UFC 142: Jose Aldo Must Dominate Mendes for Featherweight Division to Explode

Jose Aldo was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world when he fought for the now-defunct WEC promotion. While he is still winning fights, his matchup with Chad Mendes at UFC 142 is the most important one of his career. 

Moving to UFC was supposed to launch Aldo into the stratosphere with fighters like Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, but things haven't worked out like they were supposed to. He had two lackluster victories over Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian, who are nice fighters but nothing special. 

Mendes does not have the flashy style that puts him on highlight reels, but what he lacks in pop he more than makes up for in technique and substance. He is a wrestler who is going to grind his opponents down until they can't move, then he beats them up for the duration of a fight before the judges give him the decision. 

While that style is conducive to winning, it does not do much in the way of marketing. Aldo, on the other hand, can be a sensation when he is at the top of his game.

He is one of the most dangerous strikers in the sport thanks to a great combination of speed, which he uses to pepper his opponents with kicks and punches, and power—even at 145 pounds he can pack a punch that would make some middleweights jealous. 

But as Dave Meltzer of Yahoo Sports points out, don't underestimate Aldo's ability to fight on the ground, which is something he will likely have to do against Mendes. 

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But Aldo Jr.’s ground game, which has barely been seen since he started fighting in the U.S. three-and-a-half years ago, is said to be better than his standing game. As a teenager, he competed and won high-level jiu-jitsu tournaments. In recent years, wrestling has become a focus for him, and it’s become strong enough that he’s become one of the most difficult fighters in the sport to take down.

Ultimately, that’s the key to Saturday’s fight, because Mendes (12-0) is considered the strongest wrestler in the featherweight division. Mendes, 26, came into MMA after wrestling at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, after going 30-1 as a senior and finishing second in the 2008 NCAA tournament.

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And Aldo is going to have to show something that he has not yet shown in UFC. Winning this fight is not good enough, because we have seen him do that. 

The featherweight division is still brand new in UFC, and it is looking to establish itself. This is the first show that the featherweight championship fight is the main event.

There is a lot of pressure on the fight to deliver, and Aldo, as the face of the division, has to have a performance like he did when he picked apart Urijah Faber at WEC 48. He has to dominate Mendes to make it so even casual MMA fans are going out of their way to see him. 

Aldo has been given the stage to shine on, he just has to go out there and deliver. If he is completely healthy, there is no reason to think that he won't. 

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