ADCC World Champion Rani Yahya racked up his twenty-first submission victory at UFC Vegas 21 in a preliminary fight against Ray Rodriguez. Almost fourteen years after he emerged from the ADCC World Championships with a gold medal and at the age of 36, Yahya proved he’s still more than capable of keeping up with the newest additions to the UFC Bantamweight division despite the results of his last two fights.
Yahya was on a superb 7-1 run since his return to the Bantamweight division in 2014, before he struggled in a fight against future Submission Underground Tag-Team competitor Ricky Simon, where he ended up losing a Unanimous Decision at UFC 234 in March 2019. He wouldn’t compete again for an entire year but came up short again in a fight with Enrique Barzola at UFC Fight Night 170, one that ended in a draw. Now that Yahya is back in the win-column it’s unclear what will happen next for the Brazilian, whether he will make one final run at the title, or have just a few more fights before calling it a day on his MMA career.
SUBMISSION: TWENTY ONE
You cannot make mistakes vs 🇧🇷 @RaniYahyaMMA!
[ #UFCVegas21 continues on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/d5gWUP0FxH
— UFC (@ufc) March 13, 2021
UFC Vegas 21 Full Results
Leon Edwards v Belal Muhammad results in a No Contest – Accidental Eye Poke (Rd 2, 0:18)
Ryan Spann defeats Misha Cirkunov via TKO – Punches (Rd 1, 1:11)
Dan Ige defeats Gavin Tucker via KO – Punch (Rd 1, 0:22)
Davey Grant defeats Jonathan Martinez via KO – Punch (Rd 2, 3:03)
Matheus Nicolau defeats Manel Kape via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Eryk Anders v Darren Stewart results in a No Contest – Illegal Blow (R1, 4:37)
Preliminary Card
Angela Hill defeats Ashley Yoder via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Charles Jourdain defeats Marcelo Rojo via TKO – Punches (Rd 3, 4:31)
Rani Yahya defeats Ray Rodriguez via Submission – Arm Triangle (Rd 2, 3:09)
Nasrat Haqparast defeats Rafa Garcia via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
JJ Aldrich defeats Cortney Casey via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Jinh Yu Frey defeats Gloria de Paula via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Matthew Semelsberger defeats Jason Witt via KO – Punch (Rd 1, 0:16)
The UFC Vegas 21 replay will soon be available to watch on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
