UFC 126: Chad Mendes Talks Omigawa, Team Alpha Male, Wrestling, and More

With the WEC-UFC merger in full effect, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization has an abundance of amazingly and exciting lighter weight fighters.

One of the gentlemen who will make the transition over to the UFC, was a top collegiate wrestler at Cal Poly University where he was a 2008 NCAA Finalist, 2x All-American, 2x Pac 10 Champion and the 2008 Cal Poly Athlete of the Year.

With phenomenal wrestling credentials to his credit, Chad “Money” Mendes (9-0) entered the sport in 2008 and has since used his vast knowledge of the ground game to dictate where each of his nine professional fights have taken place.

“I started wrestling when I was 5 years old and I always had every coach preaching to me, “dictate where this match goes,” so I’ve just had that drilled into my head since I was a little kid. I think that’s why it transferred over to MMA and if you can dictate where the fight is going to go, then a lot of the time you’re going to win. Also, wrestling is great for mental toughness, it builds a lot of mental toughness and I think it’s great.”

Mendes’ aforementioned wrestling skills helped him go a perfect 4-0 in the WEC last year and according to the undefeated featherweight fighting in the sport’s premier organization is a dream come true.

“It’s awesome and a dream come true. I’ve only been training for around 2 ½ years now, so being able to get to the level where all these guys are at this fast is was just unheard of for me,” Mendes explained. “I didn’t expect to get here this fast and I remember sitting in my living room with my Dad when I was a little kid watching the UFC on DVD’s that we’d rent, so watching it back then and being here now is just unreal. Getting to fight on the same cards as Urijah (Faber), Joe (Benavidez), Danny (Castillo), and all teammates who are basically family members to me is awesome. They’re great and they show me a lot of things in training, they’re there to help me out whenever I have questions and it’s like having a bunch of big brothers on the team.”

The teammates he speaks so highly of are the gentlemen at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California where he spends countless hours working to be a well-rounded mixed martial artist. However, the team is more than that, they’re a family and Mendes explains what makes them that way.

“A few things come to mind and one is, that a lot of us come from the wrestling background, so we’re very like minded when it comes to training and everyone has the same goals in mind. We have like four houses over by Faber’s house where some of the fighters live in and we have another block over here in this side of town where it’s me, Joe, and TJ Dillashaw, so we all spend a lot of time together,” said Mendes. “A lot of us wrestlers like to pick apart each other’s brains, the guys that are really good with the standup part we like to share our knowledge of wrestling and they share with us their knowledge of standup. Faber always uses the word co-op and the team is so close because everyone is so willing to help one another.”

In his most recent fight, Mendes faced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Javier Vasquez at WEC 52. Vasquez resorted to heavy trash talking leading up to the fight, but it did not help his chances once the two fighters stepped inside the cage, as Mendes outclassed his opponent throughout the three rounds of action to earn the victory.

“There was a lot of trash talking before the fight and he was sending stuff up to my hotel room all week and I felt like I was disrespected, so to get in there and actually beat up the guy and make him pay for it was pretty cool. That was an awesome feeling and it was great to be able to get in there and beat him.”

That win has propelled the 25 year old featherweight into the next level of competition, which begins against Michihiro Omigawa (12-8-1) at UFC 126. His Japanese counterpart is currently riding a five fight win streak, but the undefeated Mendes believes he has the perfect style to defeat him and is excited to showcase his skills in the Octagon.

“I instantly thought it was a great matchup for me, he’s a Judo black belt but in a lot of his fights he dictates where the fight goes and he’s the type of guy that needs to get his hands on you to take you down,” he explained. “With my strength and background in wrestling, I think it’s a perfect matchup, his standup is not the greatest, so I’m going to blast him when he comes rushing in and it’s going to be amazing to actually get out there and showcase my skills for the fans of the UFC. There’s still a lot of people out there that don’t know who I am, but I’m working my up and hopefully soon enough everyone will know who I am. I’m so excited and can’t wait to get in there and fight Omigawa.”

Next Saturday, Spike TV will air the Mendes-Omigawa fight as a lead in to the UFC 126 pay-per-view and a victory will most certainly place the undefeated Mendes one step closer towards his goal as a world champion.