Adrian Yanez believes the version of himself that showed up at UFC 329 is only the beginning.
After earning the biggest win of his career with a victory over former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt on Saturday night, Yanez made it clear he isn’t satisfied with simply beating a former titleholder.
“Honestly, this is a better version of me, and we’re expecting more. I’m just getting started. I feel like I’m 21-years-old again, and just learning so much,” Yanez told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“MMA IQ to me has been amazing. Not just physically training, but mentally training. There’s going to be a better version of me next time I step in here.”
With a former UFC champion now on his resume, Yanez believes the rest of the bantamweight division should start paying attention. He says fans have only seen a glimpse of what he’s capable of, insisting there’s plenty more left to unveil as he continues to evolve.
“Division should be scared. The division should be scared, man. I got secret weapons that nobody knows about and we’re just scratching the surface level of my whole round game. I haven’t shown everything, and I’m going to keep a lot of that secret. There’s a lot more to come and I’m getting better every single day,” he said.
“We’re on the path to growing and building.”
Yanez isn’t worried about calling out the next guy just yet. He said all of his focus was on Garbrandt, knowing that overlooking a former champion could’ve cost him the biggest win of his career.
“I don’t have any names. All my attention was on Cody Garbrandt because he’s a former world champ and I had to make sure that’s all I saw in front of me. I was not looking past him because again he came out pretty fast, he put me in a little bit of trouble in those for 20, 30 seconds. If I had a name already lined up, I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of there,” he said.
“I had to make sure he had all my full attention.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Adrian Yanez above.
