Miami, FL – Closed mouths don’t get fed as the saying goes and UFC bantamweight Adrian Yanez knows it as he called for Sean O’Malley to fight him if ‘Suga’ doesn’t get the title shot next.
“At the end of the day, I go out there and starch (Rob) Font, tell me why Sean wouldn’t want to take this fight. I know he secured a title fight. He can pretty much wait for a title shot, but if he wants to stay busy,” Yanez told reporters on Wednesday.
“I know we can headline an event easily. I go out there, I starch Font, he’s been looking really good against some good people.”
Yanez (16-3) gave his fellow bantamweight credit for some good victories including one against former champion Petr Yan. O’Malley earned a split-decision victory over Yan at UFC 280 whom Yanez called the ‘Russian version’ of himself.
“I think that would actually make a lot of sense for him, but I know with how the division plays out, I know he’s going to wait for the title fight. Yeah I think that fight (against O’Malley) would be really big. Specially if I do everything that I need to do on my end,” he said.
Adrian Yanez gives his take on stacked bantamweight division: “I’m pretty sure if Aljo’s not the champ, Merab’s going to get the next shot. Even then, it’ll probably be Sean, then Rob.”
“There’s a lot of things going on. For me, I’m happy just actually getting to fight.” #UFC287 pic.twitter.com/LuyEz3EFOB
— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) April 6, 2023
At UFC 287 Yanez will take on UFC veteran Rob Font who comes into Miami with a two-fight losing streak, but with all the respect due to him from the young bantamweight.
“I’m going into this with the mindset of a Marvin Hagler. I’m going in for war. This guy has the never die attitude and he’s going to keep getting up. He’s been hurt multiple times, but he’s never been finished by TKO or Knockout. He keeps coming back and he wants to get the win. He’s fighting tooth and nail,” Yanez said.
“It excited me because as soon as he gets dropped he comes back and looks better the next round. So to me I’m just like I have to be ready. I have to be ready at every second because this guy is going to be non-stop coming forward. You can throw whatever you want at him, but he’s going to keep coming forward.”
A win over Font, specially a finish, would spell big things for Yanez who feels that he’s pretty close to a title shot with a win over the 6th ranked bantamweight.
“Honestly after this fight, let’s just say everything goes the way I want it to and I starch Font, like I kind of have to wait how the division plays out. We got guys who are getting matched up, guys who like were booked, and like man everybody was kind of booked around this time,” Yanez said also pointing out that planning out fights ahead of time doesn’t really work out because of how things can play out differently.
“I got to see how the division plays out. I know I can throw myself in the mix easily if I just start Rob Font.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Adrian Yanez above. He takes on Rob Font on the main card of UFC 287 in Miami, FL.
