One of my favorite fighters to watch. If he had better boxing defense I'd say he's the best boxer in the UFC.
Jabs really well, works the body beautifully, long, crisp punches at range, works off the jab well, good reach, super fast, real power and beautiful tight combinations in the pocket. Even his footwork has looked good and he has knockouts with knees and kicks. He was part of Aljimain Sterlings camp to help him prepare for Yans striking so hopefully his grappling has been developing. Its not hard to believe that when it comes to the strikers Sandhage, O'Malley, Said Nurmagomedov and Chito...Yanez might be able to beat all those guys. He's gotta show us, but his striking is fantastic. He really needs to face better competition and some grapplers though.
Damn. I've seen all his fight since contender series, I didn't realize he had that many! He is must watch TV. The fight vs Paulo Costa's brother was wild
He has good boxing but his level of competition has been low so his boxing shines vs them. He was losing to Costa before Costa gassed. I think he'll lose once he steps up in competition, that's why they aren't rushing him up the rankings and trying to fast track him. Once he gets a live body that will plant their feet and trade with him or pressure him with higher level striking than what's he been matched up with so far, he's going to have issues. If he had better boxing and boxing defense, he probably would be looking at a boxing career instead of an mma career. He reminds of Masvidal, I'm sure they have experience at boxing gyms and chose mma instead of boxing because they figured they would have more success in mma instead of boxing. Boxing is heavy in their culture so it's usually the first choice. For example Masvidal's street fights with Kimbo's protege was him as a boxer.
Yanez vs. Kelly is one of my favorite KO's ever. Yanez hit that dude from every conceivable angle and slumped him multiple times, then Kelly had the nerve to get up and say that he wasn't out. Comedy gold.
Wasn't his dad a boxer and trained him since he was young? It shows imo, both him and Poirier have some of the best boxing imo.
It seems like Yanez stepped up his game after winning against Davey Grant by SD who knocked out Jonathan Martinez and had a competitive bout with Chito Vera. He made short work of Tony Kelley who gave Randy Costa a one-sided beating immediately after his fight with Yanez. Who knows if he might or not become a champion but considering he just debuted in 2020 he is making good progress so far.
He is an amazing prospect with some great ko's but besides Grant who had him quite flustered at times he's really fought the absolute bottom of the barrel the UFC had to offer imo which makes it a lot easier to look good. I'm high on the kid but saying shit like guaranteed champ is just laughable at this point. He's fighting Rob Font next which was surprising when it was official but that's actually a pretty nice stylistic match up for him as far as big step ups go with Rob being almost purely a boxer too. I'll still take Rob in that everything considered.
He's definitely good, I'm not denying his skills. Just don't think he's ready for the top of the division yet because most are strikers. In this highlight clip alone Costa was piecing Yanez up with the jab and boxing before he gassed out. That's how I think it'll play out vs higher level strikers, he is able to shine because most of the fighters he fights, he has the clear striking advantage. People do improve but his boxing to me looks the same in all his fights. Same set-ups, timing, combos, and patterns. He boxes with a certain rhythm and timing. He can't keep up with a higher pace/tempo/intensity and that's why Costa was able to piece him up in the early rounds of their fight. He needs to control the pace and fight with his rhythm. He won't respond well to high volume/intensity and pressure. The Rob Font fight will answer a lot of questions though since Font likes to jab and is a pretty high volume puncher in certain fights. That will be a great test for Yanez and to see if he's at that level.
Costa tends to be pretty strong and sharp early tho. He's like a worse kevin lee in that regard (winning first rounds)
Font is old as dirt and got knocked down like 10 times in his last two fights. If Yanez brutally KO’s him. It’s expected tbh. Fonts resume is pretty weak.
