Adrian Yanez is an American fighter competing in the bantamweight division of the UFC. Yanez was born in La Porte, Texas, on November 29, 1993. The 29-year-old fighter has had an inspiring journey to the higher ranks in the UFC. One where he showed potential in the very early stages.
Yanez, an American national, was born to his father the late Andy Yanez. Andy was a Golden Glove winner and Adrian was also into boxing in his early days. At the age of 15, Adrian started training for MMA and by 17 he had his first fight. He trained under the late Saul Soliz in Houston. Yanez attributes his success in the MMA world to both his father and his coach.
: Adrian Yanez was overcome with emotion when talking about his late coach, Saul Soliz, after #UFCVegas43 pic.twitter.com/CBgY0Z2VlN
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At the age of 20, Adrian made his professional debut after he went 6-0 in his amateur career with four consecutive TKOs. He won his bantamweight debut on March 14, 2014, against Richard Delfin. However, he lost his very next match against Lewi Mowles on November 14, 2014. The 5 feet 7-inch fighter’s big break came when he defeated Brady Huang in Dana White’s Contender 28 series on August 11, 2020. It earned him a UFC contract.
Adrian Yanez is of Hispanic ethnicity
Houston’s Yanez has come a long way now to hold an impressive record in his career. However, Hispanic fighters were not always at the top in MMA, they have only been becoming successful recently. The success they had historically in boxing, is now being replicated in MMA and Yanez had a great role model to look up to.
“The one fighter that I always looked up to was Cain Velasquez,” Yanez said of the former UFC heavyweight champion, according to UFC. “Just seeing him at the time I was actually training gave me a sense of inspiration because somebody that looks like me is fighting in the UFC.
“And then on top of that, I got to meet him right after he won the belt, and that was pretty cool to me because he wasn’t the biggest heavyweight, he wasn’t the biggest guy, he just beat them all with technique and pure grittiness. And seeing that was a really big inspiration.”
Yanez made his UFC debut on October 31, 2020. He won against Victor Rodriguez via KO (head kick). He also won performance of the night for that night and the next two fights. Yanez defeated Gustavo Lopez via a KO (punch) on March 20, 2021. Yanez was back a few months later to defeat Randy Costa via TKO (punches) on July 24, 2021. After defeating Tony Kelley on June 18, 2022, via a TKO (punches), he held an impressive 16-3 overall record.