Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and Goze is here.
On Episode 3,479, the fellas talk to UFC on ESPN 59 headliner [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag] and lead play-by-play voice [autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag]. They also previewed Saturday’s event in Denver, discussed PFL Africa and Frans Ngannou, talked Nate Diaz and much more. Tune in!
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and Goze is here.
On Episode 3,478, the guys chat with UFC fighters [autotag]Tabatha Ricci[/autotag] and [autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag]. They also weigh in on Nate Diaz’s boxing win over Jorge Masvidal, and much more. Tune in!
Adrian Yanez would like to fight Daniel Santos or John Castaneda at Noche UFC on Sept. 14.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] wants to honor his Mexican heritage by partaking in the second annual Noche UFC event.
The UFC bantamweight is looking to compete on the card that celebrates Mexican Independence Day, and he already has a couple of names in mind for that potential opportunity.
“Daniel Santos or John Castañeda,” Yanez told MMA Junkie Radio on radio row at UFC X. “That gym has been calling me out, so I would like to take that fight. Also, Daniel Santos because he’s been calling me out.”
Yanez (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) was recently called out by the hot prospect Payton Talbott after his victory at UFC 303. Speaking to MMA Mania, Yanez addressed the callout, saying he’d be down to fight him.
Noche UFC goes down on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas. It’s been a highly requested card to compete in given its venue, which UFC CEO Dana White has hyped up to be one of the greatest combat sports event in history.
“Oh, man. I would do that all day, every day,” Yanez said regarding a potential fight at Noche UFC. “If they gave me the opportunity, I would take that opportunity and run with it. Fight there, so I could be the very first fight … get in, get out and then watch everything else. I don’t know, it would be fun. I would like to.”
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UFC bantamweight Adrian Yanez is willing to work his way back into the top of the division, and knows who he wants to face to get there.
[autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] had a number next to his name, but a recent two-fight skid sent him back to the pool of unranked UFC bantamweights.
After being signed to the promotion from Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020, Yanez (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) looked like one of the best prospects the show ever signed. He ripped through his first five opponents in the UFC, scoring four stoppages, and earned a promotional ranking in the process.
Then came a couple of bumps in the road, or “two wrongs” as Yanez calls it.
First, Rob Font floored Yanez with a right hook in the first round for the first stoppage loss of his career. Six months later, Jonathan Martinez repeatedly chopped away with leg kicks to not only win by TKO but also cause an MCL tear that required surgery to repair.
Yanez fully recovered and returned at UFC Fight Night 241, stopping Vinicius Salvador in the first round with sharp punches. It was a successful return, and another highlight for his reel, but Yanez knows there’s more work to be done before he returns to the rankings.
“I was in the top 15, I lost to two top 15 guys,” Yanez told MMA Junkie Radio. “I have the worker’s mind ethic in my head. Like I did two wrongs, now I got to make three rights. I got to go out there and for every five steps back I take, I got to take 10 steps forward in a sense.
“I felt like I didn’t deserve – especially with a guy like Salvador, like do I deserve to fight a guy who’s in the top 15 after knocking him out? A guy coming up from 125, 0-2 in the UFC, do I deserve to fight a guy in the top 15? I don’t think that really kind of gives me a spot to fight a guy who’s in the top 15. Of course, I went out there and did what I was supposed to do to him. This is me objectively looking at it.”
If Yanez could choose his path, an ideal matchup would be against former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, who has been on a roll since making a permanent move up to bantamweight.
However, Yanez is honest with himself and knows his next matchup will be another name that could create an exciting fight, but will be an opponent currently outside the top 15. Peers such as Daniel Santos and Victor Henry were names at the tip of his tongue, and if he could face either at the Sphere in Las Vegas, that would be icing on the cake.
“If I could weasel my way in and fight Figgy, that’d be f*cking amazing, but I’m also kind of looking at it objectively,” Yanez said.
“Am I going to get a Figgy fight? Probably not. Am I going to get a guy like Jose Aldo? No, I’m not. Am I going to get Petr Yan? No, I’m not. I would like to fight a guy in the top 15, don’t get me wrong. If the name comes up, and it’s a top 15 guy – you’re going to tell me you’ve got a top 15 guy, or you’ve got Daniel Santos or Victor Henry, I’m going to go for the top 15 guy every single time.”
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Adrian Yanez reflects on his difficult 2023 having sapped his two-fight losing streak at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 241.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] has ended the worst stretch in his fighting career, and he couldn’t be happier.
The UFC bantamweight went winless in 2023, getting stopped by Jonathan Martinez and Rob Font in two consecutive bouts. Yanez (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) entered Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 241 determined to get back in the win column, and he did impressively. Yanez stopped Vinicius Salvador (14-7 MMA, 0-3 UFC) with a brutal right hand in the first round of their contest.
“It feels really, really good,” Yanez said at a post-fight news conference, reflecting on his big win. “Last year sucked. I can’t sugar coat it, it sucked for me. It really took a lot out of me, especially with having surgery at the end of the year and having to sit out a bit, and having to sit out with my own thoughts. Sitting on the machine and moving the leg for me, that really sucked, but it kind of made me realize that no one else is going to want it as bad as I do.
“I had to pick myself up by the bootstraps and get myself going. At the end of the day, it’s on me. I put myself in that position. It was my fault. My 2023 year was caused by me, and I have to pull myself out of that. No one else to blame but me and at the end of the day, 2024 right here, we’re five months into it, and I’m finally here. I’m really f*cking excited to get the victory, so yeah, I’m happy.”
Yanez doesn’t want to stop at Saturday’s win. He wants to keep rising in the ranks, and he’s hoping he gets an opportunity to do that at the UFC 306 pay-per-view expected to be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
“I had a couple of guys call me out,” Yanez said. “I know John Castañeda has a really tough fight in front of him, Daniel Marcos. Daniel Santos, though, on the other hand, doesn’t have a fight book, so in The Sphere, I wouldn’t mind that at all. That would be fun. Also, Victor Henry looked really good in his last fight, I think that would be one for the fans. I think the fans would actually love that.
“But all of this to me, it doesn’t matter, it’s all respect except for the two that called me out, so all love. I’m going to go out here and fighter everyone hard, so it is what it is.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.
UFC Fight Night 241 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 241 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $158,500.
The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.
UFC Fight Night 241 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 241 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Edson Barboza[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Khaos Williams[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Carlston Harris[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Themba Gorimbo[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Ramiz Brahimaj[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Vinicius Salvador[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Luana Pinheiro[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Tom Nolan[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Victor Martinez[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Oumar Sy[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tuco Tokkos[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Melissa Gatto[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tamires Vidal[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Warlley Alves[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Ariane Carnelossi[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Piera Rodriguez[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Heili Alateng[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Kleydson Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Vanessa Demopoulos[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Emily Ducote[/autotag]: $4,500
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2411 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $3,264,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $26,001,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.
Adrian Yanez reentered the win column at UFC Fight Night 241 as he quickly overwhelmed Vinicius Salvador with punches.
[autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] reentered the win column with a bang – or a series of them – at UFC Fight Night 241 on Saturday.
In a bantamweight bout on the main card, Yanez (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) finished opponent [autotag]Vinicius Salvador[/autotag] (14-7 MMA, 0-3 UFC with punches for a stoppage at 2:47 of Round 1.
A wicked counter righthand by Yanez marked the beginning of the end for Salvador at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Though Salvador did his best to try to survive, he was unable. Salvador was still conscious at the time of the stoppage, but absorbed too many unanswered blows from Yanez in the opinion of referee Chris Tognoni.
THIS KNOCKDOWN BEFORE THE FINISH FROM ADRIAN YANEZ 😳 #UFCVegas92 pic.twitter.com/1R52do9rED
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 18, 2024
With the win, Yanez snaps a two-fight skid that included TKO defeats to Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez. Salvador loses his third fight in as many UFC tries since he signed with the promotion off Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2022.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 241 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.
Adrian Yanez meets Vinicius Salvador on the UFC Fight Night 241 main card in Las Vegas. Who will stop their losing skid?
[autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] and [autotag]Vinicius Salvador[/autotag] meet Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 241 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
Yanez (16-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Salvador (14-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) meet in an exciting bantamweight scrap. … Yanez will be looking to right the ship after dropping two straight due to stoppages. After being signed to the promotion through Dana White’s Contender Series, Yanez won his first five UFC fights, stopping four of those opponents. … Salvador is also in need of a win, in fact, he’s looking for his first in the UFC. Another DWCS veteran, Salvador ended up on the wrong side of a pair of unanimous decisions to begin his UFC run.
Serving as a solid offering at bantamweight is a fight between Yanez and Salvador. Both men are looking to stop the bleeding of a two-fight losing skid, with Salvador coming up a division to do so.
A savvy southpaw striker, Salvador brings a ton of flamboyant techniques and slick counters to the table. The Brazilian fighter also carries some accolades in judo and jiu-jitsu, but primarily likes to sort things out on the feet.
Yanez, who also has an underrated ground game, will likely oblige Salvador standing.
Although I favor the more proven bantamweight in a firefight, it’s important to note that Yanez is 0-2 against UFC-level southpaws, showing some discomfort defensively and lacking a jab offensively.
I’ll still pick Yanez to win by decision, just don’t be surprised if we end up with a competitive striking fight.
The oddsmakers and the public are favoring the American, listing Yanez (-400) and Salvador (+300) via FanDuel. Yanez has been a favorite in all of his UFC bouts, amassing a record of 5-2. Salvador was a slight favorite in his UFC debut, and then a slight underdog in his second appearance. Both fights took place at flyweight.
As the second fight on the main card, Yanez and Salvador are expected to make their walk to the octagon around 7:40 p.m. ET (4:40 p.m. PT). The fight streams live on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.
For more detailed analysis from Dan Tom, check out his weekly show, “The Protect Ya’ Neck Podcast.”
Adrian Yanez seeks violence at UFC Fight Night 241.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] seeks violence at UFC Fight Night 241.
Yanez (16-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) will look to rebound when he faces [autotag]Vinicius Salvador[/autotag] (14-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) on Saturday’s main card (ESPN+) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Yanez admits it took him a few moments to recognize Salvador’s name. After dropping two straight to Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez, the 30-year-old plans on having a flawless performance.
“I think it’s a fantastic matchup for me,” Yanez told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “All I’ve got to do is keep my base, stay technical, tactful, and just making sure that I make it a beautiful disaster for him – just make sure I hit him, and make sure that whenever I hit him, he feels it.
“I can’t get away from my base because I got away from it one too many times, and I’ve worked on that this whole camp – making sure I’ve got my base. Because again, for me, the way I look at this fight is as long as I stay tight and I stay clean, this should be an easy ‘dub.'”
You can watch the full media day in the video above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.
Adrian Yanez knows his back his against the wall heading into UFC Fight Night 241.
[autotag]Adrian Yanez[/autotag] knows his back his against the wall heading into UFC Fight Night 241.
Yanez (16-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) welcomes Vinicius Salvador to bantamweight on May 18 at the UFC Apex. Both fighters will look to snap two-fight losing skids, and Salvador will be in search of his first octagon win.
The 30-year-old, who was once considered one of the most highly touted prospects in the UFC, admits he was surprised to draw former flyweight Salvador (14-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) and knows he’s in a must-win situation.
“I’m in a do-or-die situation in my head right now, so I just don’t want to have to worry about anything,” Yanez told Bloody Elbow.
Yanez’s losses came by stoppage to ranked contenders Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez. The Martinez loss was a tougher pill to swallow.
“That second one (Martinez), the first kick landed, and boom, f*cked my whole leg up immediately,” Yanez said. “I just felt a whole shock in my leg. I felt warm liquid. It felt like my leg was bleeding for a second. … That second one was a lot harder to get over because I had a lot more time to sit back and soak in it because I had to go do surgery after that fight. It also gave me a change of perspective on a lot of things. In my 2023, I got way too comfortable.
“I was comfortable in the position I was at. I had a ranking next to my name, and I was comfortable. I was like, ‘Ah man, I’m fighting the best. I’m here, I’m so close.’ I let my foot off the gas. I started letting others control what I was doing in camp, and I didn’t really have full control. For that Font fight, I was in the greatest shape I’ve ever been in. The Martinez fight I thought I was mentally good there, but walking out to the cage there was still remnants of that loss beforehand. When I was walking out, it was still playing in the back of my head a bit.”
Yanez recently spent time training with red-hot featherweight [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] (24-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who’s coming off a first-round TKO of Sodiq Yusuff at UFC 300.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5uMrbvJ1JT/
“It got me excited,” Yanez said on training with Lopes. “Like, man, whenever you’re around like-minded people like them that want to get better and always want to train, that put a fire beneath my ass, it reignited my love for the game.”
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