Chad Mendes
A day after former UFC featherweight title contender Chad ‘Money’ Mendes (13-1) was pulled from the upcoming UFC 157 event card following an injury to opponent Manny Gamburyan, the Team Alpha Male fighter has a new opponent and a new dance partner.
Mendes will reportedly take on ‘The Carpenter’ Clay Guida (30-13) in April as part of the UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Melendez television event in San Jose.
News of the bout surfaced at USAToday.com early Tuesday morning. The news site spoke to Mendes’ manager Mike Roberts about the situation.
“There’s not a huge line of people that want to fight Chad, especially on two weeks’ (notice),” Roberts said. “But Chad is the best – if not, the second best – guy in that weight division, period.
“Chad’s not going to turn anybody down. He believes he can beat anybody.”
UFC on FOX 7 (aka UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Melendez) is expected to take place on April 20, 2013 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The event is headlined by a lightweight title bout between UFC champ Benson Henderson and the final Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez.
The Mendes vs. Guida bout is likely to open the Fox televised main card but has yet to be confirmed by UFC officials.
Mendes has won two straight since suffering his first loss, a first round knockout to division champ Jose Aldo in January 2012. ‘Money’ went on to pick up knockout victories over Cody McKenzie at UFC 148, and against replacement newcomer Yaotzin Meza at UFC on FX 6 last December.
Guida debuted at featherweight last month at the UFC on FOX 6 event, earning a split decision victory against Hatsu Hioki. The victory was ‘The Carpenter’s’ first following back-to-back losses at lightweight. Those defeats came at the hands of Gray Maynard and against Benson Henderson.