UFC Rio Predictions: How Jose Aldo Will Crush Chad Mendes

Jose Aldo is the UFC featherweight champion for a reason, and it's not because of a nice smile or how good he looks in a suit.

Aldo holds the UFC featherweight championship belt because he has a natural ability to strike, counter and press forward against some of the best fighters in all of MMA, and his bout against Chad Mendes is not expected to go that much differently from his other outing inside the Octagon.

Mendes trains with Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez and also possesses the type of athleticism, wrestling and strength needed to keep Aldo down for more than five rounds, and thus he's a lock to defeat Aldo for the UFC featherweight title in Rio de Janeiro tonight.

So why, then, is "Scarface" going to crush the perceived-as-one-dimensional Mendes?

"One dimensional" should have been the dead giveaway to why that will be the case.

Yes, Mendes says he'll be able to put Aldo to sleep if his right hand should hit Aldo's chin, but dropping Michihiro Omigawa once with a right hand and throwing a flying knee every now and then is not a striking edge over Aldo.

Really speaking, Mendes has only one way to beat Aldo, and that's on the ground; Aldo has at least eight, and that's only in reference to his stand-up.

If Aldo does get taken down, that'll be a different story, but Aldo knows that he has to make Mendes fight his fight and not sucker himself into fighting Mendes' fight, so he'll definitely be showing us all his sound takedown defense in order to force Mendes to stand. Right now, Mendes is not at a level where he can find a knockout naturally.

Mendes will eventually find himself lost once he realizes that he will not be able to implement his strength or his wrestling on Aldo, and if he tries to stand, he can claim to have as heavy of hands as he would like to believe he has. But he's still going to find himself down and out quick as Aldo makes yet another one bite the dust and retain his title in front of his home crowd.

Then again, there's always the other side of the discussion.