Rani Yahya, member of The Arena Team, as well as head No Gi Jiu Jitsu instructor at The Arena, defeated Mike Brown by Unanimous Decision Saturday in UFC Fight Night 23 on Jan. 22nd, 2011 in Kileen Texas. This was Yahya’s first fight in the UFC since it absorbed the WEC in late 2010. Yahya also moved up a weight class to meet Brown.
A 3 to 1 underdog, Yahya controlled the fight from the beginning, dominating Brown on the ground as expected. But what was unexpected was for the fight to go the distance. A knockout was predicted for Brown and a submission for Yahya. But Yahya, a former ADCC Champ, surprised everyone with his ability to weather some hard shots from Brown and take the fight standing as well as the ground.
Yahya improves to 16-4 while Brown falls to 24-8. Look for Brown to be cut by the UFC and Yahya to be matched up with another hard fight soon.
