A bantamweight bout between Joe Soto and Rani Yahya has been announced for UFC Fight Night 106, which takes place in Fortaleza, Brazil.
The promotion announced the news earlier today.
Soto (17-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was scheduled to fight at UFC Boston, but after his original opponent pulled out and Renan Barao pulled out of his title fight with TJ Dillashaw, he was given a title shot in his debut. Soto lost the bout via fifth round TKO. He then dropped two more losses, making him 0-3 in the UFC. Since then, he’s put together two submission wins, and is looking to make it three in Brazil.
Yahya (23-8 1NC MMA, 8-2 1NC UFC) is currently riding a four fight win streak with two finishes. The first victory of that streak came in September of 2014 when he submitted Johnny Bedford. Yahya then took a split decision over Masanori Kanehara before tapping Matthew Lopez at UFC Fight Night: Sioux Falls. In his most recent outing, Yahya took a decision win over Michinori Tanaka.
UFC Fight Night 106 takes place live from the Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil on March 11, 2017. The card is set to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Kelvin Gastelum.
