Chad Mendes on UFC 142 title loss: 'That's not the end of me'
Chad Mendes is a winner, and he's not used to feeling like this.
He hadn't lost at anything since Ohio State University's J. Jaggers outwrestled him in the 141-pound NCAA championship match when he was a senior at Cal Poly.
That was 2008. The calendar says 2012.
It made his UFC 142 featherweight title loss to Jose Aldo sting that much more. But let's not pretend the Team Alpha Male product should throw in the towel at the age of 26.
"The stars didn't align, but I'm a firm believer everything happens for a reason," Mendes recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "It sucks.
About an hour or two after the fight, it kind of really hits you. Like, 'Man, I just lost.' It's my first (MMA) loss, and it's hard, but I just kind of step back and tell myself all the positive things that I have in my life, all the things I'm grateful for and where I'm at right here in such a short amount of time. That's not the end of me. I'm looking to get in there and fight for that title many more times."
It was Mendes who stormed out of the gate early on Aldo's home turf in Rio de Janeiro in front of a raucous HSBC Arena crowd this past month in UFC 142's headliner.
Mendes (11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) gave the champ a dose of his own medicine early and peppered him with low kicks. But Aldo (21-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) took the strikes well and fired back 35 seconds into the opening frame with a low kick of his own that spun Mendes like a top.
One minute and nine seconds into the stanza, Mendes attempted his first takedown and was shrugged off with relative ease. It was a sign of things to come.
Despite Mendes' vaunted wrestling pedigree, Aldo demonstrated solid takedown defense by using his footwork, speed and scrambling ability to stay out of trouble.
Mendes would go on to miss each and every takedown attempt, the last of which was aided by a fence grab.
"It's definitely something I noticed right when it happened," Mendes said of the uncalled foul. "But I think it's just kind of an accidental reaction. I'm not putting any blame on Jose for it. It's tough when you're in there against that cage when you're starting to get your feet thrown out from underneath you. You kind of just grab, you know? It definitely could have switched some stuff up, but like I said, everything happens for a reason."
When the 10-second warning sounded in the first round, Mendes had Aldo's back in the standing position with his hands clasped around his waist and body pressed up against the fence.
Sensing the end of the round was near, Aldo sprung into action. He separated Mendes' hands, spun 180 degrees clockwise, and in the process, fired a left knee that caught Mendes flush in the face. The blow dropped Mendes on his back like a sack of potatoes. Aldo immediately pounced and landed a big right hand as he crashed forward, then a left, and then another right for good measure as referee Mario Yamasaki waived off the bout.
Mendes lie on his back as Aldo, who was overcome with emotion, sprinted out of the cage, down the octagon steps, and into the crowd to celebrate.
It was over four minutes and 59 seconds after it began, before it really even got started.
"Obviously, I got caught with that knee, but that's kind of something you can't really train for," Mendes said. "That was obviously something they've trained a whole lot for in their camp. You can tell. I mean, I don't think he really saw me coming in with the knee. He kind of just turned and threw it. And my natural reaction is to drop, and his was throw the knee."
Given the positioning and spacing of the pair just prior to impact, it was essentially a perfect strike from a man who is one of the elite strikers in the sport today.
"I just feel like I trained so hard, put in so many hours, had a great game plan, and just felt better than I've ever felt for any fight," Mendes said. "Either way, if I'm going to get knocked out or get beat, I just wish I could have fought more. I just feel like I went in there and did that entire camp, but didn't really get to like let it go. I didn't get to leave everything out there. For me, that's kind of the hardest part.
"Other than that it was a great experience. I feel like I learned a lot getting in there and being able to feel Jose – feel his strength, feel his speed. I felt with the standup, I feel like my standup was a lot better than it's been for any fight, so I felt pretty comfortable in there. I honestly felt like I was going to win."
Mendes never got the opportunity to avenge his loss to Jaggers. But if he strings together a few wins in the cage, he'll be standing on the precipice of another title someday – with the possibility of a rematch with Aldo.
While he waits for his next assignment, Mendes is recharging his batteries a bit before he embarks on his next phase.
"Right now I'm kind of just relaxing, not doing very much hard training," he said. "(I'm) just kind of doing the stuff outside the gym that I like to do – going on bike rides, doing some cycling and some circuit lifting, and stuff that I don't really get to do a whole lot of during camp. For me, it's cool to kind of just switch it up."
And when the phone call does come in the answer is already "yes."
"I don't care who they put in front of me," Mendes said. "I just want to fight."
