Adrian Yanez’s following seems to have grown immensely heading into his UFC Austin with Tony Kelley.
The bantamweight matchup takes place this Saturday at the Moody Center in the Lone Star State. Following the announcement of the bout, Kelley caused quite a stir on social media due to comments made while cornering Andrea Lee at UFC Vegas 54.
Between rounds, Kelley stated that Lee’s opponent VivianeAraujo was “that’s what they are gonna do.” They are dirty f ******* Brazilians. They will f***ing cheat just like the .”
From there, welterweight Gilbert Burns — along with a slew of Brazilian MMA fans — showed public support for Yanez heading into Saturday’s fight card. Yanez was just a father and was somewhat stunned at the support he received from so many people.
“I didn’t actually post for a couple of weeks, and the same week the fight was made, Andrea was fighting that Saturday,” Yanez told MMA Fighting on Heck of a Morning. My stuff began to explode with a lot of Brazilian flags and a bunch DMs from Brazilian supporters showing their support. It is cool to see that more people are interested in watching me accomplish what I wanted, which was to knock him out.
“It sucks for him on his end, but it is what it is. In the heat of the moment, that guy just went to that pretty quickly. In some capacity, I understand because he’s watching his significant other go in there and fight somebody else. It brings out many emotions. It’s a great feeling to be able to enter the ring and knock him out. I also get twice as many fans watching me, since I had to do it anyway .”
Yanez has won eight straight — including a 4-0 start to his UFC run with finishes of Victor Rodriguez, Gustavo Lopez, and Randy Costa, as well as a hard fought decision win over Davey Grant in his most recent outing.
Although Yanez was puzzled at Kelley’s comments from the corner, it did not add any chips to his shoulders — a lesson he took nearly four years ago.
“It never changed my motivation for a fight, it didn’t change anything,” Yanez said. “I already wanted to go in there and knock him out. I already wanted to go in there and fight him. He had already called me out. You said my name, I’m going to go in there and beat you up. To me, it was just nice to have another big support system, that was cool for me, but it never crossed my mind for it to be more motivation.
“I’m fighting for me [and my family] at the end of each day and that has been my greatest accomplishment in my entire career. Before joining the UFC I had always been fighting for someone else. After my loss to Miles Johns [I realized that], I realized that I must fight for myself. Then, it was all over again.
“It wasn’t enough to motivate me, but I think it will be more rewarding when I knock him out.
Kelley will look to make it three straight wins inside the octagon in his biggest test to date, and is also coming in with a finish over Costa — which he did in his most recent appearance at UFC 269 in December.
For the 28-year-old Texan, he knows he has his hands full with Kelley, but plans to make it a very short night in his first bout as a dad.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a barnburner, but it’s going to end with a KO,” Yanez said. “Whatever he said is what he said, but I do not diminish his skills in any type of a way. He is a strong fighter and an open-minded guy. He is a fighter. Although he’s very good at his job, I think I do it better. I am more strategic and can hit harder. If he can take the shot, it’s the Fight of the Night. He’ll go out for the second round .”
if he fails to take it.
This website uses cookies.