UFC Austin Fighter to Watch: Adrian Yanez
One of the top prospects to graduate from Dana White's Contender Series makes his first start outside of the UFC APEX this weekend
Name: Adrian Yanez
Nickname: N/A (though we discussed going with “Apex” before his last fight)
Record: 15-3 overall; 4-0 UFC
Division: Bantamweight
Team: Metro Fight Club
Opponent: Tony Kelley (8-2 overall, 2-1 UFC)
Through four UFC appearances, I love everything I’ve seen from Adrian Yanez.
The Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) grad earned stoppage wins in each of his first three outings before out-duelling durable, experienced British veteran Davey Grant last time out, pushing his overall winning streak to seven and his record to a very strong 15-3 heading into this weekend’s clash with Tony Kelley.
What I’ve liked the most about Yanez’ performances thus far its that he’s never hurried; there is never a point where he’s pressing or trying to make things happen. Instead, he makes his reads and lets things come to him, accepting that he’s going to get hit a few times and probably bloodied, but in the end, he’ll land the more telling blows.
In the Gustavo Lopez fight, he didn’t chase in any way — he patiently marched down the more experienced bantamweight, picking his spots, and landing with speed, power, and accuracy. He flows between leading the dance and countering, initiating the action in the moments when Lopez is content to stay on the outside and look for openings, but goes second effectively when he looks to throw, including the right hand that ended the fight 30-odd seconds into the final round.
Lopez didn’t even throw the punch, he just showed that it was coming, and Yanez found his chin and put him on the deck.
Against Randy Costa, he absorbed a lot of punishment early in the first round, as Costa worked behind a good, quick jab and an assortment of kicks to different targets that kept Yanez guessing. He got busted up a little, but go and watch it back — at no point does he look worried or does he try to force anything; Yanez just keeps moving, deal with the offence coming his way, and looks for chances to start clawing his way back into the fight.
Despite getting walked down and pieced up for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the round, Yanez was the aggressor down the stretch and started to find his range. Costa won the round, but Yanez had all the momentum heading into the break after doing a better job of getting his head off the center line and continually chipping away at the New Englander.
In the second, his pressure and constant presence in Costa’s face became too much, as the volume started to add up and chip away at the gas tank and will of the Sanford MMA man. A right hand upstairs forced Costa to cover up and sent Yanez to work on the body, kicking off the finishing sequence.
And the fight with Grant was just a dogfight — two guys that were content to leave it all out there, no quarter asked and none given, for 15 minutes.
For a 28-year-old to be this steely, this composed, this measured just four fights into his UFC run is incredibly impressive, and it’s why I think Yanez should have a long run as a fixture in the Top 15 beginning as soon as later this year.
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Saturday’s fight with Kelley is an odd booking — it’s honestly a step backwards after edging out Grant and earning four straight victories, which also makes it a bit of a trap fight, if that were something I thought you had to be worried about with Yanez, but I don’t.
Watch him between rounds in each of those last three fights, see how intelligent and understanding of not only the moment, but the steps he needs to take in the next round he is, and then try to tell me that this dude is going to come out here under-estimating someone, even if he has every reason to on paper.
Kelley is 2-1 in the UFC and coming off is own win over Costa.
More recently, he made news by spewing bigoted, xenophobic nonsense while cornering his girlfriend, UFC strawweight Andrea Lee, and then came out the next day with the classic one-two combination of “I’m not racist” and “Cancel culture is real,” rather than, you know, apologizing for being a trash bag.
Folks started hitting up Yanez on Twitter the minute Kelley opened his mouth, and while it certainly won’t be his primary, secondary, or even tertiary motivation this weekend, I’m sure there is a little part of the Texas native that will happily punch this dude in the face for all of Brazil on Saturday.
Kelley is a little taller, but the reach is the same, and Yanez’ composure, diversity of attacks, and forward pressure should be enough to get this one done, likely inside the distance and with style points.
He’s not someone that is going to come out here, take this dude lightly, and get caught, nor is he somebody that is going to look for exits when things get tough. Yanez fought a tough slate on the way up, with his three career losses all coming to quality opponents (Levi Mowles, Domingo Pilarte, and Miles Johns), and he’s faced fights like this before — bouts where he’s expected to shine — and I don’t anticipate him stumbling this weekend.
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What’s going to be interesting to me is seeing what comes next for the streaking DWCS grad, as bantamweight is flush with talent, has plenty of up-and-coming threats looking for greater opportunities, but few with as much momentum and appreciable interest as Yanez, who has blossomed into a bit of a media darling during the course of his first four appearances.
He’s in that range where he could and maybe should be facing someone in the Top 15 if he emerges victorious again this weekend, but most of the fighters in the lower third are already booked and hustling him in there with someone in the Top 10 feels like one step too far; plus, those guys aren’t going to be keen on fighting backwards against an unranked, but emerging talent like Yanez.
Maybe he gets paired up with another ascending fighter that has won recently (Jonathan Martinez? Tony Gravely) or the winner of the fight between Eddie Wineland and Cody Stamann stationed earlier in the bout order this weekend.
What about a date with Kyler Phillips? Or the winner of either bouts featuring a Nurmagomedov in the next few weeks?
If we want to go fishing for a bigger name, former bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt needs a dance partner next month now that Rani Yahya has been forced out, but that would require Yanez to come out of this weekend unscathed and “No Love” to say yes to sharing the cage with someone incredibly dangerous, and I don’t know if that’s the kind of fight Garbrandt is looking for at this moment.
But those are all questions that will be answered in the future.
For now, I’m just excited to see Yanez back out there this weekend, because it’s been too long and he really does feel like someone with the skills and makeup to make some serious noise in the 135-pound weight class in the not too distant future.