After his dominant performance against Johnny Bedford last night at UFC Fight Night 51 that saw him pick up a 2nd round submission victory, Rani Yahya revealed that Bedford had threatened to kill him at the weigh ins the day before.
He spoke to MMAFighting.com:
“He said, ‘Do you think I’m afraid of you? I’m going to kill you.’ I don’t know when he saw that because I never asked him if he was afraid of me. So he showed me that he was afraid. I’m afraid too. I have fear but the difference is I admit that because I’m a human being and I use that fear in my favour.”
“It kept me focused. I tried to surprise him with my striking, which he did not expect. So I was able to land a lot of strikes on him.”
“I respect my opponents. I kept myself calm, kept myself cold to do what I had to do.”