'New' Chad Mendes wants to 'take Aldo's head off': 'Don't underestimate me'

C. Mendes (photo) was defeated by Aldo in 2012. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

Chad Mendes He finally received the opportunity he wanted so much. On August 2nd, in Los Angeles, United States, the fighter will have the chance to avenge his only defeat in his MMA career by challenging again José Aldo for the UFC featherweight belt, in what will be the main attraction of the 176th edition of the event.

In an interview with the “Combate” channel website, the North American assured that he is another fighter compared to the one who was knocked out by Aldo in Rio de Janeiro, in January 2012. “Today I can knock people out with just one punch, I am athletic, my physical conditioning is better than ever and I still have the ability to mix my wrestling with my stand-up game. This Chad who will face Aldo is a completely different fighter than the one he faced the first time. I think he really needs to be careful with my standing game and my ground game”, warned the North American.

Furthermore, Mendes believes that the fact that the first fight took place in Brazil, a new place for him, interfered in the dispute. “I was going to a place I had never been before, it was a different country, there was a time difference, the fans were against me. It was difficult to adapt to all these changes, time zones and even food. I didn't know that most Brazilian foods had a lot of sodium and this made the weight loss process more difficult. There were several things that happened at the same time and that's why this time I wanted the fight to be here [in the United States]. Let’s see how this table turns,” he said.

Mendes also detected a certain drop in Aldo's performance in his last fights. “I feel that Aldo is becoming an extremely cautious fighter. He goes there and has this knockout power with a kick or a punch, but he's not managing to knock him out. It's like he's just fighting enough to win the fight. It was like that in his last two fights, Aldo kind of pushed with his belly. I don't know if this happens because of injuries, because he's been getting injured all the time and only fights once or twice a year. Maybe his body isn't taking it anymore... I don't know, but I feel like I've evolved a lot more than Aldo in his last two fights”, he analyzed.

Finally, the title challenger sent a message to the champion. "Do not underestimate me. I've heard in some interviews that you're saying that you knocked me out once and you're going to go in there and do it again, but like I said, I'm a new Chad Mendes and I've been training harder than I've ever trained in my entire life. I feel like I've evolved a lot since the first time we faced each other and now it's going to be a completely different fight. Our duel will be a war and I will go in there to take his head off”, he promised.

The fight at UFC 176 will mark the Brazilian's seventh title defense, who arrived in Ultimate already as featherweight champion. This is because he was the owner of the WEC event title, which was acquired by the UFC at the end of 2010. Counting the fights in the now defunct event, Aldo has already defended the belt on eight occasions.