Chad Mendes' next fight in the UFC will come against Frankie Edgar in what should be a fascinating contest between two elite wrestlers in the UFC's featherweight division.
The bout will be a part of a bumper weekend for the UFC as the two will headline the TUF 22 finale, one night before UFC 194 and Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo.
Speaking ahead of that fight, Mendes expressed his relief at being able to fight without the "crazy" Irish and Brazilian fans against him, as he did in his last two contests against McGregor and Jose Aldo, and spoke about the Irish fans in particular as he explained that he had to deal with them everwhere, even during his preparation for the fight:
I'm pretty pumped, that last fight (against McGregor) was pretty insane, the crowd there was nuts, I felt like they had the whole country of Ireland there.
There was a point where I was walking from the work-out room to my room, and I had a couple of drunk Irishmen just following me talking crap, it was crazy.
Mendes then went on to claim that the outcome of the fight was down solely to the short notice with which he had to prepare, and rubbished the idea that McGregor's body kicks caused any damage.
I mean that (the short notice) was 110% the factor of the loss in that fight, I've seen him say "Oh it doesn't matter if he took short notice, it was the body kicks that slowed him down." None of those kicks hurt at all.
Everybody knows that I go out there with a full camp and I destroy that guy, 10/10 times.
Does everybody know that Chad? I don't think they do.
For someone who made very clear how he wasn't expecting the short camp to effect his fight, he sure is making a lot of excuses for why it actually did.
Regardless, Mendes now must prepare for Edgar knowing that a win puts him right back into the title picture as long as there isn't an immediate Aldo/McGregor rematch.
via Whoatv.com
