After guessing game, Chad Mendes planning on KO win over Guida at UFC 164
In the past little more than a year, Chad Mendes hasn't gotten much cage time despite three fights.
Since suffering thus far the only loss of his career in a title fight to Jose Aldo in January 2012, Mendes has logged 3:34 in the octagon, or about 1:11 per fight with three first-round knockouts.
So it's pretty easy to understand why Mendes (14-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) is preparing for the unknown when he meets Clay Guida (30-13 MMA, 10-7 UFC) next week at UFC 164.
The two meet Aug. 31 on the pay-per-view main card at Bradley Center in Milwaukee following prelims on FOX Sporst 1 and Facebook.
It's Guida's most recent pair of fights that have Mendes and his Team Alpha Male camp slightly perplexed about just which version is going to show up in Wisconsin. In June 2012, Guida was highly criticized for his approach in a five-round split-decision loss to Gray Maynard in the UFC on FX 4 headliner.
One man's "running" is another man's "careful strategy," true. But it was a far cry from the in-your-face style many had been accustomed to from "The Carpenter." And when he followed it up with more of a grinding pace in a split-decision win over Hatsu Hioki when he dropped to featherweight in January, the thinking was that the five-time "Fight of the Night" winner (and three-time "Submission of the Night" honoree) had changed his style.
"We're basically training for all Guidas," Mendes recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
MMA Radio, UFC Radio - MMAjunkie Radio*–*MMAjunkie.com). "There's the Guida that used to stand and bang and be in your face and all over the place, nonstop. And there's the Guida that kind of tap-dances around on the outside and is looking to point-win. We're ready for both, and we put together game plans for both. You just never know which one is going to show up."
With losses in two of his past three fights, and the split call over Hioki one that was called into question by many observers, is Mendes safe to assume Guida will want to be back to his in-your-face style? The style that was a little more on display in a lightweight title eliminator loss to Benson Henderson than it was one fight prior when he upset Anthony Pettis by keeping him on his back much of the fight?
There's no telling, Mendes said. But he knows what he'll bring to the table, regardless – and that might have him leaning toward the hair-flying Guida as opposed to the chess-match Guida.
"The last two (Guida) fights have been pretty much the same – the tap-dance, pitter-patter," he said. "This is going to be a tough fight for Guida, and I'm thinking that he's thinking that. I'm thinking he's ready for war, and he's going to get in there and just bring it."
Mendes has been there. The wrestling standout had four straight decision wins, two in the WEC and his first two UFC fights, to get his title shot against Aldo. But after that Aldo loss, he turned a corner and has been getting things done with his hands.
Ask Cody McKenzie, who got drilled in the body and was done after 31 seconds at UFC 148. (And that fight had an interesting back story worth reading about.) Ask Yaotzin Meza, who stepped up on less than a week's notice when Hacran Dias pulled out. He lasted nearly two minutes before being knocked out. And when Darren Elkins jumped at the chance to step in for Guida on a month's notice earlier this year, he was stopped in 68 seconds.
Mendes said the McKenzie fight was where he felt himself turning the corner.
"Everything before that, I felt overwhelmed with the whole standup part inside the octagon," Mendes said. "We'd train it, we'd drill it and do it in the (training) room, but when you get in there with the small gloves, no head gear, no shin pads, things just feel a little different. That's how it felt every fight up until then – uncomfortable for me. I remember thinking in the McKenzie fight, I went out there and had the mentality of, 'Screw it – I'm just gonna throw it.' I started to throw and I was like, 'Man, this feels good. Why have I not been doing this more?' I could relax a little more and see openings. I remember hitting that liver shot and just thinking, 'Man, I can do this.' And I just have that same mentality now going into every fight. It's been working great for me."
It certainly helps that Team Alpha Male has enlisted famed striker Duane Ludwig as its new head coach. The team's members are unbeaten since he came on board, and Mendes is more than a 4-59-1 favorite against Guida. If that seems high, it may speak to just how far Mendes has come since his loss to Aldo and how good he's looked.
If that means winning after 15 minutes, he'll take it. But that's not what he wants. Not these days.
"I don't think there's extra pressure (to finish), he said. "I always want to look good and win. I don't like losing, and obviously I don't want to go to a decision. It's hard to go to a decision. It's hard going 15 minutes as opposed to knocking someone out in the first round – if I could do that every single fight, I would. But it happens sometimes. Matchups, styles – we're at this spot in the sport where it's the top of the top. Everybody's good at everything these days. It just comes down to who's going to be more athletic and find out one weakness and capitalize on it."
But that's what Mendes plans on doing. And he's got another title shot on his mind, too.
Aldo is fresh off a successful title defense against Chan Sung Jung. It's been presumed that Ricardo Lamas probably is next in line thanks to four straight impressive wins at featherweight. Mendes might have a little sympathy for Lamas if he were to get a quick win over Guida and pass Lamas in the pecking order – but he won't feel that bad.
"It sucks for Lamas because he's been screwed out of the shot a couple times now," Mendes said. "But that's all part of the sport. That's how this game is run. I've called Lamas out twice, and the first time obviously would've been a short-notice fight for him, so it's understandable why he would turn it down. The second time would've been a three-week notice for me, and still somehow it got turned down. I'm ready to fight the best to be the best, and a lot of times these guys don't want to do that. They want to take the easy way up.
"If I win this fight, especially in spectacular fashion, I think I should be next in line for that title. I feel like if anyone can beat Aldo in this division, it's going to be me. It's going to be tough for these guys to beat Aldo with any kind of standup, and I don't think anyone has the wrestling credentials that I do, or the athleticism. ... I've got my hands full with Guida. But hopefully I get out there and destroy him and I'll be next."
And how? Not with a grind-it-out decision, that's for sure. This is the new Chad Mendes.
"I'm going to go out there and try to knock him out," he said.
