5 reasons why Adrian Yanez could bring an end to Sean O'Malley's hype train

#4. Adrian Yanez's answer to the jab

Like any longer-limbed fighter, Sean O'Malley makes consistent use of his jab as a distance management tool. His jab is powerful, and because of his height and length, he is able to use it to keep his opponents on the outside, stinging them when they dare step forward.

The counter he often encounters when jabbing his opponents is the calf kick. While it is an effective counter, it is difficult to land on O'Malley given his preferred range. 'Sugar' uses his height and reach to stand just outside his opponent's kicking range, causing them to miss many of their leg strikes.

Adrian Yanez draws inspiration from the great Alexander Volkanovski when fighting taller fighters intent on jabbing him on the outside. He makes a point to interrupt his opponents, preventing them from building off of their own jab while also answering every single one of their strikes with one of his own. This prevents his foes from outlanding him and settling into a rhythm.

Doing so would essentially neutralize the threat of O'Malley's lead hand, as he'd be stung in the face by Adrian Yanez's jab every single time he throws his. The Texan used this approach to great effect against the taller and longer Randy Costa at the UFC on ESPN: Cory Sandhagen vs. TJ Dillashaw.

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#3. Adrian Yanez's layered offense & defense

As previously mentioned, Adrian Yanez parries his opponents' kicks very intelligently. He either parries them all the way across himself, allowing him to step in at an angle from which he can land thunderous counters, or he parries them at his mid-line and leaps in with punches to the head and midsection.

When Yanez combines this with his instinct to jab his opponents, his approach proves difficult to handle, even for fighters of Sean O'Malley's ilk. 'Sugar's effectiveness as a striker depends on the use of distance to frustrate his opponents and variety to overwhelm them. A large chunk of that variety involves kicking and feinting at range.

However, against Adrian Yanez, who could neutralize his variety by countering his kicks and challenging his distance management, O'Malley might not be able to force his opponent into a purely reactive state like he often does. Instead, because of Yanez's parries, counters, and jab-interruptions, O'Malley could himself be forced into a position where he must react to what his opponent is doing.

This could create openings for Adrian Yanez's devastating counter-punches and low kicks, as he'll slip them in through gaps O'Malley is not accustomed to.