The Official UFC Fighter rankings are important in the UFC. Although a lot of fans and media do not think of the rankings as legitimate, they serve a big purpose by informing the mainstream audience as to how good a fighter is compared to his or her peers.
The rankings have their problems and inconsistencies. For those that get to vote on the rankings, I will plead my case for a fighter who deserves, what I believe, to be a great honor in the sport, a spot on the pound-for-pound ranking list.
Chad Mendes: The Consistent #1 Contender
To be a pound-for-pound great fighter who is not a champion, you have to be one of the best in the world for a very long time. Although it doesn’t seem like it, Chad Mendes has been one of the best fighters in the world for a long time.
The UFC Official Fighter Rankings came out in early February of 2013. Fast-forward to present day, and only three champions remain from those rankings, and every #1 contender has fallen in ranking.
Every #1 contender other than Chad Mendes. Mendes has been the consensus #1 contender in the featherweight division for over two years and has not come close to losing that spot. The likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Vitor Belfort, Daniel Cormier, Gilbert Melendez and Urijah Faber have all been given spots in the P4P rankings without having won their divisions championship. Chad Mendes has not only been more dominant than all of these contenders, but is the #1 contender to the #2 P4P fighter in the world.
If Mendes hasn’t earned the title of greatest featherweight, he has at least earned the title of one of the best P4P fighters in the world. If Cormier and Gustafsson can both be on the list at the same time, then I’m sure you can find a spot for Mendes. The featherweight division is the only mens division outside of flyweight to never have more than one fighter in the P4P rankings, and the middleweight division currently has three. The case can easily be made for Mendes to take Belfort’s spot at #15.
Complete Dominance Over Featherweights
Chad Mendes is the most dominant featherweight champion in UFC history who is not named Jose Aldo. Mendes backed up this claim by putting a beat down on Ricardo Lamas, finishing him by TKO in the first round on Saturday.
The win for Mendes is his 6th in his last 7 fights. The lone loss came to divisional kingpin Jose Aldo in a back and forth fight that pushed the only featherweight champion in UFC history to his limits.
Chad Mendes has never lost a non-championship fight (17-0) and has knocked out five of his last seven opponents. Mendes had a perfect record in the WEC (4-0) winning fights against Cub Swanson, Erik Koch and Javier Vasquez.
Not only has Mendes won 17 MMA fights, but he has looked extremely dominant in each of them. Before his first loss to Aldo, Mendes would rag-doll his opponents with his wrestling. Since that loss, he has been taking people’s heads off with his improved striking. He made a statement at UFC 164 by being the first fighter to ever finish Clay Guida with strikes, a testament to his power.
Not Just Any #1 Contender
There are some fighters that are able to make it to a title shot, but always fall just short. Unfortunately Mendes falls into that category with two failed title bids. Mendes does however have an advantage over others who have been put in championship purgatory.
Mendes’ teammate Urijah Faber has earned plenty of title shots in the UFC without ever successfully cashing them in. Unlike Mendes though, Faber no longer holds the claim of second best to the champion. Faber was surpassed by Renan Barao as the number #1 contender, and is currently ranked the #3 bantamweight behind champion TJ Dillashaw, Renan Barao and Dominick Cruz.
After Mendes lost to Aldo a second time, many claimed that he would be the Junior Dos Santos of the featherweight division. Dos Santos lost to Cain Velasquez twice after taking away his championship in their first fight. This has put Dos Santos in a position where he has to wait for Velasquez to lose the title before he can get another shot.
The thing that makes Mendes different from both of these great contenders is that Mendes continues to look better. Faber’s first fight with Barao was close, but in the second, Faber was finished in the first round. In Dos Santos’ first loss to Velasquez, he was dominated for 25 minutes. In the second fight, he looked no better, getting finished in the 5th round.
Chad Mendes was an outstanding wrestler before his first fight with Aldo where he was KO’d in the first round by a quick knee. He developed his striking and made leaps and bounds in his overall MMA game. In the second fight, Mendes knocked Aldo down and made the fight a war. Although he lost the decision, Mendes looked like he had the potential to beat Aldo.
With a quick TKO victory over Ricardo Lamas, Mendes has made the case for another chance at the UFC Featherweight Championship after Aldo and Conor McGregor square off. Before then, he atleast deserves the recognition as a current pound-for-pound best fighter. It would be a nice feather in his cap, and would give more credit to the talent stacked featherweight division.
