• UFC 133

Lacklustre Aldo a 'huge boost' for motivated Mendes

Jose Aldo tired severely in the fifth round against Mark Hominick © Getty Images

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Chad Mendes described UFC 129 as a "huge confidence booster" in his bid to defeat Jose Aldo for the featherweight title.

If widespread reports are to be believed, Mendes will get the next shot at the 145lb champion, most likely at UFC 133 in Philadelphia.

Aldo had previously looked untouchable in the featherweight division, going unbeaten since November 2005. However, against Mark Hominick on Saturday the Brazilian tired rapidly and spent the majority of the final round fending off the threat of defeat.

To a wrestler like Mendes, the opportunity to see Aldo struggling on his back was a significant moment, and now he has no doubt he can beat the champion when they fight.

"The weight cut might have been part of it but I'm sticking with it's a completely different kind of conditioning when you're on the ground," Mendes said of Aldo's decline to ESPN. "His wrestling and grappling conditioning is not the same as his stand-up conditioning.

"Being explosive on the feet is different than grappling, with the squeezing and pushing and pulling. It's different on your muscles. We haven't seen him on the ground a lot and I think that played a part in how tired he looked.

"I just remember thinking, 'Wow. This isn't what I thought it was going to be. Honestly, it's what I wanted to see, though. We haven't seen anybody get on top of him or him do much grappling. That's really the only place I wanted to see this guy and getting to see it was a huge confidence booster for me."

Commenting on the potential title fight, Mendes appears confident that it will be him, not Kenny Florian or Diego Nunes, who gets the next shot.

"My manager started talking to Dana [White] about this about a month ago," Mendes said. "I was just telling somebody I can't believe it's already here - fighting for a UFC world title. I've only been fighting for less than three years. It's awesome. I'm pumped."

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