Adrian Yanez is not going to backtrack from his recent comments about Sean O’Malley’s UFC resume. In his mind, he was just stating facts on the questionable hype surrounding the fast-rising bantamweight star. A fighter he would relish the opportunity to knock out.
Following Yanez’s win over Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 43, O’Malley took to his Twitter and suggested the idea of a fight with him in March, and the media smartly looked for a response from the other half of the possible matchup. Yanez (15-3) and O’Malley (14-1) are two of the best 135-pound talents outside the top-15, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. How they fight, dress, and especially the way they present themselves in the media are quite different.
Yet on that night, Yanez surprised many when talking about “Sugar” and the UFC resume he felt was undeserving of the hype that surrounds him. The Texan admits now he did not see the actual tweet at first and just assumed because of O’Malley’s reputation for social media trash talk that the post was negative towards him. That doesn’t mean he regrets what he said.
Adrian Yanez is not backing down from his comments on Sean O’Malley’s resume
“Like, I don’t hate Sean O’Malley. Everything I said I’m pretty sure is an easy search and you can just find it. I probably did say it at the post-fight interview with a little bit of, ‘Nah f*ck that guy’ [style],” Yanez told MixedMartialArts.com. “My thoughts immediately after the fight were, ‘I just got done fighting, he’s the guy that likes to make headlines and tries to poke at people.’ I immediately thought it was negative stuff. But after seeing it [and] hearing him say, ‘I think that would be a sick fight’ [days later], I think it would be a sick fight too. Like, 100% I would fight Sean O’Malley.”
Although he realizes he may have been overly aggressive in his response a few weeks ago, he still stands behind the comments. And that O’Malley’s UFC wins over fighters like Eddie Wineland, Thomas Almeida, and Kris Moutinho are not worthy of the credit he receives from some fans. And that his opinion wasn’t trash talk, but just stating the facts of the situation.
“I feel like he hasn’t really fought the toughest of the toughest. He hasn’t fought a Davey Grant if that makes sense. He hasn’t fought a person like that. The closest person was [Marlon Vera], and “Chito” took him out in the first round,” said Yanez. “They’re like, ‘He’s talking sh*t,’ but it’s not really talking sh*t if I’m just stating facts. It might sound like it, but once you actually look back at [his] resume, it’s an easy Google search to find out that what I’m saying is correct. Casual fans who love that stuff will stay his fans, but it’s just gonna bring so much more eyeballs whenever I knock him out.”
Yanez feels “Sugar’s” booking strategy is smart, as long as the end game isn’t UFC titles
“Sugar’s” current career strategy to not risk his value in highly competitive fights until he is paid accordingly has earned supporters and detractors. Yanez calls the decision smart, as long as the goal isn’t to win a UFC title. For him, his plan is to make big money after he wins the bantamweight title. However, he does admit his money situation could change sooner if he got the chance to steal O’Malley’s hype in his next fight.
“I’m not gonna be like, ‘Oh yea, I think he’s stupid.’ No, because he’s smart for taking these guys that are unranked and fighting them for the same amount of money, or more money. Let’s just say he’s getting paid $100,000, he might be okay with fighting a [Raulian] Paiva, who’s coming up from 125 [pounds] and had a controversial decision [win] against Kyler Phillips. And just be like, ‘I can fight this guy for $100,000, or I can fight Merab Dvalishvili for $100,000,’ who you gonna pick? You’re probably gonna pick Paiva,” said Yanez. “The easier fight in my opinion, instead of fighting someone who’s in the top-15 like Merab.
“If his end goal is the belt, just going off of being a fighter, you would fight someone like Merab. Someone like Cody Stamann. Someone like those guys because they’re up there [in the rankings]. … My end goal is I just want the belt, and the money’s gonna be there, because once you get the belt that’s when the money comes too,” he added. “But also hype is a really big thing. I go out there and knock out Sean O’Malley, the payday is gonna come.”
Before a fight could ever be made between Yanez and O’Malley, the 27-year-old has to win his bout next week against Paiva at UFC 269. While Yanez has respect for the talents of the once ranked flyweight, he still considers him a “super winnable” matchup for O’Malley. Especially, since he believes “Sugar” can copy and improve upon the mistakes Phillips made in his razor-thin loss to the Brazilian.
Another victory would make the build for a Yanez vs O’Malley fight easy work for the UFC, and Yanez hopes they can both cash in with the main event spot.
“I think a fight between me and him should be a main event type of deal. It should break the bank for both of us,” he said.
In the full exclusive conversation (in the video at the top of the page) Yanez also spoke to MixedMartialArts.com about his win over Grant, troubles in healing up his badly swollen ear, and why he was very emotional following his fourth straight win in the UFC.
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