Adrian Yanez Ethnicity and Parents: What Happened to UFC Star’s Father?

Dana White’s Contender Series breakout fighter Adrian Yanez is making his return after a tremendous knockout win earlier this year. Scheduled to feature on the main card for UFC Tampa, headlined by Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley, the 30-year-old will butting heads against undefeated bantamweight, Daniel Marcos in his second 2024 outing.

Yanez has spent almost half a decade in the world of MMA, and has since then, racked up an impressive 6-2 record (excluding his DWCS fight). But before he advances in his career with the fight against Marcos this weekend, let’s get to know the 30-year-old on a personal note.

What is Adrian Yanez’s nationality? Where is he from?

Born in the Texan city of Houston, Adrian Yanez grew up over 28 miles away from his birthplace in La Porte. Hence, he’s an American by nationality. In his entire professional career, the ‘H-Town’ native has always represented the United States, but the roots of his ethnicity lie in a neighboring country.

Yes, Adrian Yanez is of Mexican heritage and has even shown his respect to the Mexican culture by expressing his wish to land a spot on UFC’s Mexican Independence Day event in the past. Moreover, just like many other Mexican fighters, Yanez also started training during his teenage years, having entered the cage fighting realm in a competitive fight at 17 years old.

However, there is a little influence that went on which affected the Houston native to venture into combat sports. If you’re wondering what or who that influence is, well, it’s none other than Adrian Yanez’s father. Let’s take a look at that front.

All we know about UFC’s Adrian Yanez’s parents

Mixed martial arts wasn’t Adrian Yanez’s first choice for his combat sports venture; it was actually boxing. When he started training at 15 years old, he trained in boxing, especially because his father, Andres Yanez, was a Golden Gloves winner. “We were watching all [of the boxing greats] fights. It was always something that piqued my interest,” the bantamweight fighter told ‘MMA Junkie’. However, he’d later start training at an MMA jumbled, where he just happened to stumble upon. Since then, there has been no turning back for Yanez.

Meanwhile, there’s not much information about Yanez’s mother, but the only thing that some sources claim is that she was a Mexican immigrant. She did not have anything easy either, as the UFC fighter’s father had met with some health issues. Despite these hurdles, Adrian Yanez has always found support in his family, especially his father, who always kept him motivated.

“My dad was a hard-working man. My dad was always working. He always provided for my family. Just to see my dad grinding on a day-to-day basis and just physically seeing the man work a hard labor job. The guy never complained. He never complained once,” Adria Yanez further stated.

From working as a meter reader in the city of Deer Park to the UFC, Adrian Yanez has had quite the journey. However, he had an uneventful 2023 before he bounced back with a win earlier this year. But can he close the year with another win on the trot? Let us know in the comments down below.