Cody Garbrandt will return to his original home.
Garbrandt (12-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) meets Rani Yahya (28-10-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on July 9, which doesn’t yet have a publicly known venue or location. Both fighters confirmed the news on social media after an initial report from MMA Fighting.
Since dethroning Dominick Cruz to capture the bantamweight title in a masterclass performance in December 2016, Garbrandt has struggled, losing five of six fights. His lone win in that stretch came in a buzzer-beater knockout of Raphael Assuncao in June 2020. In his past outing in December, Garbrandt’s flyweight debut was spoiled when he was knocked out by Kai Kara-France at UFC 269 and will be moving back up to 135 pounds when he meets Yahya.
On the other hand, Brazil’s Yahya is enjoying some momentum in his career at the age of 37. The jiu-jitsu ace is coming off back-to-back wins in a submission of Ray Rodriguez, followed by a unanimous decision over Kyung Ho Kang this past November at UFC Fight Night 198.
The latest UFC Fight Night lineup for July 9 includes:
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rafael Fiziev
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Nina Nunes
- Cortney Casey vs. Antonina Shevchenko
- Josh Fremd vs. Tresean Gore
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Jamie Pickett
- Caio Borralho vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Rani Yahya
