LAS VEGAS – Adrian Yanez has been through a lot outside the cage in recent years.
In early 2016, Yanez (15-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) lost his father, his biggest supporter, who died after a battle with cancer. In August 2021, legendary Metro Fight Club head coach Saul Soliz, Yanez’s MMA mentor, died from COVID-19.
When Yanez stepped into the cage Saturday at UFC Fight Night 198, it was the first time in his promotional tenure Soliz was not in his corner. Yanez entered his fight against Davey Grant with the mentality that he’d mourn afterward, so when the final bell rang, the emotional floodgates opened.
“It was just one of those moments where it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks,” Yanez told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the UFC Fight Night 198 post-fight news conference. “I kind of felt like that was going to come, too, this whole entire fight week. Just the whole entire time I was here, I felt it. I was even telling my training partner Cameron (Smotherman) the whole entire time, I was like, ‘I have no time to kind of think about anything. I just have to go and go, go, go. I don’t have time to stop and think about anything.’”
Dealing with life’s adversity has taught Yanez a lot about himself. Saturday was no different. He had to table his emotions and sorrows until the task at hand was complete – and that’s what he did. Yanez won via split decision and for the fourth time in as many UFC fights won a post-fight bonus.
“I’m always learning something about myself in a fight, especially this one with just how the training camp was and how emotional this one was with everything that went on,” Yanez said. “Man, it just kind of solidified that what my coach and what my dad had been telling me, what they told me their entire lives whenever I was with them. They believed in me. They knew I could do this. The fact that I was able to go out there and do it was just one of those moments where I was like, ‘Yeah, I just got to keep believing in myself.’
“Sometimes, it’s kind of hard, especially when you’ve got the guy that brought you up not there for you. You just kind of have those doubts. The fact that I was able to go in there and just shadow all doubts within myself and just go in there and fight, I was able to learn.”
UFC Fight Night 198 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex and streamed on ESPN+.
Pent-up emotions hit Adrian Yanez ‘like a ton of bricks’ after UFC Fight Night 198
