- Adrian Yanez opened up about his back-to-back losses and how he improved his game
- The 30-year-old is expecting to finish or dominate Vinivcius Salvador
Adrian Yanez spoke about his mindset heading into his upcoming showdown with Vinicius Salvador at UFC Vegas 92 and the tough losses he suffered in 2023.
New year, new motivation
In an exclusive interview with Middle Easy, Yanez reflected on his two massive losses last year. According to the 30-year-old, he made some mistakes during his bout with high-level fighters like Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez but instead of being dejected, it only made him work harder.
Yanez said he studied the films over and over again to figure out the things he had to improve. Heading into his first fight of the year, Yanez is confident he is now a reinvented fighter.
“My 2023, I got way too comfortable. There’s a lot of negatives I can take away from it but I can also take negatives and put it into positives in the sense of like all right cool like that Font fight I did, I was in the best shape I’ve could have been like, physically I was there like I was in the best shape I have ever been in like I walked into that fight and no injuries whatsoever. I was ready to go, ready to get the fight going and you know again I got caught like but then again I was able to go back in film, study and see what positions that I got caught in, where I did good, where I didn’t do good you know and I got away from my base you know and feet got tripped up, squared up with a guy like Font, can’t do that, especially at this high level,” Yanez said.
“And then someone like Martinez, going into that fight it’s like kind of like the contrasting of the two, in the Font fight [I] did way too much and it put me in a bad result then in the in the Martinez fight, I didn’t do enough and put me in a bad position so taking a look at that, I knew what I had to work on, finding like a happy medium where I’m not overcompensating or not undercompensating,” he continued.
“A lot of things you know and that first kick that f**king Martinez threw like f**king immediately took my leg out. I couldn’t feel it, just was this weird feeling of like my leg just going f**king like felt like blood was coming down my knee,” Yanez recalled.
“I was fighting at a higher level and I just wasn’t doing my homework you know that’s the best way to explain it… Again like my 2023 year absolutely sucked but again it’s going to be the building phase for what I do in 2024,” he pointed out.
A dominant win is expected
Yanez has been feeling good about himself and his training camp. Fueled by his burning desire to taste a victory once again, Yanez emphasized that he would be going for not just a win, but a finish or a dominant one.
“I’m not going to be happy with the fight that is a 30-27 win for me it has to be 30-26, 30-25, 30-24 like like those are the scores I want to hear if I don’t finish him like that’s where my mindsets are… I want him hurting from head to toe and it’s nothing against Vinicius at all, again he’s just the guy on the opposite side,” he vowed.
Thoughts on Holloway’s KO on Gaethje at UFC 300
Yanez was also asked to pick the best knockouts in MMA history. For the bantamweight fighter, Anderson Silva’s KO on Vitor Belfort, Conor McGregor’s quick work of Jose Aldo, Leon Edwards’ head kick on Kamaru Usman and Edson Barboza’s spinning kick KO on Terry Etim are all on his list. However, he agrees that Holloway’s last-second KO on Gaethje is the greatest of them all.
“I guess I had to put Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje at number one just because of the fact that like Justin Gaethje was like non-stop that fight, was trying to do everything he could to win, broken nose, even though like it again like Max Holloway was out there just was piecing him up doing all the right things and staying composed and you know he knew the dangers that Justin posed in those last 10 seconds he was like you know what f**ck it, I’m gonna give you the chance and if I was in Max Holloway’s corner, I’d be telling him, ‘No f**k no, don’t do it … and then like you’re giving like the guy that punches that f**king hard and kick that f**king hard, the chance like again, people don’t understand f**king Gaethje can crack like a motherf**ker and Max Holloway said I don’t give a f**k, I know I’m up. I’m up four rounds to zip right now… I know I’m up f**k it, we’re going for it,” Yanez explained.
Yanez will be looking to end his two-fight losing streak when he steps inside the Octagon with Salvador at UFC Vegas 92 on May 18.
Watch Yanez’s full interview below:
