Adrian Yanez takes responsibility for knockout loss to Rob Font: 'I got way overconfident'

14/10/2023 18:00

Don't count Adrian Yanez as a fighter who will make excuses for his shortcomings.

A perfect example comes from Yanez's most recent outing, a meeting with Rob Font in April that served as his first UFC loss and the only time he's been finished in his career. While the 29-year-old bantamweight enjoyed a strong start, Font came storming back and ultimately secured a first-round knockout at UFC 287.

As soon as the fight was over, Yanez recognized where he zigged when he should have zagged.

"Honestly, as soon as the referee pulled him off me, I immediately knew," Yanez told MMA Fighting. "I was super coherent. I was there looking, I saw referee, I saw the punches landing, and immediately I was like, 'I f***** it up.' There's no other way to explain it.

"I was so mad. I was yelling at myself. I f***** up. Because I knew I messed up. Because I got away from what I was doing. I knew instantly. I got away from what I was doing, and it cost me dearly. That fight for me would have been pretty much strapping that jet on my back and f****** skyrocketing. I immediately knew."

Looking back now, Yanez realized how his early success against Font backfired when he abandoned his strategy and threw bombs in an attempt to put the veteran away.

Yanez said he's done that a number of times in the past, and it paid off. But Font was the first opponent he faced with that level of experience. Font wasn't just any opponent — he was one of the best bantamweights in the world.

"Here's the thing, I had so much success in that [first] minute, that I immediately was like I'm going into kill mode," Yanez said. "I'm getting him out of here. It felt like everything I threw was landing. Within that first minute, it was like I've got it in the bag. I spoke way too quickly, because whenever that happened, he started landing shots, and immediately I got into what I like to call 'meat head mode.' I went into meat head mode, and I'm like, 'Oh you hit me?' It's almost like I felt disrespected, like I'm beating you up and now you start coming back? Then it just turned into me trying to sit down [on my punches].

"I got way overconfident, way too early. I had so much respect for him all the way up until I started landing shots, and I'm like, 'Bro, I'm getting him out of here.' It took me out of my game plan. If I would have stuck to my game plan, it would have went differently. But I started getting popped and I started getting angry. I started throwing heavy leather."

As broken-hearted as he was about the result, Yanez knew that mistakes like that could have cost him even more if he never fixed those errors. If he'd kept winning, the same scenario might have unfolded in a No. 1 contender's bout — or even a title fight.

By that standard, Yanez can honestly say that losing to Font was probably a best case scenario. He could address those issues before starting his climb back up the bantamweight ranks.

"I consider it a loss, 100 percent, but it was a big learning lesson for me," Yanez said. "There's a switch you have to flip when you get into the top 15. Every other fight, I've been able to get away with it. I got away with it in the Tony Kelley fight. I went nuts, I went crazy. I didn't do it against Davey Grant because he has power. The whole entire time I was like I have to stay on point because if he hits me with a shot, I'm going to sleep. That Randy Costa fight, I was able to snap back and stick to my game plan.

"Every fight before that, I've been on it. I can't go back and get sloppy every single time something happens. As weird as it sounds, I'm kind of glad it happened, because now I flipped the switch."

Following that setback, Yanez didn't really care about who was next for him. More than anything, he just wanted to return to action sooner rather than later.

When he finally got the call for another fight, the promotion offered him a matchup against Jonathan Martinez at UFC Vegas 81. Martinez enters the fight with five straight wins and is one spot ahead of Yanez in the UFC's rankings.

It was a welcome surprise, and an opportunity Yanez won't waste again.

"I was talking to my management team because once I got cleared to train and spar and get contact again, I was hammering them for the longest time to get a fight," Yanez said. "I wanted to get a fight. I knew what my position was. I'm coming off a loss. It was a big jump against the No. 6 guy at the time [in Rob Font], so I knew what position I was in. I don't mind giving another guy a chance to get in the top 15. I don't mind that at all. I can understand my position. I was trying to do the company a solid like I'll fight whoever you want, I do not care because I wanted to fight.

"I was shooting low baskets just so I could get a fight, but then I get a fight against a guy ranked one ahead of me. I was like this is perfect for me. Hopefully go in there, knock him out, get out clean and make a quick turnaround so I can have three fights in a year."