Chad Mendes och fjäderviktsmästaren Jose Aldo möttes senast vid UFC 179, där Aldo försvarade bältet via ett enhälligt domslut. Efter gonggongen vid första ronden lyckades Jose dock landa en slagkombinationen på Mendes, men det är inget som Chads tränare Duane Ludwig tänker beskylla mästaren för.
Ludwig lägger hela ansvaret på matchens domare Marc Goddard, och detta hade han att säga via ”ESPN. com”:
The crowd was so loud I didn’t hear it myself. I heard the 10-second clacker and knew the end of the round was close, but I didn’t actually hear a bell. I found out after the fight during interviews, actually. I heard Dana talking about it. He was the one who pointed it out. I was like, ’Wow, there were two punches after the bell.’
If you’re looking for someone to blame for that, it’s the referee. He should have been on point, knowing there was only 10 seconds left. There wasn’t much action at the 10-second mark, so we all heard that. Once Aldo heard it, I think he started unloading. It was a close fight. Those two punches didn’t help. He was almost out from that. He didn’t know what corner he was in and was on wobbly legs the whole time in between rounds.
Duane hade även följande att säga om Mendes prestation inne i oktagonen:
Chad was most effective when he was moving his feet and doing what we worked on. When he stood in the pocket and exchanged he did well too, but those were the times when he also got caught. If we would have moved our feet a little more, we might have been ahead on points but I’m not going to tell Chad how to fight every second. If he’s in the moment and feel like he needs to do something, he needs to do that.
Förlusten bröt Chads vinstsvit på fem matcher, medan Aldo radade upp sin 18:e raka seger.
