Adrian Yanez believes his boxing is up there with Petr Yan.
Yanez is one of the most promising and entertaining prospects in the UFC bantamweight division and is coming off a come-from-behind second-round TKO win over Randy Costa back in July.
In total, he is 3-0 in the UFC with knockouts in all his performances so far. To further showcase how highly-rated he is, Yanez was even called into current champion Aljamain Sterling’s training camp for his fight with Yan before it was eventually called off.
Part of that is likely down to Yanez’s striking ability with many believing Yan to be one of the best boxers in the UFC, if not the best.
Obviously @DustinPoirier understands boxing better than @TheNotoriousMMA 😁 https://t.co/u6oLr7hpN2
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) November 16, 2021
Adrian Yanez: I Have Some Of The Best Boxing At 135 Pounds
With that said, Yanez doesn’t fear Yan’s boxing all that much.
In fact, he even likes his chances in a potential fight with Yan down the line if it’s just a pure boxing contest. However, he acknowledged that getting to the position of being able to challenge “No Mercy” would not be easy whatsoever.
“It just reminds you that this is a division where you have to be dialed in every second,” Yanez told MMA Fighting. “I can’t have that first round [like I had] against Randy against anybody in the top 15 because they’ll take full advantage of it. After going up and training with Aljo, you learn it’s those small mistakes that can cost big, so I had to close those up. I’m not far from it at all. I need to keep working and closing those gaps so when I do get there, it’s super easy for me to take it.
“Even in the Cory Sandhagen vs. Petr Yan fight, when I’m outside observing and looking in, I could see the high levels. I could also see, ‘This is what I would do in this situation.’ From what I’m looking at — my skills against Cory Sandhagen, or Petr Yan — for the boxing’s sake, I like my chances against Petr Yan because I feel like I have some of the best boxing in the 135 division. But they’re all super, super tough fights. Just getting into the top 15, you’re fighting nothing but killers. You don’t have an easy fight when you get there so, of course, they all excite me.”
Nobody can fault Yanez for being confident in his abilities.
And while a Yan vs. Yanez fight would certainly be a guaranteed barnburner, it’s best if we get it in a few years once Yanez has more UFC contests under his belt.