UFC NEWS: Chad Mendes willing to fight again before title shot, reflects on UFC 126 win over Omigawa

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Featherweight Chad Mendes could certainly sit on the sidelines after his latest victory and wait out a title shot against the winner of Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick at UFC 129, but the 25-year-old is ready and willing to take another fight.

"I'm betting they?ll do one more fight because if not, I'm going to have to wait almost six months to fight again,? Mendes said in an interview with Sherdog.com. "I'm sure they?ll probably throw one more in there before, which is fine with me. Every fight I'm gaining something. I'm learning. I'm getting better. If they wanted to throw me in there right now, then let's do it. If they want to wait, I'm OK with that too. I'm in a great spot, I think."

Mendes, who won his UFC debut in a highly impressive performance over Michihiro Omigawa last weekend, says he "dreams" of becoming UFC Champion. And though his win over Omigawa proved and excellent win, Mendes says things didn't quite go to plan.

"The plan was to try to knock him out," Mendes explained. "The guy has a chin from hell. I hit that guy with everything I had and never knocked [him] out. The guy's tough... He almost caught me in that armbar. He didn't almost catch me -- he had it freaking locked up tight. That was actually the first time in a fight where I was kind of thinking to myself, 'Man, I'm stuck right here.'"

Mendes, who has been criticized in the past for his fighting style and utilization of his wrestling game to grind out wins, was hoping to get that star-making finish in this fight, but credits Omigawa for taking everything he dished out.

"This honestly was the fight where I thought it was going to be [a highlight reel finish]," Mendes said. "I was definitely stoked to knock this guy out and I was hitting him with everything I had, but he was just tough."

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Penick's Analysis: Omigawa showed extreme toughness and one hell of a chin in that fight, because Mendes was hitting him with anything and everything he could think of. He's come a long way over the course of a few fights, and he's a legitimate challenge for current Champion Jose Aldo. If he's willing to get back into the cage, I'd love to see him against Kenny Florian early this summer, and the winner of that fight would make for an excellent next challenger to the UFC Featherweight Championship.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8427.shtml

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