Chad Mendes has been watching Clay Guida fight for years, because beyond just being a fan of the former lightweight contender, he’s also become friends with him as well.
When the UFC called and asked Mendes to face Guida in his second fight at featherw…
Chad Mendes has been watching Clay Guida fight for years, because beyond just being a fan of the former lightweight contender, he’s also become friends with him as well.
When the UFC called and asked Mendes to face Guida in his second fight at featherweight he accepted because his job is to face whomever the promotion puts in front of him, and for those 15 minutes they will have to be bitter enemies in the cage.
Mendes has won his last three fights in a row with none of them making it out of the first round, which has put him back into the discussion for a featherweight title shot. He knows that it all goes away if he can’t get past Guida. There is a bit of an unknown factor for Mendes going into this one.
Prior to his last two fights, Guida was known as one of the craziest, most exciting fighters to watch in the sport. During his UFC career, he took home five different Fight of the Night awards.
Lately, however, Guida has started to strategize more, avoiding the crazy exchanges and wild scrambles that defined his UFC career. The change in game plans has had fans in a bit of a frenzy, wondering what happened to the Guida of old. Mendes admits while looking at his friend’s recent fights that Guida‘s style has changed dramatically from his previous performances in the Octagon.
“There are a lot of fans that have been upset at how he’s fought lately,” Mendes said. “He does have a lot of footwork and a lot of in-and-out movement, and he does not bang like he used to, just sit in the pocket and throw, and that’s always exciting for the fans.
“I think his last few fights, I think he’s fighting to just not lose instead of fighting to win, and that’s tough to watch sometimes.”
Mendes isn’t about to play into that idea. He plans on putting Guida away to notch another win on his resume and get that much closer to another shot at the gold.
Check out this entire interview with Mendes, as he addresses Guida‘s recent fights and the friendship that will be put on hold for at least one night at UFC 164.
UFC 164 hits the airwaves on Saturday, Aug. 31, from Milwaukee. The UFC Lightweight Championship is on the line in a highly anticipated rematch between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis.
The two met in the final WEC fight for that lightweight title a…
UFC 164 hits the airwaves on Saturday, Aug. 31, from Milwaukee. The UFC Lightweight Championship is on the line in a highly anticipated rematch between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis.
The two met in the final WEC fight for that lightweight title and Pettis came away with a narrow win by decision thanks to his Showtime Kick. Henderson has had to live with the highlight being replayed endlessly, but he finally has a chance to exact his revenge.
In the co-main event, a long-overdue heavyweight battle takes place when former UFC heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Josh Barnett square off. The two longtime veterans of the sport will finally meet inside the Octagon in Barnett’s return to the organization.
Three more main-card bouts will come your way on Saturday and the main card is stacked with top-10 talent across three divisions.
Here is a look at the current betting odds along with fight predictions heading in to UFC 164.
It seems like eons ago when Chad Mendes lost his only bid to win the UFC featherweight title when he was knocked out by champion Jose Aldo at UFC 142.
Technically, the time span was less than two years ago, but the Mendes that’s been competing lately l…
It seems like eons ago when Chad Mendes lost his only bid to win the UFC featherweight title when he was knocked out by champion Jose Aldo at UFC 142.
Technically, the time span was less than two years ago, but the Mendes that’s been competing lately looks like Bruce Banner compared to The Hulk, when talking about his imposing nature in fights.
Prior to the Aldo fight, Mendes was an undefeated prospect at 145 pounds, with five out of his six bouts in the UFC and WEC going to decision. Since losing to Aldo in January 2012, Mendes has finished three straight opponents, while spending less than a total of five minutes inside the cage.
A former NCAA All-American wrestler, Mendes was always known as a grappler who could take any fight to the ground, but he’s added a boxing and overall striking game that’s put him ranked as the No. 1 featherweight in the world behind Aldo and is right back in the title hunt.
So what’s been the secret to Mendes‘ new-found success lately?
“Bringing Duane (Ludwig) in has been huge for us,” Mendes told MMA‘s Great Debate Radio. “It’s so great to have the head coach figure, somebody everybody can trust in and believe in. His system is unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t think anyone on the team really has, and it’s something we’ve all really fallen into. He’s a great coach.
“That was kind of the missing key, the missing link, and I think we finally found it. You guys have seen how we’ve been doing in the last few fights, and the huge gains we’ve made in the short amount of time that he’s been here so I’m just excited to keep going with it.”
Since Ludwig took over as the head coach for Team Alpha Male where Mendes trains, the entire squad has taken on new life. Fighters such as Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez and T.J. Dillashaw haven’t tasted defeat since he came on board, and the recent performances by the entire team have been nothing short of spectacular.
The recent success that Mendes has felt, along with the confidence instilled with the addition of Ludwig in his corner, has him believing more than ever that he’s ready for a second shot at Aldo.
“That first fight, I still really hadn’t found myself when it came to the stand-up game, I was still kind of finding it, I wasn’t 100-percent comfortable in there on the feet and really just relied a lot on wrestling still,” Mendes said. “I still do a lot of wrestling, I have that in my back pocket, but with Duane here the amount of drilling, the critiquing he’s done for the stand-up and the fine tuning, let alone the cool combos and stuff we’ve gone over, it’s completely opened my eyes to a whole new world of MMA.”
Mendes can go back and watch his fight with Aldo and see exactly where things went wrong and how he can do better. It’s always tough to watch a loss like that, but Mendes used it as a tool to get sharper, and lately he’s looked like a razor that could split a hair in two.
“I think the first two rounds are his most dangerous and we’ve seen in past fights where he kind of fades out from then on out,” Mendes said about Aldo. “We went into that fight knowing that, and it was something we felt, but I felt like I was winning the fight. I obviously made a mistake and I’ve seen what happened, and I’ve seen the thing where I went wrong.”
Mendes knows that if he keeps winning fights there’s no way he can be denied a second shot at Aldo down the road. He’s already ranked No. 1 in the world, and if he can continue to put on blistering performances like the ones he’s had lately, he will get the call for another title shot.
This time, Mendes promises much different results.
“I’m excited to get in there and fight for that belt again,” Mendes said. “I think I’m the guy, the one that’s going to beat Jose Aldo.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
(“Based on the odor, I would say this man’s been dead for three days.” / Photo via MMAFighting)
Our old bro Ben Fowlkes has written an in-depth double-interview feature-thingy on the UFC’s dynamic matchmaking duo of Joe Silva and Sean Shelby. If you want to learn more about how these guys operate, where they came from, and what they consider to be worst part of their job, give it a read. Personally, our favorite part is this bit in which Sean Shelby reveals the truth behind a baffling UFC mystery — how the hell was the epic UFC 148 squash-match between Chad Mendes vs. Cody McKenzie booked in the first place? Dig it:
[W]hen McKenzie wanted to come down [to featherweight], initially Shelby wasn’t sure he could use him. Then Bart Palaszewski pulled out of a fight with Mendes, and suddenly the situation changed.
“What people don’t understand is, it’s not like I could just remove Chad from the card and say, ‘Sorry, I can get you a fight four months from now,'” Shelby said. “We understand. You spent money on a camp. You’ve got bills to pay. We will do our best to find you a fight. I bend over backward to keep guys in fights, to keep the machine moving. You have to.”
That’s another part of the process that outsiders don’t always get, Silva and Shelby said. Fighters are promised a certain number of fights within a certain number of months. Keep them on the sidelines too long, and the UFC could be in breach of contract. Beyond that, they’d also risk turning the UFC into the kind of promotion they hate.
(“Based on the odor, I would say this man’s been dead for three days.” / Photo via MMAFighting)
Our old bro Ben Fowlkes has written an in-depth double-interview feature-thingy on the UFC’s dynamic matchmaking duo of Joe Silva and Sean Shelby. If you want to learn more about how these guys operate, where they came from, and what they consider to be worst part of their job, give it a read. Personally, our favorite part is this bit in which Sean Shelby reveals the truth behind a baffling UFC mystery — how the hell was the epic UFC 148 squash-match between Chad Mendes vs. Cody McKenzie booked in the first place? Dig it:
[W]hen McKenzie wanted to come down [to featherweight], initially Shelby wasn’t sure he could use him. Then Bart Palaszewski pulled out of a fight with Mendes, and suddenly the situation changed.
“What people don’t understand is, it’s not like I could just remove Chad from the card and say, ‘Sorry, I can get you a fight four months from now,’” Shelby said. “We understand. You spent money on a camp. You’ve got bills to pay. We will do our best to find you a fight. I bend over backward to keep guys in fights, to keep the machine moving. You have to.”
That’s another part of the process that outsiders don’t always get, Silva and Shelby said. Fighters are promised a certain number of fights within a certain number of months. Keep them on the sidelines too long, and the UFC could be in breach of contract. Beyond that, they’d also risk turning the UFC into the kind of promotion they hate.
“You hear fighters [in other organizations] complain, ‘I haven’t fought in eight months, and they won’t return my calls,’” Silva said. “We don’t want to be like that, but to do that we have to keep a tight rein on how many people you have under contract.”
Ideally, the UFC would like to have most fighters stepping in the cage once every four months or so, for an average of three fights a year. Injuries only complicate the picture, especially when you’re trying to find a replacement to face one of the division’s top fighters, which was exactly the situation Shelby faced with Mendes.
“I can’t pull people out of other matches to fix this one,” Shelby said. “Then you’re just kicking the can down the road. But imagine trying to get someone to fight Chad Mendes on two weeks’ or even a month’s notice.”
Then Shelby’s phone rang. It was McKenzie.
“He called me, and I remember this very well, and he said, ‘I want to commit to 145 (pounds),’” Shelby recalled. “I told him I didn’t have any room, but I do have this one opening. I told him, ‘I don’t think you should take this fight, but…’”
You can imagine where it went from there. McKenzie’s a fighter, after all. He jumped on the opening, all but pleading with Shelby to give him the fight. Shelby was reluctant at first, he said, but, “I had nobody.”
“I mean, nobody,” he said. “It’s not like I can sign some random guy. I’ve already got all the top 10 in the world [at 145 pounds]. I had no other choices.”
And so the fight got made, McKenzie got dropped with a body shot, and Shelby got the blame. That’s how it goes when you’re a matchmaker. With the benefit of hindsight, everyone’s an expert. They’ll all say they knew exactly how it was going to go down and you’d have to be an idiot to make that fight in the first place.
We’d imagine that Mendes’s follow-up booking against Yaotzin Meza must have resulted from a similarly desperate situation, but that, friends, is a story for another day.
MMA’s Great Debate Radio returns with a stacked show Tuesday with Josh Barnett, Chad Mendes and Dustin Poirier joining us as guests, as well as a debate about last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 26 card.
Barnett stops by to discuss his fight at UFC 164 agai…
MMA‘s Great Debate Radio returns with a stacked show Tuesday with Josh Barnett, Chad Mendes and Dustin Poirier joining us as guests, as well as a debate about last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 26 card.
Barnett stops by to discuss his fight at UFC 164 against Frank Mir and his thoughts on the entire lot of the heavyweight division.
Mendes will talk about his upcoming fight against Clay Guida and why he believes he is the man who has the best chance to beat UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Poirier will also drop by to talk about his fight against Erik Koch at UFC 164 and what it will take to get back into the featherweight contender’s race.
Finally, the debate heats up on today’s show as we break down all the events from last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 26 card.
Today’s debate topics include:
—Who should ChaelSonnen fight next after his win over Shogun Rua at UFC Fight Night 26?
—Should the UFC consider cutting Alistair Overeem after another KO loss?
—Matt Brown wins his sixth straight fight, but is he a contender or a pretender in the title race?
—On a scale of 1-10, how impressed were you by the UFC Fight Night 26 card that debuted on Fox Sports 1?
This is MMA’s Great Debate Radio for Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013
It is an interesting time for the UFC featherweight division.
Champion Jose Aldo is coming off a successful title defense over Chan Sung Jung at UFC 163 on Aug. 3, but a broken foot suffered by the Brazilian phenom in the opening round of the fight wil…
It is an interesting time for the UFC featherweight division.
Champion Jose Aldo is coming off a successful title defense over Chan Sung Jung at UFC 163 on Aug. 3, but a broken foot suffered by the Brazilian phenom in the opening round of the fight will push him to the sidelines for the rest of the year and possibly the early portion of 2014.
While a belt holder being out of action is never good for a division, Aldo’s injury will keep the 145-pound weight class—a division which has become one of the hottest under the UFC banner—from truly launching into rarefied air.
At the current time, four potential title contenders are all looking for their opportunities as the championship picture develops. Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes, Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar have all thrown their respective hats into the ring in an attempt to carve out the title status at 145-pounds.
Lamas and Swanson are both on tremendous winning streaks, with “The Bully” collecting four straight and “Killer Cub” notching five consecutive. The last time Swanson lost inside the Octagon, it came by way of an arm triangle choke handed out by Lamas, which would keep the 30-year-old Chicagoland native ahead of the Jackson’s MMA fighter in the bigger picture.
Mendes and Edgar have both had title opportunities in the past two years, with “The Answer” being just one fight removed from his bout with Aldo. The Toms River-native picked up his first win as a featherweight over Charles Oliveira at UFC 162 in July. Mendes, on the other hand, has been on a three-fight tear since coming up short in his championship bid, as he’s collected three consecutive knockout victories.
Of the fighters in the upper tier of the featherweight division, only Mendes has a bout on the upcoming schedule as he will square-off with former lightweight contender turned featherweight Clay Guida at UFC 164 on Aug. 31.
Once Mendes versus Guida is decided, it would set up the perfect scenario for the UFC to insert a four-man tournament to sort out who gets the next shot at Aldo’s crown.
The Tournament Format is Practical and Fan-Friendly in Some Cases
Tournaments have played a crucial and memorable role in the history of MMA. From the early days of the UFC to the golden era of Pride, tournaments of all shapes and sizes have been instrumental in promotion’s rising to prominence and putting their superstars on display.
That being said, tournaments can also serve to be a detriment in the greater picture for a promotion. Bellator has made the format it’s business model from the company’s inception, and while it has served to establish champions, the down side comes in the lack of activity those champions are forced to endure while the next season’s tournament plays out.
Bellator has attempted to hasten the process by instituting a “Summer Series”—which appears to be a solid move in the right direction—but shorter tournaments are no equivalent to the beauty of a divisional title picture in full swing.
In my opinion, there is nothing better in mixed martial arts than watching a champion attempt to hold onto his/her title, while a pack of talented contenders rise and fall on the climb. Granted, recent examples of title opportunities being given to fighters coming off losses, or not ever having competed in a weight class for that matter, tend to sour those particular scenarios, but the “earned” far outweigh the “given” and that is enough to keep sanity intact for the most part.
With the current dilemma in the UFC featherweight division, a four-man tournament would make absolute sense. The promotion used the format to determine the title holder when they instituted the flyweight division, and bringing it back would be a perfect way to not only determine the next featherweight title challenger, but bring interest to the division in the process.
The featherweight collective has come a long way in a short amount of time, and with Lamas, Swanson, Edgar and Mendes/Guida stepping in to a four-man tournament, the fan recognition for the 145-pound weight class could potentially reach new heights. Edgar is already an established fan-favorite and Swanson is well on his way with the series of brutal knockouts he’s collected on his road to contention.
Mendes and Lamas may not be household names as of yet, but both have the potential to have bright futures at the top of the featherweight division. If Guida defeats Mendes in Milwaukee, he would be a great addition to a tournament as the Chicago-native has been one of the UFC’s most recognizable stars for the past several years.
With Edgar and Swanson just having competed at UFC 162 back in July, and Mendes and Guida set to square-off in three weeks, every fighter involved in a potential tournament would be on a similar timeline. Lamas was originally slated to face the “Korean Zombie” on the UFC 162 as well, but Jung being pulled out to face Aldo eventually forced him off the card entirely.
Having all fighters involved on the same time line and injury free, would set the table for the opening round of a featherweight tournament. The UFC could place the first round on one card and the finals on another card three months later to determine who will be the next challenger to Aldo’s title.
What better solution is there than four top-ranked featherweights putting it all on the line in a winner-take-all format?
It seems like eons ago when Chad 