Chad Mendes Is Still the UFC's 2nd-Best Featherweight; Is That a Problem?

We need to talk about Chad Mendes.

Mendes rolled over Ricardo Lamas via first-round TKO Saturday afternoon at UFC Fight Night 63, efficiently reaffirming his status as the second-best fighter in the company’s suddenly scintillating featherweight division.

Will that be a problem?

Mendes is now 29 years old and gives every impression of being at the top of his game. His evolution from NCAA Division I All-American wrestler to complete MMA fighter may be one of the more impressive, if undersold, stories in the 145-pound weight class. He’s 17-2 overall (8-2 in the UFC) and has made violently short work of most of his competition.

But Mendes has already lost twice to champion Jose Aldo in the Octagon—at UFC 142 in July 2012 and at UFC 179 last October. Depending on the outcome of Aldo’s title defense against Conor McGregor at UFC 189 in July, that fact could put Mendes and UFC matchmakers in a tough spot.

To make things even stickier, the division’s other upcoming top-contender bout pits Mendes’ longtime Team Alpha Male cohort, Urijah Faber, against Frankie Edgar on May 16.

If Aldo and Faber both win, Mendes will have to face some difficult decisions.

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“I’m going to be watching both of those fights very closely,” Mendes told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik in the cage after dispatching Lamas. “Whatever the UFC thinks I’m worthy of, I’m down.”

That was the political answer, but "worth" might end up having very little to do with it. If he can’t convince company brass to put him immediately into a third fight with Aldo, he’ll have to accept a bout against a lesser contender—several of whom he’s already defeated—risk fracturing his professional home by taking on Faber or decamp to bantamweight.

Mendes is a fairly heavily muscled featherweight, so the cut to 135 pounds would shape up as a doozy for him. In addition to that, another of Mendes' teammates—TJ Dillashaw—is bantamweight champion. Still, Mendes assured those in attendance at the post-fight press conference that he could make it, under the proper circumstances:

Any way it goes, it all seems like an unenviable position for Mendes—and frankly an unpleasant reward for continually fighting his way back to the top of the featherweight heap.

Now, however, we’re sure it’s reality. His performance against Lamas made it clear he’s not going back to the pack of contenders anytime soon.

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Lamas came in having amassed two straight wins since a loss to Aldo at UFC 169. His most recent appearance—a quick and easy victory over the streaking Dennis Bermudez last November—underscored his own lofty standing in the 145-pound logjam.

Lamas enjoyed a two-inch height and five-inch reach advantage over Mendes and in the early going obviously looked to exploit them. He used an impressively diverse arsenal of strikes to keep Mendes at distance, stinging him with an uppercut and some nasty low kicks.

At first, Mendes appeared content to take it.

“I wanted to feel him out a little bit,” he told Anik. “In my corner, we talked about finding his timing. I just kind of felt it out at first, felt his speed and then just felt like, ‘You know what, it’s time to get in there and get it done.’”

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With one minute, 49 seconds gone, Mendes floored Lamas with a right hand that landed high on the head. Lamas rose to his feet, only to take a hard knee to the face and get dropped again by a left hook.

The 30-year-old Chicago native never stopped scrambling for position and even got back to standing one more time. Mendes, however, wouldn’t stop coming. He scored with a series of hammerfists and punches and continually readjusted his position to keep up with Lamas’ scrambles.

His poise and measured approach was a testament to his standing in the division and his comfort at being faced with high-pressure spots.

It took nearly a full minute, but finally Mendes stood over the hurt Lamas and raised a hand to referee Dan Miragliotta as if to ask how long he was going to have to keep up the pounding. Miragliotta obliged him and stepped in to stop the fight.

“I needed to come in here and make a statement,” Mendes told Anik. “That’s what I said I was going to try to do, and I got it done. Ricardo is a great opponent, he’s been on a tear, so that means a lot.”

Consider that statement duly made and the rewards—Mendes got a $50,000 bonus for pummeling Lamas so quickly—in hand.

In plotting his next move, though, Mendes may have to proceed with caution. At the moment it looks like his next step, whatever it is, won’t be an easy one.