Mendes Wants Another Shot At Aldo
Posted on 10 Jun 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

Chad Mendes recently spoke with MMAjunkie about wanting a second shot at Jose Aldo and the featherweight title, his fight at UFC 148 and more. Check out the highlights:

On wanting to fight Aldo: "For me, it's about beating Aldo now. That's my first loss, and I want to get in there and prove to the world that I can be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters."

On being out of the cage due to his injury: "I was ready to get back in there as soon as possible. For me, I always do better when I'm competing on a regular basis. I feel like I get better faster. Obviously I'm learning more stuff when I'm in there."

On fighting Cody McKenzie at UFC 148: "It's going to be funny because I've trained with Cody. He's come into Sacramento and trained for a couple weeks at a time. This is the first time I've ever fought somebody that I've kind of known and trained with. I wouldn't call him a best friend or anything. But like I said, I've never trained with any of my opponents before or gone to lunch or hung out with them. It's going to be a different experience, but I'm going to treat it like it's any other fight. It's not like I'm fighting one of my teammates like Joseph Benavidez or Urijah Faber or T.J. Dillashaw. We'll see. I'm going to get in there, and I'm going to train like it's for the world title and go after it."

On McKenzie: "He's definitely awkward. He's southpaw. I think he's 6-foot, so he's going to be big for the weight. I don't think his standup is particularly any good. His wrestling is not very good. His ground is decent. He's got a really good guillotine choke. Obviously, we're going to base our camp around that and put together a good gameplan like we always do and just get in there and try to execute it as good as possible."

On climbing back up to the top of the division: "There are people that are turning down the fight with Aldo, people that just don't think they're ready for him or guys that have already fought and lost. I think that I'm pretty close, still, to the top. I win a couple more fights, and I should be right back in there."

On his loss to Also in January: "Overall, I had a lot of fun in Brazil. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever gotten to have in my life. I always think back to those open workouts on the beach and just seeing the planes go by with our names behind them. All the fans, it was just awesome. Having a wrestler on your back, a lot of times you're just going to turn and throw a knee. It's a chance you're going to take. Either you're going to miss and nothing is going to happen, or you're going to catch him and knock him out. Obviously, he caught me that night and knocked me out. It was something that they had probably planned and worked on, and they executed it well. For me, either just keeping the distance closed and keeping hold of him until the time ran out or trying to pull him away from the fence so there were no mishaps like possibly grabbing the fence or anything like that – pulling him back to the center and trying to bring him back down to the mat. It's something I probably could have done. It's something I think about a lot, and it's something I should have done."

On breaking his undefeated streak: "It sucks that I lost the fight. It was my first loss, but it's part of the sport. You're going to lose. No one stays undefeated forever. But for me, it's just a learning experience. I got to fight one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and I saw what I did wrong. I learned from it, and hopefully I can win a couple of fights and get back in there and go after it again. I could definitely make 135, and I'm sure it will happen in the future, but right now 145 is my home, and I'm going to try and go after that belt as many times as I can until I get it. Ultimately, it's not up to me. We all know that. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed and keep doing what I do."