BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Rani Yahya vs.
Tom Niinimaki

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

13-6-1 (1 NC) Rani Yahya · UFC
1-3-0 Tom Niinimaki · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

13-6-1 (1 NC)
UFC record
1-3-0
Bantamweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
41.9
AgeΔ 2.1 yrs
44
5'6"
HeightΔ 3"
5'9"
67"
ReachΔ 2"
69"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
27.3
Layoff (months)Δ 112.2 mo
139.5
LLWWD
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLW
The read

What the numbers say.

Scouting notes, auto-generated — only stats deviating more than 25% from the division median make this list. No narratives, just deviations.

Rani Yahya is a submission threat — 1.49 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.28 Bantamweight norm.
Tom Niinimaki owns the mat — in control 42% of cage time, vs a 17% Featherweight norm.
Tom Niinimaki hunts takedowns — 2.97 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.19 Featherweight norm.
Level of competition

Who did they actually beat?

Full-career records re-graded by the tier of opposition — the same grading the Contender Series pick model uses. Records built on tier-4 competition are worth less than records built on killers.

Rani Yahya

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 136
Tier 3 — regional circuit 136

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.9 · 13 tier-1/2 wins · 19 finish wins over 40 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.4 wins over .500

Tom Niinimaki

Full career not yet synced for Tom Niinimaki — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 1-0 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.5 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

4401.91/min · norm 3.52
Sig. strikes landed
581.91/min · norm 3.54
4862.11/min · norm 3.58
Sig. strikes absorbed
702.31/min · norm 3.47
39.2%norm 43.4%
Striking accuracy
54.7%norm 45.0%
50.4%norm 56.6%
Striking defense
58.1%norm 54.85%
00.00/15 · norm 0.30
Knockdowns
00.00/15 · norm 0.29

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Rani Yahya

Distance 87.3% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 3.4% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 9.3% (norm 6.5%)

Tom Niinimaki

Distance 76.4% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 5.7% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 17.9% (norm 6.5%)

What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)

Rani Yahya

Head 75.7% (norm 77.4%) · Body 10.6% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 13.7% (norm 8.4%)

Tom Niinimaki

Head 56.6% (norm 77.4%) · Body 18.9% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 24.5% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Yahya L/AAccBantamweight med Niinimaki L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 336 / 980 34.3% 39.0% 39 / 81 48.1% 40.9%
In the clinch 23 / 38 60.5% 68.7% 5 / 6 too few to rate 70.8%
On the ground 81 / 104 77.9% 70.2% 14 / 19 too few to rate 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 239 / 849 28.2% 34.9% 19 / 60 31.7% 37.2%
To the body 82 / 119 68.9% 66.8% 17 / 20 too few to rate 68.2%
To the legs 119 / 154 77.3% 79.4% 22 / 26 84.6% 80.7%

Zones with fewer than 25 attempts are marked "too few to rate". Each fighter is measured against the median of leaderboard-eligible fighters in his own division (Bantamweight: 117 fighters · Featherweight: 126 fighters).

What lands on them Opponents' accuracy against each man

Green ≤ division median — harder to hit than the typical man in his division.

Zone vs Yahya L/AOpp accBantamweight med vs Niinimaki L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 311 / 757 41.1% 39.3% 55 / 145 37.9% 39.2%
In the clinch 17 / 26 65.4% 70.4% 6 / 10 too few to rate 70.3%
On the ground 158 / 196 80.6% 72.4% 9 / 12 too few to rate 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 340 / 790 43.0% 34.9% 50 / 142 35.2% 35.9%
To the body 95 / 121 78.5% 66.0% 5 / 10 too few to rate 67.9%
To the legs 51 / 68 75.0% 79.1% 15 / 15 too few to rate 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

4131.1% acc · 2.66/15 · norm 1.12
Takedowns landed
646.2% acc · 2.97/15 · norm 1.19
931.0% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
233.3% def · norm 61.5%
88:2338.3% of cage time · norm 17.4%
Control time
12:4742.1% of cage time · norm 16.7%
62:554:05 per 15 · norm 2:24
Time under control
5:572:56 per 15 · norm 3:12
231.49/15 · norm 0.28
Submission attempts
10.49/15 · norm 0.46

Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Yahya has more cage time on record.

Next move

Let the engine settle it.