5 Defining Moments: Adrian Yanez

While hype surrounding Adrian Yanez has cooled somewhat, he remains full of promise in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

The Dana White’s Contender Series graduate will once again have his work cut out for him when he meets the undefeated Daniel Marcos in an intriguing UFC on ESPN 63 showdown this Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Yanez, 31, sports a 6-2 record across his eight appearances inside the Octagon. The Houston native has delivered well over half (11) of his 16 professional victories by knockout or technical knockout.

As Yanez movers ever closer to his forthcoming clash with Marcos at 135 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Stumbling Block

Fortis MMA export Miles Johns leaned on constant pressure and a frenetic pace to outlast Yanez across five rounds, as he captured the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance bantamweight title with a split decision in the LFA 55 headliner on Nov. 30, 2018 at The Bomb Factory in Dallas. Scores were 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48. Johns completed takedowns in the second and third rounds, called upon a potent jab and stayed busy with volume striking. Even so, Yanez proved to be a tough out. He connected with the more powerful blows and made a pass at a guillotine in Round 5. Johns freed himself from the choke, scrambled out of danger and bled he remaining time off the clock, doing just enough to curry the requisite favor from two of the three cageside judges.

2. Minimal Exertion

Yanez made it impossible for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to ignore him when he needed less than a minute to put away Brady Huang with punches in their Dana White’s Contender Series bantamweight battle on Aug. 11, 2020 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Huang succumbed to blows 39 seconds into Round 1, the unwitting victim in one of the fastest finishes in DWCS history. Yanez barely broke a sweat while nailing down a UFC contract. The Bellator MMA alum buckled Huang’s knees with a clean left hook, reset and then connected with a vicious multi-punch combination that was punctuated with another left hook and a chopping right hand. A dazed and confused Huang stumbled backward, prompting referee Jason Herzog to intervene before he could absorb any further damage.

3. A Bullish Market

Metro Fight Club’s Yanez kept his foot on the gas at 135 pounds and eked out a split decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 18 finalist Davey Grant in a three-round UFC Fight Night 198 bantamweight feature on Nov. 20, 2021 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Judges Junichiro Kamijo and Eric Colon scored it 29-28 for Yanez, while judge Tony Weeks raised eyebrows with a 30-27 nod to Grant. Operating in the shadows of the Ketlen Vieira-Miesha Tate main event, Yanez took some time to get going. Grant zeroed in on him with an active kicking game and did everything he could to lure him into an ugly firefight. Yanez refused to bite and instead leaned on clean jab-cross combinations and occasional kicks of his own. The evidence of his work was painted on Grant’s face, blood streaming from a cut on the bridge of his nose by the time their 15 minutes were up.

4. Stopped in His Tracks

Rob Font brought Yanez’s ascent to a sudden halt when he took out the Texan with punches in the first round of their UFC 287 bantamweight attraction on April 8, 2023 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. The stoppage was called 2:57 into Round 1. Font peppered the Saul Soliz protégé with a persistent jab that set up his sharp combinations. Yanez remained resolute and answered with clubbing right hands, putting visible damage on his counterpart’s face. A close-range uppercut turned the tide for Font in the second round, leading to a barrage of unanswered shots. He floored Yanez with a shovel hook to the chin, trailed him to the canvas and slammed the door with a burst of punches and hammerfists. The setback was Yanez’s first in more than four years and snapped his career-best nine-fight winning streak.

5. A Return to Form

Yanez rebounded from back-to-back losses to the aforementioned Font and Jonathan Martinez when he swept aside Vinicius Salvador with punches in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 241 bantamweight showcase on May 18, 2024 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The end came 2:47 into Round 1. Leg kicks, jabs and takedown defense proved pivotal for Yanez, setting the stage for the finish. He answered a body kick from Salvador and sent the Marcelo Ribas disciple crashing to the canvas with a clean right on the counter. Rapid-fired punches followed, and Yanez ultimately tuned up his hammerfists to force referee Chris Tognoni to act. It was the seventh first-round stoppage of his career.