Adrian Yanez says he’s “not happy” with his TKO win performance against Randy Costa, hopes a top-15 opponent is next

Adrian Yanez wasn’t happy with his TKO win over Randy Costa at UFC Vegas 32.

Yanez and Costa opened up the main card in a highly-anticipated bout between two of the brightest prospects at bantamweight. In the first round, it appeared Costa would be the one getting his hand raised as he was jabbing Yanez and landing heavy shots. For the Texan, he says the way Costa fought the first round threw him off.

“Honestly, I expected him to come out fast but he came out completely different than I thought. I thought he was going to kick-orientated just like he usually is,” Yanez said to BJPENN.com. “He’s normally kick-heavy and isn’t so focused on the hands. He ended up having a better jab than I thought like I didn’t even know he had a jab and that surprised me and it caught me off guard.”

In the final minute of the round, Yanez started to find his groove and landed a big body shot which he noticed hurt Costa. Once he got to the corner, his coaches told him the same thing and he flipped the script to become the aggressor.

The advice ended up paying off as Yanez got a second-round TKO victory.

“Once I went back in the corner, I had to calm down a little bit because I was upset about how it went,” Yanez said. “I’m a perfectionist because I expect all my fights to be like me vs. Gustavo where I just shut down my opponent the entire fight. My corner did a good job of calming me down and they told me to go to the body then straight to the head with an uppercut which is what I did.

“I did that and I went to the body, opened his arms, and then went to the head. A lot of people thought it was Randy’s cardio that failed him, but man, it was just a perfectly-timed liver punch and Randy even said the same thing on Twitter,” Yanez continued. “Everyone is dogging on Randy’s cardio but he’s in shape man, it was just me finding my groove and then finding the liver which can shut anyone off. Obviously, it was a good win, but I’m not happy with my performance, not one bit. I’m happy with how the second round went, but I know I’m better and I hold myself to such a high level I shouldn’t be having that first round against anybody.”

With the win, Adrian Yanez improved to 3-0 in the UFC with three knockouts. The hope for the Texan is to face a top-15 opponent but he doesn’t know if he deserves it after his last performance.

“I would like a top-15 guy but after that first round, I don’t know if I deserve it. I’m very harsh on myself but I need to go back and straighten some things out,” Yanez said. “I never looked past Randy so I don’t have a name in mind, so whoever they put in front of me, I’m ready.”

Regardless of the opponent, Yanez says he wants two more fights this year and hopes both are on pay-per-views in front of fans.

“I’m hoping for September, I want to fight as soon as possible. The end of September and hopefully again in November or December,” Yanez concluded.

Who do you want to see Adrian Yanez fight next?