Rani Yahya out of UFC Fight Night 44, Cody Gibson meets Johnny Bedford
The UFC’s first visit to San Antonio has a revised fight booking set for the card.
Rani Yahya (19-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) has been forced out of his fight against Johnny Bedford (19-10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), and Cody Gibson (11-4 MMA, 0-1) will step up in his place.
UFC officials today announced the bantamweight booking, which puts a rematch between Yahya and Bedford on hold.
UFC Fight Night 44 takes place June 28 at AT&T Center in San Antonio. The event’s main card is expected to air live on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Yahya and Bedford met at UFC Fight Night 39, but a clash of heads led to Yahya being dropped, Bedford pouncing, and an eventual no-contest ruling.
Gibson made his UFC debut in February, but dropped a unanimous decision to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 170 in Las Vegas. That loss snapped a six-fight winning streak for the Tachi Palace Fights veteran.
Bedford, a competitor on “TUF 14,†won his first two UFC fights with knockouts of Louis Gaudinot and Marcos Vinicius, but he was submitted by Bryan Caraway at UFC 159 and had the no-contest with Yahya in February. He’ll be going after his first victory in 18 months.
Yahya was to be looking for his first win since a decision over Josh Clopton at UFC 163 in August, which ran a winning streak to three fights for the Brazilian.
With the change, the latest UFC Fight Night 44 card includes:
Cub Swanson vs. Jeremy Stephens
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nicholas Musoke
Myles Jury vs. Abel Trujillo
Hacran Dias vs. Ricardo Lamas
Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Colton Smith
Andy Enz vs. Marcelo Guimaraes
Anthony Hamilton vs. Oleksiy Oliynyk
Johnny Bedford vs. Cogy Gibson
Clint Hester vs. Antonio Braga Neto
Andrew Craig vs. Cezar Ferreira
Luiz Dutra vs. Sean Spencer
Joe Ellenberger vs. Frank Trevino
Ryan Benoit vs. Ray Borg
