Arguably the number two guy in the division, who could beat up anyone who's not Jose Aldo gets matched up with McKenzie, them Yaotzin Mesa (last minute replacement, I know) then Manny Gamburyan? It's like the polar opposite of Akiyama, he's gonna soon be fighting Rodrigo Damm and chopping block guys.
McKenzie was a replacement fight but I hear ya. Chad likes to stay busy and I'm sure he's aware that he needs another long winning streak to get himself into a title shot opportunity again. That means fighting everyone, even if it means mediocre dudes like Manny Gamburyan. Manny was probably chosen because he was begging to be on the card and Rousey put in the good word for him.
I have no clue what the UFC is doing giving Mendes this bout. He deserved a much better opponent. Anyways Mendes by whatever he wants.
At first I read chopping block guys as racism saved by auto-correct. Then I reread it and decided you don't understand that Mendes is being given the Fitch treatment because he lost so convincingly to Aldo that they can't promote a rematch and they don't want him ruining viable contenders.
Not justifying this match-up but Manny has had razor close loses before the Omigawa fight. Its going to be a great fight. Manny is on another level to Cody or Meza. He is no joke.
They threw Fitch a contender now and again. If they don't throw Mendes any, they're going to have some explaining to do when he's riding a nine fight win streak or something ridiculous.
C'mon, that's not a good explanation. The reason Mendes is getting these fights instead of top guys is because he'll probably beat the top guys and ruin their contenderships. Name whichever contenders you want at FW. Mendes beats those guys.
My thoughts exactly TS... no disrespect to Manny -- he has a solid ground game and has nasty KO power, but he is not at Chad's level at the moment. I was hoping to see Chad face his original opponent for TUF Smashes or perhaps fight Dennis Siver. Manny is a very dangerous foe, but this match up largely favors Chad.
That plays into it, for sure. So does Mendes' goal of fighting more frequently. And of course Manny was going to wind up on this card. Ronda is like his BFF 4 Life and shit, she was bound to get him a spot especially after they both spent like a day campaigning over it on social media. It's the two birds with one stone aspect.
I think its a good thing let the guy round out his game more and work on his striking. His last fight was the first time I've seen him look really comfortable and technical when striking let him work on that.
Well it's actually a matchup of former number 1 contenders. Yes I think Mendes is better, but you're underrating Manvil a little bit.
Mileage? He knocks them out in under a minute. Mendes gets more mileage on him by a light heavybag session than those fights. Let him make money. If he keeps winning he is bound to fight for number 1 contender, especially when Aldo moves up to lightweight after smashing Frankie.
