Undefeated featherweight, and Team Alpha Male member, Chad Mendes (10-0) was at the Rogers Centre last Saturday night to watch UFC champ José Aldo defend his title for a third straight time, earning a unanimous decision win over Mark Hominick at UFC 129.
On the day of the weigh-ins, Aldo appeared to be having a rough time with the weight cut at the “Super 7″ event, but had no issues making weight for the bout. Watching from cageside on fight night, Mendes saw some things that surprised him as Aldo appeared to tire after the first few rounds against Hominick, feeling that the weight-cut must have taken much more out of the champ.
Not yet officially announced, UFC President Dana White has already talked about Mendes facing the champ later this summer. For the Team Alpha Male fighter, after watching Aldo’s performance, he told ESPN.com that his confidence level received a boost after this past weekends event.
“The weight cut might have been part of it but I’m sticking with it’s a completely different kind of conditioning when you’re on the ground. His wrestling and grappling conditioning is not the same as his standup conditioning.
“Being explosive on the feet is different than grappling, with the squeezing and pushing and pulling. It’s different on your muscles. We haven’t seen him on the ground a lot and I think that played a part in how tired he looked.”
“I just remember thinking, ‘Wow. This isn’t what I thought it was going to be.’ Honestly, it’s what I wanted to see, though. We haven’t seen anybody get on top of him or him do much grappling.
“That’s really the only place I wanted to see this guy and getting to see it was a huge confidence booster for me.”