Rani Yahya hopes for top-ranked opponent in UFC’s return to Brazil

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. I punched, kicked, threw knees and elbows, some ground and pound. Submission attempts from both sides. The thing that made me happy is that I showed a great conditioning, too. I gassed in previous fights, but this time I was in great shape and was able to tap him in the third round.

“These wrestlers don’t like to play guard or anything like that. They come back up right away, and they are good at it. I really needed to fight like a real MMA fighter, not like a jiu-jitsu fighter, to win. I used a lot of elbows to hurt him and get close to the submission. I made a few …

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