first win since 2018. His last two fights have been a decision loss to Ricky Simon and a draw against Enrique Barzola.
Yahya will be celebrating over a decade with the promotion in the fight. The bantamweight made his UFC debut in January of 2011, where he defeated Mike Brown.
Rodriguez will attempt to earn his first UFC win. The former LFA and Combate Americas fighter made his UFC debut in September, where he lost to Brian Kelleher due to a guillotine choke that submitted him in the opening minute.
The bout between Yahya and Rodriguez joins a UFC card that is set to have a welterweight main event between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev. Here’s the lineup.
Bout 11: Leon Edwards (18-3) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: Jonathan Martinez (13-3) vs. Davey Grant (10-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 9: Jason Witt (18-6) vs. Matthew Semelsberger (7-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Jinh Yu Frey (9-6) vs. Gloria de Paula (5-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 7: Jairzinho Rozenstruick (11-1) vs. Ciryl Gane (7-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Dan Ige (14-3) vs. Ryan Hall (8-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 5: Eryk Anders (13-5) vs. Darren Stewart (12-6) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Guram Kutataldze (12-2) vs. Don Madge (9-3-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Zubaira Tukhugov (19-5-1) vs. Ricardo Ramos (14-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Charles Jourdain (10-3-1) vs. Steve Garcia (11-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Rani Yahya (26-10-1) vs. Ray Rodriguez (16-7) (Bantamweight)
Knockdown News 