Zuffa pimps Rani Yahya to K-1
November 30, 2007 – 11:49 am by fightlinker
I don’t think there’s a more colorful character out there than Rani Yahya. Between his butt-scoot fighting style and his tendency to start riots at grappling events, this bantamweight fighter has heavyweight drama written all over him. Of course, I was worried after he took a 5-round beating from WEC champ Chase Beebe that we might have seen the last of Rani. Fortunately this is not the case!
Rani is now going overseas to Japan to fight none other than Kid Yamamoto at K-1 Dynamite. Word from Shitdog Radio is that this was a ‘loan’ from Zuffa, which is really interesting since Zuffa isn’t exactly known for playing well with others. There’s a couple of things we could read from this sudden interaction between the two companies:
- This is part of a ‘trade’, where K-1 gets Rani and the UFC will be getting someone else down the line.
- Now that the UFC is ‘out’ of Japan, they are supporting K-1 in an effort to keep competition down.
- Sherdog is wrong and I am talking out my ass.
Whatever the reason, you can’t ignore the fact that this means SOMETHING. The UFC doesn’t do anything without a reason, and you better believe they wouldn’t lift a finger to help K-1 if they weren’t getting something directly or indirectly from it.
This isn’t the first time the UFC and K-1 have been in cahoots. Last year the UFC paid a boatload of money to K-1 so Royce Gracie could be sacrificed to Matt Hughes.
