UFC 287: Adrian Yanez motivated by admiration from Jorge Masvidal, Israel Adesanya: 'It's pretty surreal'

Yanez finds himself on the main card of UFC 287 with two fighters he idolized early in his career

Adrian Yanez is getting a lot of attention from fans and colleagues off the strength of five consecutive bonus-earning performances. Yanez finds himself sharing the spotlight with his idols at UFC 287, idols who have in turn become fans of his.

Israel Adesanya challenges Alex Pereira in a rematch for the UFC middleweight championship in Miami on Saturday night, while Jorge Masvidal fights Gilbert Burns in a key welterweight tilt in the co-main event. Earlier in the main card, Yanez fights Rob Font in a contest that could lead him to the bantamweight elite. It's a full-circle moment for Yanez, who shares the blue corner with the strikers that inspired him.

"I remember Izzy's first fight in the UFC. I remember seeing him fight Rob Wilkinson," Yanez told CBS Sports. "I remember watching Jorge's backyard fights with Kimbo Slice... It's cool, man. It's super, super cool because I love Jorge's style. I love 'Gamebred's' style. His head movement, his movement. It's very intelligent what he does in the striking aspect.

"There were beautiful combinations every single time they would engage. I think it was against Jake Elleneberger. It was just a small, little drop back two-three. All technical stuff that at the time that I was coming up, whenever I was watching him that's the stuff I was trying to pull off. There are a lot of things that I took from watching 'Gamebred' that I really liked. I took it and implemented them into what I do. Like the kicks to the body, scooping and sweeping and going hook cross. All of that stuff. Small things that I would take from his game and implement into mine. Honestly, overall I think it's still pretty cool and it's pretty surreal to me because they're people I looked up to."

Check out the full interview with Adrian Yanez below.

Masvidal has publicly proclaimed Yanez as one of his favorite fighters to watch. Adesanya and Yanez have had private conversations about their shared appreciation for each other's styles. It's something that is still difficult for Yanez to comprehend.

"To me, that's f---ing nuts. I'm in the UFC. I'm at where they're at and they're saying they like watching me," Yanez said. "Dude, that's so f---ing cool."

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