A year removed from a lackluster win over Masanori Kanehara, Rani Yahya wanted to impress UFC president Dana White against undefeated prospect Matthew Lopez at UFC Fight Night 91. Not only the fight delivered Wednesday night, Yahya pulled out his seventh submission victory under the Zuffa banner.
"He started strong, ready to really rip my head off," Yahya told MMA Fighting after the fight. "He has a lot of first-round finishes, so I had to be ready and counter with punches. My hand landed a few times. It was a nice fight that had a bit of everything.