The Film Room: Chad Mendes

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UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Chad Mendes returns to the Octagon for the 2nd time in 2018 when he takes on Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 232. Mendes took 2.5 years off for a USADA suspension and many thought he would return a different fighter than he was before. But he silenced the critics earlier this year with a dominating victory over Myles Jury and proved he deserves to be on the shortlist of title contenders.



Mendes is a two-time Division 1 All American out of Cal Poly and quickly developed the reputation of one of the most dominant grapplers in the division. Generally, wrestlers in MMA have one or two go-to takedowns, which make their attempts easier to see coming. Mendes has his favorites of course, but what makes him so dangerous on the ground is the variety of takedowns he can use with ease. His main takedowns are right leg knee taps and body lock slams, but he is also adept at using counter takedowns and trips from the clinch. Once on the ground, Mendes finds a nice medium of knowing when to pass guard and when to posture up and strike. He won’t overwhelm you with ground-and-pound like his opponent Volkanovski will, but once he gets it to the ground he is most likely holding them there for the remainder of the round.



One thing you can always expect out of a Team Alpha Male fighter is this shuffling hook. The shuffling hook is a favorite of fighters like Tyron Woodley and nearly every single Alpha Male fighter throws it with it with impunity, almost to a fault. By this point, nobody should ever be hit with this hook since it should be expected but that’s the beauty of this strike. It allows you to feint a rear hook while faking a stance switch before coming up with the lead hook. Not only does it confuse opponents as to what’s coming at them, but the shuffle also allows one to generate more power for the lead hook.



Mendes’ other go-to leading attack is this dipping uppercut. Since the threat of his grappling is always there, he can use it to set up his striking. Notice how he bends at the hips as if he’s shooting for a takedown before coming back up with an uppercut. The threat of his wrestling forces the opponent to drop their hands to defend the takedown which leaves them wide open up the middle for the uppercut.



Early in his career, Mendes was much more aggressive on the feet but as he moved up the ranks he intelligently became a more patient striker, which makes his countering ability more important. Against Conor McGregor, Mendes was able to time a few of his left straights and dipped to his right to avoid them then coming back with a counter overhand right. Mendes can also use his countering instincts to get the fight to the ground. Against Rani Yahya, Mendes routinely ducked under his aggressive leading attacks and dumped him to the ground.

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