Featherweights
Chad Mendes (18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (18-1)Advertisement
The featherweight division has an embarrassment of riches at the moment, with the return of Mendes and the emergence of Volkanovski only adding to it. Coming out of 2015, four men represented the clear elite of the UFC’s 145-pound weight class: Mendes, Conor McGregor, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar. After his loss to Edgar to close out the year, Mendes became a forgotten man, as a failed drug test kept him out of action for all of 2016 and 2017. With his comeback fight against Myles Jury in July, Mendes answered most of the questions about how he would look after a long layoff, passing the eye test with some bouncy striking before pouncing on Jury and knocking him out in under three minutes. In a way, the layoff may have helped Mendes, as staying out of sight and out of mind has made him a fresh contender upon his return. However, that is based off the assumption that he is truly picking up where he left off, and the fight with Volkanovski should be where he can prove that.
Wrestlers out of Australia have experienced difficulty adjusting to UFC-level competition, but Volkanovski is the clear exception. A stout tank of a fighter -- Volkanovski could probably compete as a bantamweight without much difficulty -- he has spent the last two-plus years rushing up the featherweight ladder with little difficulty. This has been the clear breakthrough year for “Alexander the Great.” A win over Jeremy Kennedy marked him as the top prospect to watch, and a one-sided beating of Darren Elkins on the same card in which Mendes returned proved that Volkanovski was capable of making a run to title contention. There are reasons to be skeptical if Volkanovski cannot get his powerful wrestling game going, but he has answered every question thus far, so there is nothing left but to test him against top-shelf competition.
This might be the most fascinating fight on the card, given the questions about both men. Mendes is Volkanovski’s toughest test to date by far, but he has his own questions thanks to accruing only three minutes of fight time since 2015. Volkanovski might be the stronger fighter in a straight clinch or wrestling battle, but it is unclear how much that means. Nobody has taken down Mendes in his major MMA career. If Volkanovski can put him on his back, Mendes might have the capability to get back up without much trouble or, alternately, the former title challenger’s game could entirely fall apart. It is also unclear if Volkanovski can reliably get his hands on the Californian, who is the much quicker fighter; Mendes could conceivably spend the entire fight picking his shots and forcing Volkanovski to try and chase him down. That is the main concern for Volkanovski here. With that said, if Volkanovski can close the distance on Mendes, a scenario in which Volkanovski bullies him to the mat and destroys him with some ground-and-pound would not be shocking. However, the issue is that it feels much more like an “if” than a “when.” The pick is Mendes via decision.
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