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Chad Mendes: ‘If the UFC is Smart, They Will Not Put Conor McGregor in with a Guy Like Me'
UFC featherweight Conor McGregor has, at one point or another, called out every ranked fighter in the UFC’s 145-pound division. He’s levied insults via social media, critiqued them in interviews, and engaged in several wars of 140 characters with potential opponents on Twitter.
Top 145-pound contender Chad Mends has been a target of the brash Irishman’s criticisms, but believes it’s in the UFC and McGregor’s best interest to not match the two up. McGregor may be the division’s biggest star, but Mendes has zero doubt that he’d demolish the Dublin native in a fight.
“If the UFC is smart, if Dana [White] is smart, they will not put him in with a guy like me,” Mendes recently told The Great MMA Debate Podcast. “There are multiple guys that will beat this guy in the division. I think I would kill him.”
The Team Alpha Male trained fighter cited the likes of Dennis Bermudez, Clay Guida, and Nik Lentz as other bad match-ups for the rising contender.
“All of these guys that are strong wrestlers that can take a punch and keep coming and have great gas tanks will destroy him,” he asserted.
While Mendes would like nothing more than to silence the hype surrounding McGregor, he sees the worth of the 26-year-old to the organization and the featherweight division.
“I think the UFC needs to keep building him up. This guy is obviously bringing a lot of attention to the division, a lot of attention to the sport. He’s a superstar now, so I would love to get in there and dismantle the guy,” said Mendes. “But I think if the UFC is smart, they wouldn’t allow that.
“I would love to dismantle the dude.”
