Tag: Chad Mendes

UFC 164 Danavlog: Anthony Pettis Gets Pep Talk From the Boss, Josh Barnett Gives Props to Frank Mir and Much More

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Because there’s another fight to promote this week (tonight’s UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil), Dana White has released another of his behind-the-scenes video blogs. This one looks back on UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis and lets fans in on some fascinating moments. Other than the first part of the vlog, where Dana chats with the Harley Davidson guys about customizing a motorcycle — skip past that stuff, trust us — this episode is low on fluff and big on intimate moments with the fighters who bled for us in Milwaukee. Some highlights…

0:00: If you can’t read backwards-English, the painting behind Dana says “Pay Attention Mother Fuckers.” Truly a man of pristine taste, this Mr. White.

1:40: “This is Fred Durst’s bike.” Wow. morganfreeman.gif

2:03: The camera locks on Ryan Couture backstage after his loss to Al Iaquinta, trying very hard to keep it together. This is the first of many glimpses at the often devastatingly quiet moments losing fighters on the card endured immediately after their fights. Always a bummer.

2:25: Matt Serra shows up to provide some much-needed comic relief, calling Dana White fat and saying Dana should stay dressed in slimming black until he “looks like Lorenzo Fertitta.” It should be noted that Serra, a former welterweight champion, probably weighs like 275 pounds at this point.

4:02: Ben Rothwell celebrates his win over Brandon Vera, unaware that he’s about to get suspended for nine months.


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Because there’s another fight to promote this week (tonight’s UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil), Dana White has released another of his behind-the-scenes video blogs. This one looks back on UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis and lets fans in on some fascinating moments. Other than the first part of the vlog, where Dana chats with the Harley Davidson guys about customizing a motorcycle — skip past that stuff, trust us — this episode is low on fluff and big on intimate moments with the fighters who bled for us in Milwaukee. Some highlights…

0:00: If you can’t read backwards-English, the painting behind Dana says “Pay Attention Mother Fuckers.” Truly a man of pristine taste, this Mr. White.

1:40: “This is Fred Durst’s bike.” Wow. morganfreeman.gif

2:03: The camera locks on Ryan Couture backstage after his loss to Al Iaquinta, trying very hard to keep it together. This is the first of many glimpses at the often devastatingly quiet moments losing fighters on the card endured immediately after their fights. Always a bummer.

2:25: Matt Serra shows up to provide some much-needed comic relief, calling Dana White fat and saying Dana should stay dressed in slimming black until he “looks like Lorenzo Fertitta.” It should be noted that Serra, a former welterweight champion, probably weighs like 275 pounds at this point.

4:02: Ben Rothwell celebrates his win over Brandon Vera, unaware that he’s about to get suspended for nine months.

4:12: An emotionally shattered Clay Guida gets tended to backstage, before checking in with Chad Mendes, the man who just TKO’d him. Both fighters are gracious with each other before Guida walks off, but when the camera pans back to Mendes, it seems as if the Carpenter’s heartbreak has sapped some of the joy out of Mendes’s win.

4:43: Frank Mir‘s dad calls “BULLSHIT!” after Mir is TKO’d by Josh Barnett in the co-main event. Greg Jackson is as silent and motionless as a statue, standing with his arms frozen in the air — the universal symbol for “you fuckin’ kidding me, ref?”

5:12: Mir and Barnett cross paths backstage, and share a moment of candid discussion before going their separate ways. Mir thanks Barnett for the fight, and Barnett says “Thanks for actually asking for it. I think you’re the only person…in history who’s ever been like, ‘Yeah, I want to fight him.’” Barnett greets and shows respect to Mir’s father and cornermen.

5:35: Barnett breaks down his finish of Mir in great and lucid detail to someone out of the frame. He says that he could feel Mir breaking down and knew it was “time to kill.”

6:22: Beltless and nursing his damaged arm, Benson Henderson is consoled by his coach. So many feels, man.

6:54: Dana White congratulates new lightweight champion Anthony Pettis after his shocking submission win over Benson Henderson. Dana seems amazed at what Pettis has done, and gives him a mini-pep talk that includes an ominous warning about the title belt he now possesses: “You have no idea. Watch now. That thing makes all the fucking difference in the world. Trust me. Now that you’ve got that, you’re never gonna want to let go of it. Watch how everything fucking changes now. Trust me.”

– Elias Cepeda

Chad Mendes Shows off His Crazy Athleticism with Push-Up Tricks

Chad Mendes has really strong arms. He recently showed that off in the Octagon by knocking out the steely-chinned Clay Guida for the first time in his MMA career with some deadly-accurate punches. 
Out of the cage, he apparently spends his time do…

Chad Mendes has really strong arms. He recently showed that off in the Octagon by knocking out the steely-chinned Clay Guida for the first time in his MMA career with some deadly-accurate punches. 

Out of the cage, he apparently spends his time doing creative push-ups. 

Showing off to TMZ, Mendes busted some impressive moves. You can see the full video here.

Clap behind the back? A full barrel roll? Then pushing himself back to his feet and finishing with a back flip? Capping everything off with a random (but always nice) Carlos Condit appearance?

The video is a not-so-subtle plug for his recently-announced bout with Nik Lentz. The two will face off at the super-stacked UFC on Fox 9 event on December 14 in Sacramento, California. Mendes fights out of Sacramento along with the rest of his camp, Team Alpha Male.

Mendes is on an impressive four-fight winning streak over Cody McKenzie, Yaotzin Meza, Darren Elkins and Clay Guida. All four of those wins came by way of knockout.

Mendes is hoping a win over Lentz, who is 3-0 as a featherweight in the UFC with wins over Eiji Mitsuoka, Diego Nunes and Hacran Dias, will be good enough to earn him a title shot. Mendes fought current featherweight champion Jose Aldo in 2012 at UFC 142. He lost via shocking knockout, but has never fallen far from the top of the division. 

UFC on Fox 9 is headlined by a lightweight title bout between Anthony Pettis and Josh Thomson. Stick with Bleacher Report for more details on the card as they become available.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Booking Update: Barnett vs. Browne Added to UFC 168, Mendes vs. Lentz Confirmed for UFC on FOX 9


(One of these days, Josh Barnett is going to choke to death on a peanut in a room full of people, and nobody will realize what’s going on until it’s too late. Everyone will just think, “There’s good ol’ Josh, threatening our lives again.” / Photo via Getty)

A clash between two top heavyweights has been added to the year-end blowout of UFC 168: Silva vs. Weidman (December 28th, Las Vegas). Sources close to the UFC have informed the Las Vegas Review Journal that crowd-pleasing veteran Josh Barnett will take on dangerous contender Travis Browne.

Both men are on two-fight win streaks, with Barnett most recently TKO’ing Frank Mir during his UFC homecoming last month at UFC 164, and Browne coming off his first-round knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga and Alistair Overeem. The winner of this fight immediately stakes a claim to UFC heavyweight title contendership, assuming that the promotion won’t just have Velasquez and Dos Santos fight each other over and over and over again, forever.

Even though Barnett is just four years older than Browne, the two heavies represent a generational clash of the sport’s modern eras. Will Barnett big-brother the less-experienced Hapa, or will Browne’s new-school approach win the day?

In other booking news…

Ever since his unsuccessful featherweight title challenge against Jose Aldo in January 2012, Chad Mendes has been on a killing spree, scoring first-round stoppages of Cody McKenzie, Yaotzin Meza, and Darren Elkins, before upping the level of difficulty with a brilliant third-round TKO of Clay Guida last month at UFC 164. One more impressive win could earn the Team Alpha Male product another shot at the 145-pound belt, and he now has an opportunity to do just that.


(One of these days, Josh Barnett is going to choke to death on a peanut in a room full of people, and nobody will realize what’s going on until it’s too late. Everyone will just think, “There’s good ol’ Josh, threatening our lives again.” / Photo via Getty)

A clash between two top heavyweights has been added to the year-end blowout of UFC 168: Silva vs. Weidman (December 28th, Las Vegas). Sources close to the UFC have informed the Las Vegas Review Journal that crowd-pleasing veteran Josh Barnett will take on dangerous contender Travis Browne.

Both men are on two-fight win streaks, with Barnett most recently TKO’ing Frank Mir during his UFC homecoming last month at UFC 164, and Browne coming off his first-round knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga and Alistair Overeem. The winner of this fight immediately stakes a claim to UFC heavyweight title contendership, assuming that the promotion won’t just have Velasquez and Dos Santos fight each other over and over and over again, forever.

Even though Barnett is just four years older than Browne, the two heavies represent a generational clash of the sport’s modern eras. Will Barnett big-brother the less-experienced Hapa, or will Browne’s new-school approach win the day?

In other booking news…

Ever since his unsuccessful featherweight title challenge against Jose Aldo in January 2012, Chad Mendes has been on a killing spree, scoring first-round stoppages of Cody McKenzie, Yaotzin Meza, and Darren Elkins, before upping the level of difficulty with a brilliant third-round TKO of Clay Guida last month at UFC 164. One more impressive win could earn the Team Alpha Male product another shot at the 145-pound belt, and he now has an opportunity to do just that.

FOX Sports’s Mike Chiappetta has confirmed that Mendes will face Nik Lentz at the quickly expanding UFC on FOX 9 event, December 14th in Sacramento. Lentz was originally supposed to meet Dennis Bermudez at UFC Fight for the Troops 3 in November, but he was pulled in favor of a bigger fight, and Bermudez will now take on Steven Siler on the 11/6 card.

Lentz has made an impressive career resurgence since dropping down to featherweight last year, earning three straight victories, the last two of which came against Brazilian fighters in Brazil. Prior to that, “The Carny” had compiled an Octagon record of 5-2-1 (w/1 NC) competing at 155 pounds.

As usual, Mendes should be a heavy favorite for this one, although the matchup is far from a squash match. Do you think Money Mendes deserves another title shot with a win here?

Chad Mendes vs. Nik Lentz Verbally Agree to Face off at UFC on Fox 9

Chad Mendes won’t be fighting for the UFC featherweight title in his next bout, but he will get the opportunity to compete close to home when he makes his next appearance inside the Octagon.
Mendes is set to face Nik Lentz in a 145-pound battle at UFC …

Chad Mendes won’t be fighting for the UFC featherweight title in his next bout, but he will get the opportunity to compete close to home when he makes his next appearance inside the Octagon.

Mendes is set to face Nik Lentz in a 145-pound battle at UFC on Fox 9, set to go down Dec. 14 at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif.

Both competitors have verbally agreed to the matchup, according to sources close to the fighters’ camps when speaking to Bleacher Report Tuesday. Bout agreements for the fight are expected to be issued shortly.

Following his knockout win over Clay Guida at UFC 164, Mendes was gunning for a shot at the featherweight belt and a rematch against champion Jose Aldo.

Aldo is currently sidelined, dealing with some lingering injuries from his last fight, and he has stated that he believes Ricardo Lamas should be next in line for the belt.

Either way, Mendes isn’t sitting around and waiting for something to happen, so he’s going to go ahead and book his next fight and stay active, with the goal of earning a title shot during the first part of 2014 instead.

Since losing to Aldo in early 2012, Mendes has set a blistering pace, winning his last four fights in a row by knockout or TKO. The former NCAA All-American has been working his striking with new coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig, and the results are showing in the cage.

Lentz will look to put a stop to Mendes’ run while trying to pick up the biggest win of his career since dropping to featherweight in 2012. Since making the move, Lentz has gone 3-0 with a TKO and two decision victories since dropping down from 155 pounds.

Facing Mendes will be the toughest test for Lentz thus far in his featherweight career, but a victory could punch his ticket to the top of the divisional race.

Currently, Mendes is ranked as the No. 1 featherweight in the world, just behind champion Jose Aldo, according to the official UFC rankings.

While no formal announcement has been made about the fight, Mendes vs. Lentz is likely to join the main card for the show currently headlined by the lightweight title bout between champion Anthony Pettis and former Strikeforce title holder Josh Thomson.

 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jose Aldo Says Chad Mendes Doesn’t Deserve a Title Shot

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is currently recovering from a foot injury, but that didn’t stop him from catching up with MMAfighting.com for a chat about the crowded title picture within his division.
“I’m not the one who decides that, but…

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is currently recovering from a foot injury, but that didn’t stop him from catching up with MMAfighting.com for a chat about the crowded title picture within his division.

“I’m not the one who decides that, but in my mind I believe Ricardo Lamas is the next in line,” Aldo said. “He already earned his chance. If it’s not him, I believe Cub Swanson should be the next option.”

Lamas, of course, captured the eye of fans after upsetting a pair of No. 1 contenders in Hatsu Hioki and Erik Koch. “The Bully” has a flawless record of 4-0 at featherweight, which also includes stoppage victories over Cub Swanson and Matt Grice.

Originally scheduled to face the Korean Zombie at UFC 162, Lamas has not competed since a January victory over Koch. The summer bout was scrapped when Jung was announced as an injury replacement for Anthony Pettis, who was scheduled to meet Aldo at UFC 163.

“If I were Lamas, I wouldn’t fight anyone and just wait for my opportunity,” he said. “He was supposed to fight me already but then (Anthony) Pettis got himself in the middle. Lamas should wait, this is his moment. But it they decide to do a rematch between Lamas and Swanson to see who fights me, that’s ok too.”

Cub Swanson has been more active than Lamas since their 2011 matchup. Currently riding a five fight win streak, the Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter has tried to get the fans on his side with a series of high-profile knockouts. 

When asked about Chad Mendes, whom Aldo defeated via first-round KO in early 2012, the champion voiced his opinion that the Team Alpha Male prodigy isn’t ready for a second crack at gold.

“Chad Mendes is still starting, haven’t fought anyone ranked yet, only fought guys that are not that good,” he said. “He’s coming off good wins, but he hasn’t beaten good guys. So I believe the next two should be Ricardo Lamas and Cub Swanson.”

Mendes has scored four impressive knockout victories since his UFC 142 bout with Aldo. However, Aldo is correct in identifying a lack of wins against top contenders. Of the four opponents that Mendes has bested, only Clay Guida has ever been ranked.

Who do you think should get the next crack at Aldo and the featherweight championship? Is Mendes ready to get one more shot at the belt? Should Lamas and Swanson fight while waiting on Aldo to heal up? Or has Lamas done enough to wait for his crack at glory?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Potato Index: UFC 164 and ‘Fight Night 28: Teixeira vs. Bader’


(“We’re not angry with you, Ryan. We’re just disappointed.” Photo via Getty.)

Since ReX was finally able to unearth the Potato Index Supercomputer from his “Rave Cave” last week — which, FYI, is just a storage bin packed to the brim with CP t-shirts, used glowsticks, regifted blenders and vintage German porno mags — we figured we might as well continue running with this outdated piece of technology for the sake of nostalgia. For CagePotato readers, if anything, are a nostalgic bunch. Stubbornly trapped in the past and all but refusing to accept change you might even go as far as to say, but I digress. In any case, here are the numbers the CP Supercomputer was able to churn out based on the results of UFC 164 and Fight Night 28.

Anthony Pettis +108 

Two promotions. Two title fights. Two clear cut victories. Not only did Pettis earn an eternal place in Ben Henderson’s nightmares with one kick during their first encounter, but now he done went and submitted him inside of 5 minutes in their second. Lock up your daughters, lock up your wife, lock up your back door and run for your life. “Showtime” is back in town and he don’t mess around.

Bendo -47

Shit happens when you start talking about beating Anderson Silva’s title defense record with 0 finishes in 7 UFC fights. We don’t mean to kick a classy guy like “Smooth” while he’s down, so for now we’ll just say that it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting another crack at the new champ anytime soon. It’s called the Koscheck Rule of Twos.


(“We’re not angry with you, Ryan. We’re just disappointed.” Photo via Getty.)

Since ReX was finally able to unearth the Potato Index Supercomputer from his “Rave Cave” last week — which, FYI, is just a storage bin packed to the brim with CP t-shirts, used glowsticks, regifted blenders and vintage German porno mags — we figured we might as well continue running with this outdated piece of technology for the sake of nostalgia. For CagePotato readers, if anything, are a nostalgic bunch. Stubbornly trapped in the past and all but refusing to accept change you might even go as far as to say, but I digress. In any case, here are the numbers the CP Supercomputer was able to churn out based on the results of UFC 164 and Fight Night 28.

Anthony Pettis +108 

Two promotions. Two title fights. Two clear cut victories. Not only did Pettis earn an eternal place in Ben Henderson’s nightmares with one kick during their first encounter, but now he done went and submitted him inside of 5 minutes in their second. Lock up your daughters, lock up your wife, lock up your back door and run for your life. “Showtime” is back in town and he don’t mess around.

Bendo -47

Shit happens when you start talking about beating Anderson Silva’s title defense record with 0 finishes in 7 UFC fights. We don’t mean to kick a classy guy like “Smooth” while he’s down, so for now we’ll just say that it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting another crack at the new champ anytime soon. It’s called the Koscheck Rule of Twos.

Josh Barnett +33

Regardless of whether or not his thrashing of Frank Mir could have gone on a little longer, “The Warmaster” made a huge statement in his return bout nonetheless. Perhaps a fight with Travis Browne is on the horizon? Indubitably, you guys. Now will someone give the poor bastard a lift to the bus stop? He’s got these cheeseburgers, man…

Frank Mir -86

He may still be an elite heavyweight by most standards, but ol’ Franky boy is a couple more beatdowns away from never being able to play Jenga with his kids again.

Chad Mendes +45

Fighting Clay Guida is like trying to wrangle a chicken in an amusement park while wearing a blindfold. Finishing the Energizer Blanket is even tougher. Clearly, smoking weed and watching fight videos with Duane Ludwig is paying off in spades for Team Alpha Male. But if we have to hear Chad talk about that dude in the bushes on the back of his twenties ONE MORE TIME.

Clay Guida -20

Another tough break for the UFC’s hardest working and hardest playing star doesn’t do much for Guida’s stock. He’s a tough son of a bitch, that’s for sure, and a guy who will probably never become a champion or even an outright contender while still remaining a legitimate threat to those who are. Not much else to say, really.

Ben Rothwell (on TRT) +71

+11 for chasing Brandon Vera around for two and a half rounds, +60 for the sweet ass dance moves that kickstarted his finishing flurry.

Brandon Vera -45

We don’t know if we’ve ever seen a fighter as visibly confused as Brandon Vera was in the moments before Rothwell uncorked that beating on him in the third round. Unless you count Brandon Vera in the moments after Shogun Rua uncorked that beating on him in the fourth round last year. Welcome to No Man’s Land, Brandon. The summers are nice but the employment opportunities are somewhat scarce.

Dustin Poirier +28

Another fantastic fight punctuated with violent exchanges is in the books for “Diamond,” who is quickly becoming one of the most exciting fighters at 145. At just 24 years old, he’s got a long UFC career ahead of him.

Erik Koch -13

Can you believe that this guy was slated to face Jose Aldo at one point? What a slaughter that would’ve been.

Click on the “next page” tab for a by-the-numbers breakdown of yesterday’s Fight Night event…