"Cut this weak person" - Fighter pulling out of UFC Vegas 81 bout has fans unhappy

MMA fans were furious with bantamweight fighter Rani Yahya for pulling out of his UFC Vegas 81 fight against Heili Alateng. Last-minute injuries and fighters pulling out of their fights are disappointing occurrences for fight fans. More often than not, such pull-outs are met with fierce backlash from the fans.

Rani Yahya (28-11-1-1 MMA, 13-5-1-1 UFC) is a veteran fighter who has been the staple of the UFC/WEC featherweight and bantamweight divisions since 2007. He is coming off a devastating knockout loss against Montel Jackson at UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes in April 2023.

At UFC Vegas 81, the 39-year-old was expecting to get back in the win column with a win over Chinese mixed martial artist Heili Alateng (16-8-2 MMA, 4-1-1 UFC). Yahya had to pull out of the contest due to undisclosed reasons. The news was first released by MMA journalist Nolan King via X (formerly Twitter).

“Rani Yahya is out of his UFC Vegas 81 fight vs. Heili Alateng on Oct. 14, per multiple sources.”

The Brazilian fighter has pulled out of his fights a staggering four times since July 2021. MMA fans did not take kindly to the news of another pull-out and launched a scathing verbal attack in the comments section of the post. Here are some reactions that caught our attention:

@AnjiMaRami wrote:

“Cut this weak person.”

Yahya has been competing professionally since September 2002 when he made the MMA debut against Junior Peba in the Brazilian regional scene. The 39-year-old continues to fight more than two decades later. One of the fans, @armaanyounis, was astonished by the fact that the veteran fighter has not retired and wrote:

“He is still fighting!!!???”

@JacobMc977 gave the Brazilian fighter a new monicker and wrote:

“Pullout god”

MMA fans were upset with Yahya's pullout from the UFC Vegas 81 contest

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A brief history of Rani Yahya's pullouts before UFC Vegas 81

Rani Yahya has maintained a busy schedule in spite of being relatively old for a lower weight class. However, recent history has not been kind to the veteran fighter. Yahya’s troubles began when he was scheduled to fight Kang Kyung-Ho in July 2021. However, he was pulled off the card hours before the fight after testing positive for Covid-19.

Yayha defeated Kyung-Ho in the rescheduled bout in November. He was expected to fight former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt in July 2022 but skipped the fight due to a neck injury. Rescheduling the fight did not work either as Rani Yahya withdrew a few weeks before the fight.

The pullout from the UFC Vegas 81 card is the fourth in Yahya's career in the last two years.