Bearing down his body weight was Rani’s secret to finishing. UFC publicity photo.
Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Shogun weren’t the only Brazilians who came up spades at Saturday’s UFC on Fox 4 event. Not having fought since August of last year, Rani Yahya made his octagon return in grand style, tapping out Josh Grispi with a first-round north-south choke.
After the bout, the diminutive grappling whiz, who recently suffered a knee injury that required surgical intervention, was all joy.
“This is all great. I’m glad because I’d trained really hard for this fight. I was physically and mentally prepared after recovering from surgery, and I feel better than ever. I wasn’t in the best position to apply the choke, but I was able to get all my weight over his ribs and finish him,” said Rani.
With the triumph, Rani brings his UFC tally to two wins in three fights and should return to the octagon in the coming months. Now Josh Grispi, having lost all three of his UFC appearances, runs the risk of getting handed his walking papers.
