In the second featherweight bout at UFC on FOX 4, Josh Grispi will look for his first UFC victory when he takes on Rani Yahya on the preliminary card on FUEL TV.
Grispi was originally scheduled to meet Pablo Garza, but Garza had to pull out of the fight with an injury and Yahya accepted the fight.
Grispi (14-3) entered the UFC via the merger with the WEC and had won all four of his fights in the WEC. His UFC debut came at UFC 125 against Dustin Poirier and a win would have put him in line for a title shot.
However, he was defeated by Poirier by unanimous decision and returned in June at The Ultimate Fighter Finale and was defeated by George Roop by knockout. If he is defeated on Saturday night, he could be cut by the UFC.
Yahya (16-7) is a former title contender in the WEC and has gone 1-1 since being coming to the UFC in the merger. His only UFC win came at the Fight for the Troops 2 fight card in January of 2011 and he defeated former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown.
His other UFC fight came against former title contender Chad Mendes and he was defeated by unanimous decision by the Team Alpha Male fighter. In his fight with Mendes, Yahya was dominated by Mendes, which Mendes scored his striking game imporvements.
Three of the last four wins by Yahya are by stoppage and Grispi is also know as a fighter that stops his opponents. Grispi has scored a stoppage victory in 13 of his 14 wins and can finish the fight on the feet or the ground.