Damn, dude. Sorry Rani.

"What's that, Dana? What's a Bellator?"

This is the fight game, right? Fighters should fight whoever is put in front of them. After all, every fighter's eventual goal should be a championship of some kind, and being champion means fighting all worthy contenders. That outlook does not bother me in the least. Maybe I'm just a really nice guy at heart. Most of the time I don't like seeing fighters get cut, especially ones that don't really deserve it, like Gerald Harris. Now, some fighters get signed to the UFC who are clearly not ready for that level of competition. For sure, cut them and give them a chance to get their skills up. We can't all be astronauts. But there are some fighters who really are UFC caliber, but for whatever reason they're very, very unlucky. Rani Yahya may be one of those fighters.

In my opinion, Rani Yahya definitely fits the previously described mold of unlucky, UFC-worthy fighters. Is he ever likely to contend for the bantamweight title again? Nah, probably not. But he does possess the skills to give any fighter in his weight class pause, simply because of his grappling ability. I sort of equate him to a Demian Maia early in his UFC career. The dude is a former ADCC champion at 65 kg. He even showed some improved standup in his bouts against Mizugaki and Benavidez, and I personally think the stoppage against the latter was a tad premature. The fight probably would have ended in a similiar fashion had it continued on, but we'll never know.

So why do I feel sorry for the guy? Back in November is was announced that Yahya would be facing the Korean Zombie, Chang Sung Jung at 145 lbs, not at his usual 135. I felt that this was a very winnable fight for Yahya. He would be facing a size disadvantage, but he would have the upper hand on the mat and would most likely be able to hold his own against Jung's chin-up, hands-down kickboxing strategy. However, a week ago Jung pulled out of the fight due to an undisclosed injury. Shortly after, it was announced that be would be replaced by none other than Mike Brown, the former WEC featherweight champion and universally recognized top-10 145 pounder. This is not an easy fight for Rani at all. Brown will probably outweigh him by about twenty pounds come fight time, and he has the boxing ability to put Yahya to sleep fairly easily. Rani's conditioning issues have also been fairly self-evident. How long is he going to last with Brown on top of him on the ground or clinched against the fence? Against a fighter who went five rounds against Urijah Faber, his odds don't look so great.

Rani's UFC debut fight is likely to be his last, sad to say. With the recent UFC/WEC merger, fighters are getting cut left and right. Come January 23, Rani's going to be looking for a new job. A fighter on a three-fight losing streak isn't likely to be sticking around.

Most of the time, at least.

(Pics from sherdog.com)