The date was Jan. 15, 2012.
At that point, Junior dos Santos was the best heavyweight on the planet, Anderson Silva was more worried about Chael Sonnen than he was about Chris Weidman, Georges St-Pierre was rehabbing his torn ACL, Frankie Edgar had finally rid himself of Gray Maynard with the belt around his waist, Dominick Cruz was only three months removed from his most recent Octagon appearance and Ronda Rousey’s name was only ever uttered by MMA‘s most avid fans.
Yeah, a lot’s changed since then.
Jose Aldo and his dominance over the UFC’s featherweight division are one of the few constants since that date. Aldo was a mere one day removed from proving himself the victor after a first-round knockout over Team Alpha Male title contender Chad Mendes.
Aldo was obviously the better fighter that night. He would be the better fighter against all future title challengers every other night for the next two years. He was the best then, he is the best now.
Yet, here we are, just nine days away from Aldo’s seventh UFC title defense and Mendes‘ second opportunity to stake his claim for the featherweight throne. Sure, Aldo’s gloves will still be taped in red while Mendes‘ in blue. And just like last time, Aldo vs. Mendes takes place in Rio de Janeiro.
But this one feels different—different for a lot of reasons.
Aldo comes in with three title defenses since his first bout with Mendes took place. He had his hand raised in a close fight with the former UFC lightweight champion, authored a TKO over a wounded Chan Sung Jung and played it relatively safe against Ricardo Lamas. All three bouts were all but a reminder that Aldo was no longer the same guy who stringed together six-straight (T)KO finishes under the WEC banner.
Call it an adjustment to stiffer competition, but one thing was certain: He was different.
Then there’s Mendes, who needed five straight victories and four (T)KO finishes against much-lesser opponents before the UFC would even consider him for another shot at the champ.
Call it an adjustment to weaker competition, but one thing was certain here: Mendes was a much, much better striker than he was when he first stepped into that Octagon inside of the HSBC Arena in Rio at UFC 142. And that was 10 months ago.
He may not be on Aldo’s level of striking just yet, but who knows how much further Mendes‘ standup has come along since then—especially with Duane Ludwig there to put the finishing touches to the skill set he brought to all of Team Alpha Male at the end of 2012.
Rest assured that no matter how highly we all regard Aldo’s striking, he’ll likely walk into that matchup with the same mentality his teammate T.J. Dillashaw had when he fought against Aldo’s teammate Renan Barao.
Aldo’s Nova Uniao may hold the overall record against Team Alpha Male, but Mendes‘ team certainly holds the most recent dominant performance. This might motivate the Brazilian to exact revenge against his Sacramento-based counterpart, but who’s to say this sort of added motivation is a good thing? Aldo could very well walk into the Maracanazinho Gymnasium thirsting for the same sort of knockout finish Dillashaw exacted upon his teammate earlier this year, potentially spelling disaster for either man, really.
And who’s to say Mendes won’t believe in himself even more than he did prior to Dillashaw‘s crowning moment? His teammate broke the seal, it’s Mendes‘ job to open up the floodgate.
Lest we forget how the first fight ended, either.
If not for a very controversial, but very real grab of the fence, Aldo would have had his back against the canvas in that first fight. Who knows how long Mendes would’ve kept him down because, quite frankly, nobody else has done a very good job in doing that. Still, if Aldo doesn’t grab the fence, Mendes ends up on top—likely moving the fight away from the fence where Aldo found the knockout.
Keep your fingers crossed that both fighters keep it clean and fair.
No need to cross your fingers in hopes of an entertaining bout—if the circulating animosity tells us anything, these two have the “entertainment” part covered.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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