The Rise of Adrian Yanez
Adrian Yanez will return to the Octagon tonight as he takes on Tony Kelley that has the fight world excited. Yanez is coming off his fourth-straight win in the UFC when he defeated Davey Grant in November of 2021 via decision. With a professional record of 15-3, Yanez remains undefeated in the UFC and will try to keep it that way after this weekend.
Yanez has had some very fun fights leading up to this one. He quickly became a fan-favorite with the way he fights and his exciting finishes. With that being said, let's take a look at his young UFC career so far.
Adrian Yanez's rise in the UFC
Adrian Yanez competed in season four of the Dana White Contender Series (DWCS) and earned a UFC contract by knocking out his opponent in just 39 seconds. After doing so, he would fight in his UFC debut on Halloween night and not disappoint. Yanez finished Victor Rodriguez in the very first round via KO (head kick). He would go on to get an extra $50,000 from Dana White with the Performance of the Night (POTN) bonus in his debut.
Yanez then returned to the Octagon against Gustavo Lopez when he displayed a beautiful performance once again. He countered everything perfectly and kept picking apart his opponent on the feet. It wasn’t until the beginning of the third round when Yanez finally put him away to earn his second UFC win. He would go on to earn another POTN bonus for his victory.
In his third UFC fight, Yanez would go on to face another young prospect, Randy Costa at UFC Vegas 32. The long jab of Costa presented problems in the first round for Yanez but once he found his range in the second round, Yanez decided to pour it on Costa. Throwing 78 significant strikes in the second round, Yanez found his groove and ultimately got the finish when attacking the body of Costa. The boxing display was one to watch as it earned Yanez his third consecutive win in the UFC and another $50,000 POTN bonus.
In his most recent fight, Yanez got put to the test with the gritty veteran, Davey Grant. In what was an awesome fight, Yanez took control of this fight after going back and fourth with Grant. Yanez earned an odd split decision (when many thought it was unanimous) victory and looked great. The volume of Yanez was the determining factor as he would increase his output and look better as the fight goes on. He ended up with 45 significant strikes at the end of round three and looked phenomenal while doing so. The striking display from Yanez was beautiful to watch and it earned him his fourth consecutive win in the UFC. And just in case you were wondering, Yanez earned another $50,000 bonus, recieving Fight of the Night honors.
UFC Austin: Adrian Yanez vs. Tony Kelley preview
Adrian Yanez will look to remain undefeated in the UFC but he will have his hands full with Tony Kelley at UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs Emmett. Kelley is coming off a TKO win against Randy Costa at UFC 269. The non-stop pressure of Kelley is what earned him the win against Costa and he will look implement the same plan this weekend. He has great endurance and attacks with a fast pace while switching stances. Kelley gives his opponents a lot of different looks while pressuring forward, which can cause his opponent problems. On the flip side, that is not the case.
Yanez provides a more technical and dangerous striking approach to his opponents. During the fight against Gustavo Lopez, Michael Bisping and Paul Felder brought up the comparisons of Jorge Masvidal to Yanez. A “Mini Masvidal” is what Felder was referring to because not only does he look a bit like him when Masvidal was young, but particularly the way he fights. Yanez has some similar resemblances to the BMF, in terms of his slick boxing skills. He has a very similar way of striking like him and it has been mentioned throughout his young career.
Yanez has tremendous counter abilty with knockout power in both hands. He is at his best when he mixes in the low calf kicks while attacking the opponents body. Yanez is a dangerous striker with some of the best boxing technique. Yanez has also recently trained with the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Aljamain Sterling and has made continous strides with his wrestling too.
The future of the Bantamweight division is looking bright and Yanez is one of the fighters to look out for. With a win, Yanez can improve to 16-3 in his professional career and remain undefeated in the UFC with five consecutive wins (and possbily five straight bonuses as well). This will be no easy task, but Yanez does have the pleasure of fighting in his home state of Texas for the first time. At the end of the night, Yanez can be knocking on the door and make his way into the top 15 of the division.
