UFC Featherweight Chad ‘Money’ Mendes Contemplates ‘Moneyweight’ Fight

FAIRFAX, VA—“I’m kind of just in a weird spot right now,” Chad Mendes told Breitbart Sports this weekend.

The UFC featherweight remains undefeated against fighters not named “Jose Aldo.” After knocking Ricardo Lamas onto queer street on Saturday, Mendes has faced and defeated nearly everyone who’s anyone at 145: Cub Swanson, Clay Guida, and Nik Lentz to name three.

So, would Money consider imitating his Team Alpha Male stablemate Urijah Faber and accept a superfight outside of his weight class? It’s called the “money” division, after all.

“That’s something I think I could probably do,” Mendes tells Breitbart Sports. “I’d have to just change up my camp a lot as far as what I am doing diet-wise and training. It’s not something I really want to do. But I think I possibly could. But if there’s a superfight and if the money’s right, I would definitely think about doing it.”

The stocky Mendes notes that he thinks he can cut down past 145 until about two pounds out, when he tells himself, “Screw that.” Though the question included the idea of either moving up or down, Mendes refrained from calling out, say, an Anthony Pettis, and instead fixated on the idea of shedding pounds instead of adding them.

Few fights remain for Mendes at featherweight. Dennis Bermudez, Frankie Edgar, and Conor McGregor would make sense if their dance cards weren’t punched. July’s Aldo-McGregor bout complicates matters further for Mendes. Should Aldo win, an outcome predicted by Money, Mendes may be locked out because he has twice faced and failed against the champ. Should McGregor win, Aldo has reigned as such a dominant champion that a rematch would be a near certainty, which would also lock the Californian out.

Mendes recognizes the conundrum.

“I’ve been trying to figure out who I would fight after this, if I were to go out there and beat Ricardo,” Mendes explained after doing just that. “The only thing that makes sense in my mind is back for that title.”

Unfortunately for Mendes, the third try for the title in four years that makes sense in his mind may not make sense in Jose Aldo’s or Dana White’s.