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MMA Top 10 Featherweights: Kenny Florian Moves In

Filed under: UFC, Rankings, FeatherweightsKenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?

If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the la…

Filed under: UFC, Rankings, Featherweights

Kenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?

If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the ladder and become the No. 2 fighter in your weight class, then the answer is no. Florian has fought just once at 145 pounds — his unanimous decision victory over Diego Nunes at UFC 131 — and that’s not enough to get him in the No. 2 spot ahead of Chad Mendes, who’s been fighting at featherweight his entire career and built up a 10-0 record.

But the real way a fighter earns a title shot is to become the guy the fans want to see fighting for a title: The UFC is in the business of selling pay-per-views, and Florian vs. Aldo would sell far more pay-per-views than Mendes vs. Aldo. Mendes has fought in the Octagon once and isn’t all that well known, while Florian has fought in Octagon 16 times and is a fan favorite. That’s why he’ll get the next crack at Aldo.

However, that’s not to say Florian isn’t also among the elite featherweights in MMA. Find out where I have him ranked below.

(Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)

1. Jose Aldo (1): So far, in the UFC and WEC there hasn’t been a featherweight who has what it takes to challenge Aldo: He’s 9-0 fighting under the Zuffa banner and hasn’t been in any real trouble. We’ll see if Florian can be the man to test Aldo, but I have my doubts.

2. Chad Mendes (2): Mendes thought he had earned the next shot at Aldo, but instead he’ll take on Rani Yahya in August, and hope that a good showing there earns him a title fight after that. Mendes is only 10 fights into his MMA career and still a little green, so having to wait a little longer may be good for him.

3. Hatsu Hioki (3): Here’s hoping Hioki is able to sign with the UFC soon. The best featherweights in the world are waiting for Hioki, who has been great in Japan and whose long limbs and well-rounded striking and grappling style could make him a threat to most of the top competition in the UFC.

4. Kenny Florian (NR): Is one win at 145 pounds enough to make Florian worthy of a Top 5 ranking? I think it is, considering that the one win was a very impressive one against a good opponent, and considering that Florian was generally recognized as a Top 5 fighter in a more talented weight class when he was fighting at 155.

5. Manny Gamburyan (4): Gamburyan is trying to bounce back from his loss to Aldo in September, and he’s got a very interesting fight coming up against Tyson Griffin, who like Gamburyan and Florian is a former lightweight hoping for more success in the shallower waters of the featherweight division.

6. Marlon Sandro (6): Bellator’s featherweight division has picked up some top-notch talent, and in my opinion the best of the bunch is Sandro, who will take on fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva in the first round of Bellator’s summer featherweight tournament.

7. Mark Hominick (7): His gutsy performance in defeat against Jose Aldo endeared Hominick to MMA fans. There’s talk that Hominick could face Chan Sung Jung next, in a fight that couldn’t possibly be anything less than thrilling.

8. Erik Koch (8): Koch is 12-1 in his career, with the only loss coming against Mendes. He’s been matched up with Season 12 Ultimate Fighter winner Jonathan Brookins in September.

9. Dustin Poirier (10): Poirier has looked like a much better fighter since moving down to featherweight, dominating both Josh Grispi and Jason Young at 145 pounds. Poirier is only 22 years old and is a likely future title contender.

10. Diego Nunes (9): Although he came up short against Florian, Nunes is only 28 years old and not done improving. He has a lot of big featherweight fights ahead of him.

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Chad Mendes on Bypassing Wait for Jose Aldo Fight: ‘I Just Want to Compete’

Filed under: UFCFaced with what might be one of the toughest career decisions for a mixed martial artist, Chad Mendes wasted little time in coming to a decision. The unbeaten 26-year-old featherweight contender had already been mentioned as the likely …

Filed under: UFC

Faced with what might be one of the toughest career decisions for a mixed martial artist, Chad Mendes wasted little time in coming to a decision. The unbeaten 26-year-old featherweight contender had already been mentioned as the likely next opponent for division champion Jose Aldo. An August date had been mentioned as a possibility. Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for his shot at gold. But then Aldo announced he wouldn’t be ready by August.

With the prospective Aldo match pushed back a month or two into the fall, Mendes (10-0) had two options: train and wait, or train and fight someone else. He chose the latter, putting his title opportunity in jeopardy. But on Tuesday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Mendes said it was not a particularly hard call to make for him and his team.

“We talked about it,” he said. “It definitely is something we were thinking about, but I want to compete. It’s frustrating to get in here and train 2-3 times a day hard, every day, and not have a light at the end of the tunnel, a fight to look forward to. That’s what motivates me. Getting that opponent, knowing who it is, watching tape on him, that’s what motivates me to get in and bust my butt every day. It’s frustrating not knowing, so like I said, I just want to compete.”

He acknowledged that the decision was made a bit easer by the fact that the bout was not yet official. Neither side had ever signed a contract. Still, Aldo-Mendes was clearly the intended direction of the promotion.

The would-be challenger said in addition to wanting to get a hard date for his next bout, he also prefers to give the champion proper time to heal rather than simply hoping he can make a proposed date.

“It’s something I wanted and it’s what I was pushing for, but overall if he’s injured, take as much time as you need,” he said. “I’d rather fight the best Jose Aldo there is and have no excuses.

“I love to fight,” he continued. “I want to get in there and compete. I didn’t want to wait 8-9 months if he wasn’t going to fight. So I decided to go with Rani Yahya, a for-sure fight. I had the contract in front of me, so I took it.”

Mendes’ bout with Yahya will take place at UFC 133 on August 6 — the same date he would have faced Aldo. The former WEC star won his UFC debut in February with a unanimous decision over Michihiro Omigawa, making it a perfect 5-for-5 in Zuffa-promoted bouts.

Yahya (16-6) is a very different fighter from Aldo. While the champion Aldo is all fast-twitch muscle, a wiry, powerful striker with capable takedowns, Yahya is a submission specialist who has 14 wins via tapout. In his last bout, he defeated former champ Mike Brown via decision.

Before that, though, Yahya had lost two in a row. The Brown fight marked his return to featherweight, and Mendes feels it’s a better weight class for him, as evidenced by the way he controlled Brown.

“I think 145 is his more natural weight,” he said. “You can tell he feels a lot better. He dominated Brown, and Brown’s a strong wrestler. It looked like he just overpowered him. I’m not looking past the guy at all.”

Given Yahya’s jiu-jitsu pedigree, this could be the type of match where Mendes uses his wrestling in reverse, to keep the fight standing where he feels he has an edge. Even though Mendes admits his standup is “probably the weakest part” of his game, he adds that it’s not weak at all, simply suffering in comparison to other aspects. He adds that he has no qualms in taking the fight to the ground against a dangerous submission specialist.

A win would make him 11-0, and he hopes that the sum total of all this will be the same payoff he was originally supposed to get: a matchup with Aldo.

“Honestly, it’s not something that’s been told to me by anyone important,” he said. “I’m hoping that’s what’s going to happen. I honestly believe that’s what I deserve. I feel like I’ve proven myself and if I beat Yahya, that’s just another step to the title. So like I said, no one’s told me, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. “

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The MMA Hour With Askren in Studio, Guida, Swick, Mendes, Kingsbury, Browne

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Bellator, Videos

The MMA Hour will be off on Monday due to Memorial Day, but the show returns on Tuesday at its usual 1 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT start time with another loaded lineup. Here’s who you will hear from:

* Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will be in studio to talk about his upcoming title defense against Jay Hieron.

* Clay Guida will discuss Saturday night’s lightweight battle against Anthony Pettis.

* Mike Swick will talk about his long road back to the Octagon and his upcoming fight at UFC 134.

* Chad Mendes will explain why he chose to fight at UFC 133 instead of wait for Jose Aldo to get healthy.

* Kyle Kingsbury will discuss his TUF Finale fight on Saturday night against Fabio Maldonado.

* Heavyweight Travis Browne will discuss his first round knockout win against Stefan Struve at UFC 130.

Of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.

*** You can now stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.

Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.

Editor’s Note: Today’s show is over and a replay will be available by Wednesday.