Cody Garbrandt set to return to bantamweight, meets Rani Yahya in July

Cody Garbrandt will be returning to bantamweight.

After dropping down to flyweight at UFC 269, where Garbrandt suffered a first-round TKO loss to Kai Kara-France, the former champ will return to his old stomping grounds. According to MMAFighting, Garbrandt is set to return on July 9 against Rani Yahya. The location of the fight and the main event of the card has not yet been announced.

Cody Garbrandt (12-5), as mentioned, is coming off the TKO loss to Kara-France in his flyweight debut. Prior to that, he suffered a decision loss to Rob Font after knocking out Raphael Assuncao. Before the win over Assuncao, Garbrandt suffered three-straight knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw, twice to lose his bantamweight title, and then suffered a TKO loss to Pedro Munhoz.

Image: Cody Garbrandt on Instagram

Garbrandt started out his career going 11-0 including beating Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 to win the title. He also holds notable wins over Thomas Almeida, Marcus Brimage, and Takeya Mizugaki. The former champ is currently unranked at bantamweight.

Rani Yahya (28-10-1 and one No Contest) is on a three-fight unbeaten streak as he defeated Kang Kyung-ho by decision and submitted Ray Rodriguez while having a draw against Enrique Barzola. The 37-year-old has been in the UFC 2011 and is currently unranked.

Yahya has 19 UFC fights under his belt and also fought in WEC prior to that. He has fought at featherweight as well and has shared the cage with the likes of Joseph Benavidez, Chad Mendes, Mike Brown, Eddie Wineland, Ricky Simon, and Joe Soto among others.

With the addition of Cody Garbrandt vs. Rani Yahya on July 9 the card is as follows:

• Cynthia Calvillo vs. Nina Nunes
• Cody Garbrandt vs. Rani Yahya
• Antonina Shevchenko vs. Cortney Casey
• Ronnie Lawrence vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov
• Tresean Gore vs. Josh Fremd
• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
• Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Jamie Pickett
• Caio Borralho vs. Armen Petrosyan

Who do you think will win, Cody Garbrandt or Rani Yahya?