Former UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes talks about his future in combat sports in an interview. Mendes had a great run in the UFC fighting a who’s who of the featherweight division. Following his UFC career Mendes pursued boxing in BKFC and grappling matches. He beat Joshuah Alvarez in BKFC by KO in round 4 but lost to Eddie Alvarez by split decision. In grappling matches he drew against Gesias Calvalcante and beat Diego Brandao.
Chad Mendes and His Future
In an interview with MMA Junkie Mendes discussed how he looks to continue. In relation to BKFC Mendes said, “Honestly, I think the only thing that really intrigues me at this point with bareknuckle is a rematch with Eddie, mainly because I thought I won that fight. Worst case, (it was) a draw. But I’ve talked to Eddie about it a little bit. He kind of seemed like he was into it a little bit.”. So, Mendes is largely uninterested in boxing except an Alvarez rematch. The first fight was close so a rematch would be interesting.
Mendes also said, “What I’ve heard, though, from the grapevine, is his coaches don’t want to do it. So I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not, but that’s really the only thing that interests me in that world anymore. If that’s not going to happen, I probably won’t do any more, no.”. Here he reiterates an Alvarez rematch is the only thing that interests him and that it seems unlikely. So, Mendes is unlikely to box again.
However, Mendes was positive about his future in grappling matches. Mendes said, “I like these grappling events, I like being able to continue staying in shape, doing grappling, strength and conditioning, stuff like that, which is something I’ve done since I was a young kid, and I love to do more than getting punched in the face, honestly. So I will definitely continue to do these, I think, moving forward until my body is like, ‘That’s enough.’”
So, we will likely see Mendes continuing with grappling events. It’s something he enjoys and is a port where he isn’t getting as damaged. Which is nice to see compared to fighters who keep fighting for far too long. So, something to look forward to is seeing Mendes compete in grappling and hopefully having success.
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