January - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
38
Chad “Money” Mendes is a
3-time title challenger who fell
to the hands of defeat last Fri-
day evening in the headliner
for The Ultimate Fighter 22 Fi-
nale. Mendes was defeated by
a worthy opponent in Frankie
Edgar, but nobody expected
the bout to come to an end
just minutes into the opening
round. Edgar threw a combi-
nation that clipped Mendes
at 2:28 of the first round that
forced referee John McCarthy
to intervene.
Mendes has now lost three of
his last four bouts, with two
losses coming by way of knock-
out. Now the question to ask
is, what is next for Mendes?
Ranked against the other top
three opponents in the divi-
sion between Jose Aldo, Conor
McGregor, and Edgar, he has a
combined record of 0-4. When
Mendes first came to the UFC,
he was the young undefeated
rising prospect that had end-
less amounts of potential. In
2012, he got his first title shot,
with an 11-0 professional re-
cord, he went into enemy ter-
ritory against champion Aldo
where he experienced his first
defeat by a vicious knee.
Following the first loss of his
career, he went on to win five
straight, with four of those
wins coming by knockout. He
finally got his chance for re-
demption by getting to chal-
lenge the only man to defeat
him. Although he did come up
short in the bout, it went down
as one of the most memorable
bouts in 2014.
Mendes gave Aldo the tough-
est fight that he had expe-
rienced in his career and his
value to the featherweight di-
vision had risen from the back-
and-forth battle. Coming off
UFC Featherweight Dilemma:
What’s Next For Chad Mendes?
Article By: Jake Schneider
Chad Mendes (José Youngs/The MMA Corner)
