UFC matchmaker Joe Silva has chosen a somewhat curious opponent for Yushin Okami for his next fight, considering that the only losses he’s had in the past three years came against arguably the number one and number two middleweights in the world.
The promotion announced today that Okami will lock horns with Tim Boetsch when the Octagon returns to “The Land of the Rising Sun” for UFC 144 on February 26.
(Tim who?)
UFC matchmaker Joe Silva has chosen a somewhat curious opponent for Yushin Okami for his next fight, considering that the only losses he’s had in the past three years came against arguably the number one and number two middleweights in the world.
The promotion announced today that Okami will lock horns with Tim Boetsch when the Octagon returns to “The Land of the Rising Sun” for UFC 144 on February 26.
In his last five bouts, “Thunder” only losses came against Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva. During that span, he also beat Mark Munoz, Nate Marquardt and Lino Linhares.
Having beaten Kendall Grove and Nick Ring — both by decision — in his last two outings since dropping to middleweight, Boetsch has not faced the level of competition that Okami has at 185. Prior to his latest two-fight win streak, “The Barbarian” was stopped by Phil Davis’ patented “Philmura” at UFC 123.
UFC 144 will also feature a main event featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
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UFC 144 Saitama Super Arena Saitama, Japan February 26, 2011
Lightweight Championship Bout
Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson
(Aldo will make his third UFC title defense at home in Brazil.)
Jose Aldo will be in for a stiff test when he puts his UFC featherweight crown on the line against undefeated 11-0 wrestling standout Chad Mendes on January 14 at UFC 142 in a yet-to-be-announced locale in Brazil.
“Pound-for-pound superstar Jose Aldo will return home to fight in Brazil for the first time since 2007 when he defends his UFC featherweight title against unbeaten powerhouse Chad Mendes,” UFC president Dana White revealed to FoxSports.com this morning. “Aldo hasn’t lost in over five years, but Mendes has yet to lose in MMA, and after clearing out all the contenders put in his way, he believes he has what it takes to beat the champion.”
(Aldo will make his third UFC title defense at home in Brazil.)
Jose Aldo will be in for a stiff test when he puts his UFC featherweight crown on the line against undefeated 11-0 wrestling standout Chad Mendes on January 14 at UFC 142 in a yet-to-be-announced locale in Brazil.
“Pound-for-pound superstar Jose Aldo will return home to fight in Brazil for the first time since 2007 when he defends his UFC featherweight title against unbeaten powerhouse Chad Mendes,” UFC president Dana White revealed to FoxSports.com this morning. “Aldo hasn’t lost in over five years, but Mendes has yet to lose in MMA, and after clearing out all the contenders put in his way, he believes he has what it takes to beat the champion.”
Mendes has been patiently waiting for his shot at the champion since perennial contender Kenny Florian jumped the line to challenge Aldo last month, but the UFC has seemed reluctant to match the pair up, perhaps since the clash of styles could add up to an inevitably boring bout.
“Scarface, who is undefeated under the Zuffa Banner went to decision for the third time in his past four fights against Florian at UFC 136 as he did in his UFC 129 bout with durable Canadian Mark Hominick and his WEC 48 tilt with former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber. Six of Mendes’ past seven fights have gone to the judges’ scorecards. According to our uncannily accurate Magic 8-ball we consulted when Gina Carano said she’d be back this year, “signs point to yes,” when we asked it if this fight will go the distance.
Less than a month after successfully defending his UFC featherweight belt, champion Jose Aldo has his next assignment.
The Brazilian will return home and attempt to extend his current run of dominance over the division in a stern test against undefeated American Chad Mendes. The bout will take place at UFC 142 in Brazil, though an exact venue has yet to be officially announced.
UFC president Dana White broke the news to FoxSports.com on Monday night.
The matchup comes as no surprise. Shortly after Aldo defended the belt in a win over Kenny Florian at UFC 136 on October 8, White said that Mendes was his likely next challenger.
Aldo (20-1) has not lost a fight in six years, and has won 13 in a row. Since winning the WEC championship in Nov. 2009, Aldo has defeated all four of his challengers, even as the promotion was absorbed by the UFC and the belt was re-christened as the UFC championship.
Mendes is a perfect 11-0 in his career. He debuted under the Zuffa banner in March 2010 and has won all six of his fights. His most recent bout came against Rani Yahya at UFC 133, a fight which he won by unanimous decision.
Some have speculated that Mendes, a former two-time collegiate wrestling All-American, could give Aldo trouble by employing his grinding style. Thus far in his career, though, Aldo has been up to the challenge. According to FightMetric, he’s only been taken down twice in his last 10 fights, and has successfully defended 94 percent of the takedown attempts against him.
The Aldo vs. Mendes fight is the first one officially announced by the UFC for the January 14 event.
George Roop gave a rather imagery-filled opinion of Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes to MMAWeekly Radio, saying Aldo will have to get an abortion after the fight. The usually polite, yet unexpectedly witty Roop quipped:.
George Roop gave a rather imagery-filled opinion of Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes to MMAWeekly Radio, saying Aldo will have to get an abortion after the fight. The usually polite, yet unexpectedly witty Roop quipped:
Mendes in my opinion he’s probably going to take it to (Jose) Aldo. Aldo will probably have to go get an abortion afterwards, but I do think he’ll win the fight.
Chad Mendes is probably going to have to take him to planned parenthood afterwards, but I do think he’ll win that fight.”
I’ll admit I didn’t get this analogy so I called Roop who explained his comments derive from the “lay and pray” wrestling style and that some fighters joke, you’re down there so long you impregnate your opponent. Now that I get it, that’s pretty funny. Roop added in the interview with MMAWeekly that Aldo’s cardio is his biggest weakness which was exposed by Mark Hominick.
George Roop himself faces a tough opponent in a week and a half at UFC 137 in his main card bout against former Sengoku Featherweight Champion, Hatsu Hioki who will be making his UFC debut. Hioki is currently ranked the number # 2 Featherweight by Sherdog and #3 by MMAWeekly.
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Bellator, Rankings, FeatherweightsJose Aldo is continuing to run roughshod over the rest of the featherweight division, improving his professional MMA record to 20-1 with a unanimous decision victory over Kenny Florian at UFC 1…
Jose Aldo is continuing to run roughshod over the rest of the featherweight division, improving his professional MMA record to 20-1 with a unanimous decision victory over Kenny Florian at UFC 136. So does anyone at 145 have a chance against Aldo?
So far it hasn’t looked like it. It’s not just that Aldo has won every single one of his fights since coming to North America at WEC 34 in 2008. It’s that none of his fights have been close. He’s shifted from being a knockout artist to usually winning one-sided decisions, but he really hasn’t been tested by anyone.
Is Chad Mendes the man to change that? He’s certainly the most worthy challenger to Aldo’s title. We’ll run down the top of the featherweight division below.
Top 10 featherweights in MMA (Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): After struggling to cut down to 145 pounds, Aldo has talked about moving up to lightweight, but I think that would be a mistake. I don’t think he has the frame for 155, and I think he’d really struggle against big lightweight wrestlers. In fact, I think he might struggle against a good featherweight wrestler like …
2. Chad Mendes (2): The undefeated Mendes was a good college wrestler and may be the opponent to put Aldo on his back and keep him there. If there’s anyone in the featherweight division who represents a threat to Aldo, it’s Mendes.
3. Hatsu Hioki (3): Hioki is the big question mark in the UFC‘s featherweight division. He’s about to make his UFC debut after going on a great run in Japan, and if he can make the adjustment to the cage and the North American unified rules, he could be a title contender: Hioki’s reach, high-volume striking and active guard make him a tough puzzle to solve. Unfortunately, the recent track record of Japanese fighters coming to the U.S. has not been good. Hioki makes his debut against George Roop at UFC 137.
4. Pat Curran (NR): Curran has looked sensational since dropping from lightweight to featherweight, and after seeing him knock out Marlon Sandro, I think he’s the best featherweight outside the UFC. Bellator has a strong featherweight division, and fights with Joe Warren or Patricio “Pitbull” Freire would be great matchups for Curran.
5. Erik Koch (8): Koch looked good in his September victory over Jonathan Brookins, which improved his record to 13-1, with the only loss coming against Mendes. At age 23, Koch has a very bright future ahead of him.
6. Mark Hominick (7): After taking several months off following his loss to Aldo, Hominick will return at UFC 140 against Chan Sung Jung in what should be an outstanding battle.
7. Kenny Florian (4): It’s tough to see where Florian goes from here. He’s good enough that he’s earned three title shots in his career, but not good enough to win any of them, or even be competitive in any of them. And at age 35, with 20 pro fights under his belt, it’s not like he’s suddenly going to get a lot better. Still, I hope we haven’t seen the last of Florian. He can have a gatekeeper role at either featherweight or lightweight, even if he’s done fighting for belts.
8. Tyson Griffin (NR): Featherweight — not lightweight — has always been the right weight class for Griffin. It was the right weight class for him when he beat Urijah Faber in 2005, and it’s the right weight class for him now, after he’s moved back down from lightweight and beaten Manny Gamburyan. Up next for Griffin is a featherweight fight with another former lightweight, Bart Palaszewski, at UFC 137.
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri (NR): Another former lightweight dropping down, Kawajiri put on a good show in submitting Joachim Hansen at Dream.17. I’d like to see the UFC add Kawajiri to its featherweight roster.
10. Dustin Poirier (9): The 22-year-old Poirier is a rising star at featherweight. He gets Pablo Garza on the undercard of the November 12 UFC on Fox event.
Filed under: UFCJust a few days before traveling to Houston last weekend, Chad Mendes was in Wyoming’s wide open spaces, hunting mule deer. But now, his sights will shift to some other, much more dangerous big game.
Just a few days before traveling to Houston last weekend, Chad Mendes was in Wyoming’s wide open spaces, hunting mule deer. But now, his sights will shift to some other, much more dangerous big game.
Mendes was in attendance at Houston’s Toyota Center to watch Jose Aldo‘s win over Kenny Florian at last Saturday’s UFC 136, and he believes he’ll receive the next opportunity to fight for the featherweight championship. At least in the immediate aftermath, UFC president Dana White seemed to agree, saying he was “pretty sure” it would happen. So it’s likely just a matter of when.
Mendes hopes it’s soon. Above all else, the native Californian likes to challenge himself, and to stay busy. That’s why the unbeaten (11-0) 26-year-old risked No. 1 contender status a few months back to fight at August’s UFC 133.
“My time is going to come,” he said. “I’ve only been doing this for three years. I’ve got 11 fights into my career. I’ve got plenty of time. That belt’s going to be mine sooner or later. It’s just hurry up and wait.”
Coming from his wrestling background, Mendes says that he would fight every month if he could, feeling that constant competition would keep him sharp. But now he’s willing to wait a bit for the chance to take home his division’s most coveted trophy.
In the meantime, he will find other ways to occupy himself. Mendes is an avid outdoorsman, who likes to fish and hunt. And recently, he ran his first-ever half-marathon. Asked how he did, Mendes said “not too bad, but not anything great,” saying that his “little, short legs” didn’t work well over long distances.
Turns out, he did very well, as research shows he clocked 1:40.52 in the Los Gatos (CA) Jungle Run Half-Marathon, finishing 11th in his age group. Even more impressive, he did the race in the midst of his preparation for the Rani Yahya UFC 133 fight, with about one month to go.
Mendes said he got inspired to add more running and cycling into his training after learning more about Mike Tyson’s pre-fight preparations, and said he believed it helped him in the bout against Yahya, leaning out his body and improving his stamina.
In his mind, the latter could pay big dividends against Aldo, who looked good in the late rounds against Florian, but struggled badly in the last round of his UFC 129 fight against Mark Hominick.
“He started grappling a lot more and got tired,” he said. “It’s a different type of conditioning. I know I’m going to be in great shape in that sense, the grappling sense. And I know he’s going to be in great shape in the standup part, because he’s going to go out there looking to finish me with some kind of knee or big shot from his hands. But taking him into my world, taking him on the ground and making him work to get up, it’s going to tire his ass out, and I’m looking forward to taking that belt from him.”
Mendes is able to break down his impeding matchup objectively, noting that his standup is “nowhere near” Aldo’s. But if you acknowledge that, he says, you must also acknowledge that Aldo’s wrestling, while “pretty good” for someone who didn’t grow up doing it, is not in Mendes’ league.
Mendes began wrestling at the age of five, competed all through high school, and was a two-time All-American in college. To date, his wrestling has been one of his best weapons, as he’s notched 27 takedowns in his six fights under the Zuffa banner. He’s also never been taken down. But his striking has been a bit undervalued, as he’s landed 47 percent of his significant strikes, according to FightMetric. By comparison, Aldo lands 49 percent of his significant strikes and has stopped an impressive 94 percent of takedown tries against him, making the matchup quite a challenge for Mendes.
“I think with my wrestling credentials, my strength, my athleticism, I don’t think he’s faced anybody like that yet,” he said. “And for me to get in there, put him on his back and take him out of his comfort zone, I think that’s going to be key to beating a guy like that.”
Prior to the fight, Mendes predicted an Aldo win, and more than that, he hoped for it. The way he figures it, if you’re going to go try to win the belt, you might as well try to take it from the best. For better or worse, the big-game hunter has his target set.
“He’s the guy that everyone looks at as unbeatable, and he’s got this hype around him like no one can beat him,” Mendes said. “I want to be the guy to get in there and take that belt from him.”
Less than a month after successfully defending his 
Jose Aldo
Just a few days before traveling to Houston last weekend,