UFC Vegas 43 Bonuses: Yanez & Grant Rewarded For FOTN

UFC Vegas 43The UFC Vegas 43 bonuses last night came as no surprise. Adrian Yanez and Davey Grant put on a striking clinic in their bantamweight fight to open the main card and was deservedly the fight of the night as Yanez won a close one via Split Decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28). In what was undoubtedly the […]

UFC Vegas 43

The UFC Vegas 43 bonuses last night came as no surprise. Adrian Yanez and Davey Grant put on a striking clinic in their bantamweight fight to open the main card and was deservedly the fight of the night as Yanez won a close one via Split Decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28).

In what was undoubtedly the performance of the night, Taila Santos put on the rear naked choke and tapped out Joanne Wood in a Women’s Flyweight fight in the middle of the main card. It was the most impressive performance for the 10th ranked Santos, tapping out the 5th ranked Wood. Santos will take a major jump in the rankings this week after such an impressive performance.

All 3 fighters took home an extra $50,000 for their performances.

Other noteworthy performances last night included Ketlen Vieira’s Unanimous Decision victory over Miesha Tate in the main event. Welterweight Sean Brady got the biggest win of his career, extending his record to 15-0 and 5-0 in the UFC by out grappling the 6th ranked Michael Chiesa. Expect to see Brady move into the top 10 this week.

How did you like UFC Vegas 43 last night?

Sean O’Malley Says He Wants To Fight Adrian Yanez In March

Sean O’Malley has his eyes on UFC bantamweight rising star Adrian Yanez.

Yanez made it eight wins on the trot by defeating Davey Grant via split decision at UFC Vegas 43 on Saturday. The Fight of the Night performance was the first time Yanez has g…

Sean O'Malley Yanez

Sean O’Malley has his eyes on UFC bantamweight rising star Adrian Yanez.

Yanez made it eight wins on the trot by defeating Davey Grant via split decision at UFC Vegas 43 on Saturday. The Fight of the Night performance was the first time Yanez has gone the distance in the UFC, having claimed four KO victories since entering the promotion via Dana White’s Contender Series in August last year.

Adrian Yanez Davey Grant
PHOTO: MMA FIGHTING

And it appears the eyes of many, including one of the bantamweight division’s biggest stars, were on Yanez. Following his victory, Sean O’Malley sent out a cryptic tweet declaring his intention to step into the octagon in March—a prospect that will entail a short turnaround given “Suga” is set to face Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 on December 11.

“March,” tweeted O’Malley.

O’Malley, the self-proclaimed “face of the fight game,” has of course one of the largest social media followings in all of MMA. And among the teeming masses following his every musing on Twitter appears to be Aljamain Sterling.

The bantamweight champ, who was cageside at UFC Vegas 43 and even personally congratulated Yanez, took time out to glance at his phone during proceedings, and fire off a reply to O’Malley.

“Who you Trynna fight, champ?” tweeted Sterling.

When “Suga” sends out a tweet, you can typically expect no more than a few words. And his response to the champ was no different.

“Yanez, champ,” tweeted O’Malley.

Despite looming over the UFC as one of its biggest rising stars, “Suga” is yet to crack the bantamweight division’s top 15. The 27-year-old is 5-1 in the promotion, having most recently defeated Thomas Almeida and Kris Moutinho.

What do you think? Is Sean O’Malley the right matchup for Adrian Yanez?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Says He Wants To Fight Adrian Yanez In March at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley Wants To Fight UFC Vegas 43 Winner Adrian Yanez

Sean O'MalleySean O’Malley wants to fight one of the big winners from UFC Vegas 43. Adrian Yanez picked up the biggest win of his career last night after three hard rounds with ‘Dangerous’ Davey Grant. It was a close fight that earned both men an extra $50,000 in bonus money. While watching Yanez pick up a […]

Sean O'Malley

Sean O’Malley wants to fight one of the big winners from UFC Vegas 43.

Adrian Yanez picked up the biggest win of his career last night after three hard rounds with ‘Dangerous’ Davey Grant. It was a close fight that earned both men an extra $50,000 in bonus money.

While watching Yanez pick up a split decision win, ‘Suga’ sent out a cryptic tweet that suggested he wants to face the rising bantamweight prospect next year. O’Malley later confirmed that is Yanez he wants to fight in the first quarter of 2022.

Adrian Yanez Calls Out Sean O’Malley For Cherry Picking His Opponents

“Yeah, I would definitely fight Sean O’Malley,” Yanez said at the UFC Vegas 43 post-fight press conference. “Right now he says he wants to get a ranked opponent and all that stuff but he’s dodging all these other ranked opponents. Let’s dive into that one right quick.

“So, Sean O’Malley says, ‘OK, let me go out there and let me fight a top-ranked opponent.’ But then he gets Thomas Almeida, who was on the shelf for a couple years. Then he gets on a (losing) streak and he knocks him out. But it takes him three rounds to do it against the guy that is coming off the coach (Kris Moutinho). Talk about that. And then also, Eddie Wineland, who was also kind of just like off the couch for a long time, already at the tail-end of his career. (He) knocks him out. OK, cool. That kind of doesn’t really get no brownie points from me.”

Yanez believes his win over Grant is better than any of O’Malley’s.

“If you go out there and starch someone like Davey Grant,” Yanez said. “… Davey Grant can take a shot. He can take a hard shot. Man, if you go against someone who is a fighter like Chito. If you go against someone like Chito, and then he goes out there and just kind of plays with him and toys with him and knocks him out on the ground. I don’t know. There’s ups and downs with that, man. Then also, too, whenever he fought Kris Moutinho, he had the chance to fight a guy, who I think was ranked at the time, Ricky Simon. He had the chance to fight him but then doesn’t fight him. I don’t know. Something, I don’t know. But also, I’d be down to fight him. I don’t care. They’d have to pay me more. He’s always about the money. I am about the money, too, because I’ve got a family to feed.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)

O’Malley has work to do before he can even think about a fight with Yanez. ‘Suga’ will square off against #15 ranked bantamweight Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 on December 11.

Do you want to see Sean O’Malley vs. Adrian Yanez?

EXCLUSIVE | Adrian Yanez Believes Sean O’Malley Has ‘Cherry-Picked Super Comfortable’ Fights

Adrian YanezUFC bantamweight contender, Adrian Yanez has given his thoughts on the recent surge of polarizing striker, Sean O’Malley — claiming that the Montana native has enjoyed almost flawless success recently, by way of picking quite comfortable fights for himself stylistically. Yanez, akin to O’Malley, is a product of Dana White‘s Contender Series — debuting in the organization […]

Adrian Yanez

UFC bantamweight contender, Adrian Yanez has given his thoughts on the recent surge of polarizing striker, Sean O’Malley — claiming that the Montana native has enjoyed almost flawless success recently, by way of picking quite comfortable fights for himself stylistically.

Yanez, akin to O’Malley, is a product of Dana White‘s Contender Series — debuting in the organization back in October of last year scoring a stunning high kick knockout victory over Victor Rodriguez. 

The Texan has managed to lodge three straight knockout wins during his year UFC tenure, earning Performance of the Night bonuses in each of his Octagon walks. Most recently, the 27-year-old met with fellow fan favorite, Randy Costa at UFC Vegas 32 in July, rallying to lodge a second round knockout success.

Yanez, a staple of Metro Fight Club, is slated to make his fourth Octagon appearance in November at UFC Fight Night 198 — taking on Davey Grant, with the pair hoping to crack the bantamweight top-15 with a victory.

Speaking with LowKick MMA reporter, Jordan Ellis ahead of his matchup with Grant, Yanez touched on the rise of the above-mentioned, O’Malley — pointing out how the striker has managed to make a steady ascension toward the rankings, by more or less “cherry-picking” his opponents.

See, what I think Sean O’Malley is doing is smart, but at the same time, he’s picked all of the right fights for the right time for him,” Adrian Yanez said. “But also those guys — he has some really super favorable fights. Like, I’m not like, looking for the guy who’s coming off the couch in like four years in Eddie Wineland just so I can knock him out in his first comeback fight. And then get another guy who was already on a losing streak in Thomas Almeida, who’s already been away from the fight game for a couple years, comes back and gets knocked out by Sean O’Malley.

No disrespect to (Louis) Smolka but stylistically, I don’t think that was a good fight for Smolka, ’cause I definitely think O’Malley was gonna be able to — like, those type of fights to me, were super favorable. He was probably like a -500 (favorite) for a lot of those fights, like I don’t want any of those fights.

Approaching his fourth contest under the UFC’s banner, Yanez has stressed that he does not want to find himself sharing the Octagon with the same type of fighter O’Malley has. 

I definitely wanna fight and I definitely wanna have those tough opponents,” Adrian Yanez explained. “I don’t want the easy route of having those fights being picked, those — to me those are cherry-picked fights for Sean, but at the same time, he’s being smart in his business decision. He’s doing it ’cause he wants the most money. … It’s smart, but if you’re an absolute fight fan, you don’t like it, you don’t respect it. Like, if you’re a fighter’s fighter, you don’t care (about opponents).

For O’Malley, the striker is on the cusp of bantamweight rankings as well, and is currently booked to feature at UFC 269 on December 11. — taking on the #15 ranked contender, Raulian Paiva.

In regards to Yanez’s comments, O’Malley hit the headlines last month, detailing how when it comes to fighting contenders, he receives the exact same money based on his current contract for fighting an unranked opponent, as he would if he contended against the #1 ranked former champion, Petr Yan.

Do you agree with Adrian Yanez? Is Sean O’Malley cherry-picking his opponents?

EXCLUSIVE | Adrian Yanez Shuts Down Aljamain Sterling Retirement Talk

Adrian YanezAdrian Yanez is “100 percent” confident that Aljamain Sterling will return to the Octagon in the near future after recently training with the UFC bantamweight champion. Yanez, one of the fastest rising stars at 135lbs, traveled to New York to get some mat time in with ‘The Funk Master’ and a bunch of other elite-level […]

Adrian Yanez

Adrian Yanez is “100 percent” confident that Aljamain Sterling will return to the Octagon in the near future after recently training with the UFC bantamweight champion.

Yanez, one of the fastest rising stars at 135lbs, traveled to New York to get some mat time in with ‘The Funk Master’ and a bunch of other elite-level fighters who train under Matt Serra and Ray Longo.

“It was really fun, man,” Yanez told LowKickMMA of his time training in New York. “Like, I learned a lot from Aljo (Aljamain Sterling) just from being out there and just from seeing all the high-level guys that were over there. It was really phenomenal to see and just being able to pick apart and see what I can add to my game and also what I add to my training camp.”

Sterling was due to make the first defence of his bantamweight strap at UFC 267 on October 30. However, lingering issues relating to a recent neck surgery forced the champion out of his eagerly-anticipated rematch with Petr Yan who will now face Cory Sandhagen for an interim title later this month.

During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, TJ Dillashaw cast doubt on Sterling’s fighting future. The former two-time bantamweight champion expressed his view that Sterling will not be able to fight again after his neck surgery and also said the 32-year-old is simply holding onto the title for as long as he can before announcing his inevitable retirement.

Yanez was quick to pour cold water on Dillashaw’s theory after sparring with the champ.

“Absolutely, 100 percent,” Yanez said when asked if he expects Sterling to fight again. “He’s definitely going to be back. Honestly, I am really health first and just to be able to see him and how important he treats everything for himself, it’s really good. I was really impressed.”

“He is definitely going to be back,” Yanez added. “Even after just moving around with him on the Wednesday. He told me his schedule and how he was doing it, how everything kind of planned out. Like, the week before, he did almost no training, kind of took the time just resting, went with the doctors, and all that stuff. He literally almost didn’t train for about a week and then he comes back, and he feels better. And whenever I moved around with him, he’s like (nods). Oh, he’s feeling a lot better. Just the fact that the UFC and the doctors didn’t let him fight. Honestly, it is better for him to take the time off anyway ‘cause it’s your neck, man. You’ve got the nerves, man. It can be really bad if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Do you think Adrian Yanez is right? Is Aljamain Sterling definitely going to return to the Octagon?

EXCLUSIVE | Adrian Yanez Plans To KO Davey Grant, Earn POTN Bonus At UFC Vegas 43

Adrian YanezAdrian Yanez has a very clear picture of how his next fight will play out. The 27-year-old is set to square off against Davey Grant on November 20 at UFC Vegas 43. Ahead of the bantamweight bout, Yanez sat down with LowKickMMA to talk about his English opponent. “I’ll say he’s a formidable opponent. He’s […]

Adrian Yanez

Adrian Yanez has a very clear picture of how his next fight will play out.

The 27-year-old is set to square off against Davey Grant on November 20 at UFC Vegas 43. Ahead of the bantamweight bout, Yanez sat down with LowKickMMA to talk about his English opponent.

“I’ll say he’s a formidable opponent. He’s one of those guys that’s kind of come across the cage, tries to take your head off the whole entire time and he’s going to have a smile doing it,” Yanez said. “I absolutely love it because you get two guys who have respect for other opponents in the cage and that usually ends up being the banger of the fight

“This Davey Grant fight, it excites me because I know that he’s going to bring it and he’s not shy about what he’s going to do,” Yanez added. “He’s trying to take your head off. He’s going to try and take your arm home. He’s going to try and do all he can but you know that’s up to me to stop him. I have to go out there and stop him. Be clean, be technical the whole entire time and not give him an inch.”

Grant is renowned for his toughness and has never been stopped via strikes. On November 20 Yanez plans to be the first man to KO/TKO the County Durham native and says if he does that he will 100 percent have earned a Performance of the Night bonus.

“I’m telling you right now, he’s hard to finish, but if I finish him, I deserve 50 GS. I’m saying that right now, I finish him. I get the 50 GS for being the first man to stop Davey Grant (with strikes). I do believe I possess the power and I do believe I possess the technique to be able to get him out of there. You know, second, third round, that’s what I’m thinking.”

Do you think Adrian Yanez will be able to KO Davey Grant on November 20?