Both Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo have a history together. The two fought at UFC 142, in which Aldo scored a first round TKO victory in his native Brazil.
It took five straight wins for Mendes before could have another shot at Aldo at UFC 176 in early August in Los Angeles. But due to an injury with the championship, the game was postponed for another three months.
Three months after, both fighters is set to face each other for a rematch in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 25.
During one of their promotional stint, Aldo shoved Mendes which was caught on video. According to Aldo, he only did so to promote their match but Mendes thinks otherwise. According to Mendes "I think that's bull. [Aldo] lost his temper, he lost his cool and that's never happened before. So he's trying to backtrack and cover that up, like, we were just trying to sell the fight. If that was the case, if you were trying to sell the fight, you wouldn't come out and say that afterwards. That was him backpedaling for sure."
According to Mendes, it was all psychological.
He said "For me it's basically me thinking I'm in his head, man. We've never seen Aldo do this with any opponent. I think he feels threatened in his head, which is right where I want to be. When you get into a stare-off and the guy shoves you or pushes you, it's kind of funny to me. That's our job, and that's what we're supposed to do. If you don't want to be there, don't do the damn stare down. It's just funny to me to see him get frustrated and lose his cool."
When asked about his opinion on Aldo's action, he simply answered that the latter is comfortable of his position saying "I think [Aldo]'s a guy who found his comfort zone. He's very good at what he does. He'll go in there and use his skills that he's very good at. But, he'll coast. He knows he can be the guy with leg kicks. He knows he can be the guy with the jab. If a guy gets crazy, he can throw a knee and possibly catch him. But a lot of guys aren't pushing the pace on him, so he's not able to hit those crazy knees. He's just staying on the outside using his leg kicks and popping jabs. Yeah he's winning fights, but it's not exciting. He's not finishing guys. He's not looking to finish guys. He's looking to coast and get the W and get out of there."
He added "He's a different guy now. He's married. He has a newborn baby. A lot of people say that changes a man. In this sport you've got to have that aggression and that will to get out there and destroy your opponent and maybe that's gone."
