Chad Mendes has to travel to Brazil this week, once more, to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship.
You remember the last time Mendes made the journey? It ended with Mendes attempting to get his bearings in the cage while Aldo celebrated in the stands with his fans. And while nobody likes to face an opponent on their home soil—especially in Brazil, where hometown fighters seem to have a mythical edge—Mendes will do it one more time on Saturday night at UFC 179.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The rematch between Aldo and Mendes was originally scheduled for UFC 176 in Los Angeles, which is a whole heck of a lot closer to home for Mendes than Rio. But then Aldo was injured and UFC 176 was thrown on the scrap heap. And when the dust cleared, Mendes once again found himself preparing to go into enemy territory.
This time, Mendes has a unique opportunity. Yes, Aldo’s championship belt is at stake, and I suppose that’s an important thing to remember. Having failed once to wrest control of the title away from Aldo, it is hard to imagine Mendes getting a third opportunity should Saturday night not go his way.
But perhaps even more interesting is this: If Mendes wins, all UFC championship belts will be in the hands of American fighters.
It is an interesting footnote. Perhaps it is meaningless. Perhaps it is not. There was a time, after all, when non-American fighters held the lion’s share of UFC title belts. Brazil, the spiritual birthplace of mixed martial arts, boasted champions up and down the roster.
But today, Junior dos Santos has been replaced by Cain Velasquez, who is billed as Mexican American (and will fight in Mexico City next month) but barely speaks Spanish. Anderson Silva by Chris Weidman. Georges St-Pierre by Johny Hendricks. Renan Barao by T.J. Dillashaw. Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and Ronda Rousey seem unlikely to fall any time soon.
But what of those Americans? A pervading theory about the popularity of mixed martial artists is that American fans had few champions to connect with, or at least few American champions. Randy Couture, Mr. America himself, was exceedingly popular because he was just so, well, American. Silva eventually broke through the glass ceiling because of his otherworldly skills. St-Pierre was one of the most popular fighters in the history of the sport.
But Machida and Aldo and other terrific fighters? We thought they couldn’t connect with the North American pay-per-view audience because they couldn’t speak English, or because they couldn’t relate, or because of a bunch of other reasons we made up in our head. Turns out these probably weren’t the real reasons at all. Because the truth is that charisma and stardom—perceived or real—attract attention.
It isn’t nationality, and it is not the language you speak. One look at Conor McGregor‘s swift rise to fame tells you all you need to know about what works and what does not. Your skill level as a fighter will help you get noticed by UFC brass. It will help extend your career.
But the real attention, and the real money, come when you are able to sell yourself to fans, to convince them that you are worth paying for. And this is the crucial thing 90 percent of the UFC roster forgets. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva absolutely loves it when fighters make his job easy, when they ask for fights instead of telling Joe Rogan they’ll fight anyone the UFC wants. This is why Rogan asks the question: To get a real answer. It is an intentional question, and it is asked after every single fight for a reason.
And yet most fighters don’t recognize the opportunity they are being handed.
Mendes has developed a bit of an edge. He’s talking a lot more trash about Aldo this time around. He is willingly promoting his fight. Is it enough to help him become a featherweight superstar with the North American audience?
Perhaps. Mendes is as American as they come. He loves trucks and guns and camouflage, and he knocks people out. If he beats Aldo, he stands a real chance of doing what Aldo—despite his prodigious skill as a fighter—has never been able to do: Become a marquee attraction at 145 pounds.
But even if Mendes beats Aldo, he’ll do well to remember that his promotional work is not over just because Aldo is in his rear-view mirror. The winner will likely face McGregor in his next title defense, and the Irishman will make their job easy, because that is what he does.
But even past McGregor, down the line, they must remember the one thing the rest of the current American champions must remember: Being American is not enough. Speaking English is not enough. And soundly beating your opponents is rarely enough. The UFC’s continued global expansion means fight cards and fighters meld together.
It is hard for fans to keep track of who’s who. It is even more difficult to make them remember you when you refuse to help yourself stand out.
Mendes may win the title on Saturday night. The notion of Americans holding all UFC belts—once considered almost impossible—may come to fruition.
But unless Mendes (if he wins, of course) and the rest of the American champions realize there is much more to the fight game than the actual fighting, they’ll suffer from the same lack of public interest as their non-American counterparts.
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