MMA Fighting - Chad Mendes Talks Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz, Fighting Future, More

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Retired UFC featherweight Chad Mendes speaks with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck about his fighting future following his successful BKFC debut in February, what it will take for him to get back in for another fight, his collaboration with Polaris RZR, Josh Emmett's place in the UFC featherweight title picture, the advice he would give Emmett if he gets the shot to face Alexander Volkanovski, Nate Diaz's final fight on his UFC contract at UFC 279 against Khamzat Chimaev and how he breaks it all down, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Mike Heck here from MMAfighting.com. Hope you're all having a wonderful week. UFC 279 is upon us. And we're going to be talking a lot about that event throughout the week. But today, an interview I did a few weeks back with former UFC featherweight title challenger, BKFC fighter, outdoorsman to the max. A lot going on in this man's life. And he has a lot of thoughts about the current landscape of the UFC, mixed martial arts,

etc. And he also is teaming up with the fine folks over at Polaris. He got to take a fun ride and you're going to learn all about that. You can also check out the video on the Polaris Razor YouTube channel and at M-Mayfiting.com. So, right now, my conversation with the one and only Chad Money Mendez. Enjoy. All right, let us say hello once again to Chad Mendez. a pleasure to talk to this man. He is an adventurous individual and we're going to talk about

some new adventures for Mr. Money. Chad, how are you, man? It's good to see you. I'm doing good, man. Good to see you again. How you been? I've been great. I've been great. We haven't spoken since you signed with BKFC and this is before you had your debut and we'll talk about that at a moment, but you are teaming up with Polaris here. They are introducing this vehicle, the Razor and they have gotten a number of athletes together. You, Rosammy Yunus, Roy Jones Jr. I believe Chad Ochosinko from NFL fame as a part of this as well, where you get to ride around in a razor. And basically the goal of this was to try to kind of scare the heck out of all of you guys. What was your experience like? Can you describe as an adventurous

individual as yourself, what that was like for you? Oh, man, that was one of the funest things I've ever done hands down. I actually just got off the call my business partner, who's like a huge adrenaline junkie, used to race when he was younger. And I forgot to tell him about this whole experience. And he brought it up this morning because I told him I had this, this interview. And I was just going off and he was blown away. I mean, at one point we were jumping,

I think it was like a 65 foot gap in this thing. And it was landing like a pillow. I mean, the, and there was multiple times where we were hitting close to 70 miles an hour on this. This was a motocross track. It wasn't even built for these players, razors. So it was pretty tight,

like very tight quarters with really, big jumps and this thing just like cruise through it like it was nothing at all multiple times we'd be flying down i'm like we're going to flip when we hit that that bank and it would just suck it and shoot you out the other side like it was nothing man i had so much fun i was uh just telling my business part like i would totally probably pay like i feel like they could just like make money having people sign up to just drive around and and experience this day to day like it was that much damn fun man i loved it yeah i was thinking about this this morning and And when I ride with, when I ride in a car with my father, we're from, we're from the Boston area.

So he's a pretty aggressive driver. He likes to get up all close and stuff. And when he takes turns, like it's, it's only natural to grab the handle. Yeah. Like on the passenger seat, you're just like, you're trying not to be like wimpy about it, but you're just like, okay, like, I don't know what's going to happen here. Were there certain points? I mean, you mentioned there were certain things like you thought it might tilt over,

but at certain points where you're just like, I have to grab onto something or, you know, did they scare you at all? Was there any moments of like unsureity, so to speak, but in a fun way? There was right off the bat. So the very first. So they fully suited me out. I had this black racing suit on, a full helmet with the audio stuff on the, in the headset. So I could hear everybody talking.

But they had basically like a grip handle right in front of me that we adjusted. And I was fully strapped in like straight race car style just strapping. And so I felt like I was in there pretty good. We had a net over the window and everything. So I wasn't going to go flying out if something happened. happened, but the very first jump, like, and they didn't tell us anything about this going into it. They just said, we have a video shoot for you. We'd love for you to come do this because they wanted just full natural reaction. And when I showed up and they told me this to what we were doing,

I was like, oh, man, like, that was a balsy move. What if I would have just been like, screw you? I'm not getting in this damn thing. But, I mean, I was pumped that. I was telling my business part of this. I think my issue in life is that I trust everybody. So I was like, yeah, screw it. Let's go, this is going to be fun. But right off the bat, the first jump, he guns it and sucked me into the seat. And, you know, I, I've been in one years ago, you know, and I remember it being pretty smooth, but we never jumped it. And he comes up to this jump flying, like, doing probably 40 or 50. And we jump. And the first, like, you know, when you drop and you get that like stomach feeling, you get that. And I'm just like bracing. My butt hole was so puckered, bro.

And we landed and it was just like pillows. And I was like, oh, like this big relief just went over me. I'm like, all right, this is going to be super fun. And he just started ripping it, man. It was a good time for sure. So this would be part of the Polaris Razors Sunday strolls content series. You'll be able to watch these videos. Are you nervous to see what you look like because of like the adventure and the speed

and everything that you were thinking about? No, man. I'm actually really excited to see this. And this video will be out soon. And so you guys stay tuned to the Polaris Razor YouTube channel. This will be live. Probably this summer is what they're shooting for. But I'm dying to see this, man.

At one point, like we were jumping and they had drones like driving underneath us. Like as we were up in the air, just like zipping through. And multiple times like drones as we were flying by would just come whizzing past us like super close. So I'm excited to see what kind of content how this plays out. I think it's going to be really cool. I'm excited to see it as well. we mentioned you in your adventurous side. You have ventured over to the world of bare-knuckle fighting.

BKFC, you took on fames. You looked fantastic, multiple knockdowns. Eventually, you got them out of there. What was the experience like for you? Like, thinking back on it now, it was a few months ago, thinking back on it, how much did you enjoy that? Man, I enjoyed that probably way too much. I was, you know, I think we talked.

I wasn't sure what it was going to be like. I was either going to love it or I was going to hate it. And I absolutely loved it, man. That was a fun experience. I'm glad I got in there and got one done and could check that off the list there, man. Me and your eye were actually talking that night. And he's like, well, I'm pretty jealous. And I'm like, wow, he's like, you got to say you're a bare knuckle boxer.

Like, how cool is that? Well, yeah, it's pretty cool, man. It was a fun experience, crazy journey. I mean, we talked before, but just so many pushbacks. And I think I trained for that for over a year. Longest training camp in my life, but I think it was all worth it, man. It was a good time getting in there and experiencing that. And it was fun, man.

I actually enjoyed that probably more than I did fighting in the UFC. It seemed, you know, a lot easier, obviously focusing on one thing, just boxing, not having to worry about, you know, takedowns and grappling and kicks coming at me and could really just focus, like, tunnel vision on one thing. and it felt good to get in there and just cracked her knuckle, man. It was a cool experience. There are a couple of things that stood out in our conversation outside of just you, just the UFC allowing you to do this and just your thoughts on it.

In general, one, you said that you had to convince your wife a little bit. So I'm curious about her reaction to the fight and how it all played out. And two, you said you felt like your eye was more excited about this than you were. So what was fight week? What was fight week like with youraya? Was he just giddy the whole time? Yeah, he was pumped, man. He showed up a couple days in the fight week.

He had some other work yet he'd done, but right there towards the end, man, he was loving it. We were in Florida, obviously, you know, the Cali kid. That's probably his next home away from home, just being in the heat and on the beat. He was definitely in his element, but, you know, it did have that, you know, kind of starting out small show fill, obviously because they are still, you know, in the infant stages. But it brought me back, man. I actually enjoyed it. When I first started, I was fighting at the Tachi Palace, which was close to my hometown and kind of had that same fill, you know. And it was just cool going from the biggest stage in the MMA platform to back to that, just the fill of the hometown crowd type of thing, you know, even though it's not my hometown.

But it just felt I had a ton of people out there, which was really cool, lots of friends, family. So all in all, yeah, I think Faber had a good time. He might even have more fun than I did. and how did your wife react after the fight was over? Was she like, don't do this again? Or what was the conversation like? Yeah, pretty much. Like, all right, you got it out of your system.

You're done. But yeah, she didn't. We had friends over and stuff, and they all sat in the living room. And she stayed way back in the kitchen, just kind of like peeking through, you know, paying attention. But, you know, once the outcome was determined, then she knew that I was okay. She felt a lot better. But, yeah, it was tough for her.

She's like, this is the. first time I've ever not been to any of your fights. And I, she stood up the whole time because she was over in the kitchen. She said she just had the weakest legs ever. So yeah, all in all, though, I mean, like I said, it was a good experience. I think it ended well. It was in and out, you know, no real damage other than my hand was pretty jacked up, but it seems to be fine now. But yeah, I don't think it could have gone any better. Did you get it out of your system? or do you feel like you haven't gotten all of it out of your system yet? I keep telling people never say never.

But as of right now, I'm pretty content. You know, I got that checked off the list. And we'll see. I mean, it's, I feel like I'm gambling every time I do this, even though it's so damn fun. But, you know, I'm not going to say no. We'll see. I got nothing planned, nothing scheduled.

So we'll just be talking to those guys and kind of see what things look. like here either the rest of this year or next year. It's also tough because all our fins and feather stuff really kicks off like in June and really goes through November. So, you know, it's tough for me to step away from all that and jump in a hardcore training camp because I got to turn all that stuff off. And man, I'm having too much damn fun, you know, making money and getting to hang out with cool people and travel and hunting fish. And it's tough to step away from that for sure. Are you, would you, like this might be a weird question for you to answer, but, Let's just say that there's two, you're at the fork in the road right now.

You can go, because I feel like James, like James Krause is a perfect example. He's a guy who has found a lot of different things. I've talked to him for a couple of years between fights and it was like, eh, same kind of response as you were given. Never stay, never. Maybe I'll come back, but I'm doing this and I'm doing this. And it's going to take a lot to get me out of that. And eventually he just said, screw it, I'm done.

You're never going to see me fight again. Are you more, do you feel like you're more towards taking the left towards fighting another time? Or do you feel like you're, you got the. the blinker on right and we're probably focusing on that right row where it's just like, I don't think I'm going to do this anymore just because I'm having so much fun doing everything else. Like I don't need to fight anymore. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Honestly, when I retired from UFC, I had already decided like I was done. Like I'm going to continue doing all this other stuff that's, you know, it's doing well and I'm having fun doing it. It's just tough when a big money

offer gets thrown your way and it's like something that's still fun to me and I still want to do it. and I'm still at the age where I'm not past my prime, you know. And so, yeah, I mean, I think I'm probably leading towards, I'm going to keep doing the stuff that I'm doing now. But like we just said, never say never. I mean, if the money's right or it just makes sense, I mean, why the hell not? I'll get in there and throw some more blows and hopefully not take too much damage and get out, get paid, and get back to all the other fun stuff too.

So we'll just see, man. We'll keep both sides open for sure. Love the attitude. Probably the answer I expected from you. A couple of other things we're letting you go. I know you and Josh Emmett are obviously very close. And Josh is in a very interesting predicament right now because he's just coming off of another victory.

Main event went over Calvin Cater. Yeah, your Rodriguez, had sort of a weird win over Brian Ortega. Alex did of Olkadovsky's injured. He might be going up to 155 to fight for the lightweight title. And Josh has just been knocking on the door. He's just pounding the pavement saying, like, what else do I have to do to get a first? freaking title shot. So just watching Josh and knowing him as well as you do, like,

what does that happen like for you to watch? Just this, this lack of clarity at 145 when he has the compelling case to fight for the title right now. Yeah, it's such a bummer. I mean, that's that's the politics in the sport, though. It's like, you know, I've seen some of that through my career. And, you know, Josh is a is a great guy. He's a badass. I mean, no doubt in my mind, that guy could be the belt holder in that weight division. No doubt in my mind. I mean, the dude hits harder than anybody in our team. The guy's got cardio for days. He's just a mental mastermind, like, smart in there.

He has great fight IQ. And the will to win is just, like, huge with that guy. So no doubt in my mind, I can be the champ. The only thing that I can think of why these guys wouldn't be giving it to him is because he's such a nice guy. He's, you know, they want that guy that's just talking trash and, you know, it's stirring up a bunch of drama. And, you know, Josh isn't that guy.

I was never that guy, you know. And the UFC doesn't usually like, it's not that they don't like that. It's just there's a place for that. And I think they just want, as of right now, just as much drama as they can get, and they're not getting it. So it sucks because Josh should be the next one in there fighting for that title. So I'm hoping it happens, man. I'm pushing for the guy any way that I can, you know,

and I truly believe that he deserves it. So we'll see, man, fingers crossed. I mean, you fought your last UFC fight was against Alex Mnobokanovanovsky. and we've seen some of the performances he's had. He's that a lot of people feel like even above Oosman, Volkinovsky is the best fighter, pound for pound, on the planet right now. A lot of people feel that way. If Josh was like, hey, Chad, give me like one piece of advice

that you would give me before I fight Volcanovsky. I'm sure he's going to pick your brain anyways once that fight's booked. But what would you tell him? Like, if you'd only give him one piece of advice, what would you give him? Focus on output. There's one thing we did not pay attention to with that guy. You know, he's decent everywhere. but the thing I think separates him from most guys is that he has a pace that most guys come in,

and I felt like I was above him as far as skill set, power, speed, but he keeps that pace the entire time. There is no peaks and values with him. And I think that's what people don't realize when you didn't invite him. So when other guys are starting to come down, he's staying straight across the board. And that's something we need to focus on. I mean, we, he had fought my team, geez, I'm drawn to blank on.

Darren Elkins and hit him with a big right hand. So it was like, our thought on this was, okay, he's got power in his right hand. We got to prepare for someone that's going to just wing over hands and be prepared for that. And that was like one of the main things you focused on. It was a stupid training camp tactic right there. If we would have focused on output and outpointing him

and keeping our pace and, Keeping that steady across the board, I think things could have been different. And I think that's why Josh wouldn't match up so well with him, because Josh, I mean, that guy's cardio is insane. You know, he can have insane output, but he's got tremendous power also. So I think the two match up great. You know, Josh is a huge 45er. I mean, he's really big, not so tall, but he's just thick everywhere. Big, big bone, like everything.

Like he's just a tank. Like I said, when he hits, he hits hard. So being able to keep the output, he has wrestling, and being able to land some of those big shots. I think it's a bad matchup for Volcanovsky. But I don't know, man. We'll see. That is the fight game, though.

You never know what can happen. So, yeah, man, I'm hoping that Josh gets it. I know he deserves it more than anybody in that division right now. So we'll see. And I want to get your take on one other thing because, you know, you talk about sort of the politics of the UFC in the sport and we've for years. I mean, since June of last year,

probably a little bit less than that now, but Nate Diaz has been trying to get this last fight. Like, get me in there for, like I want to be done. It's the last fight on my deal. Like, just put me in there with somebody. I don't care who it is. So after all of a sudden, done,

now he's going to fight Hamzaa Shemayev in a five-round fight in the main event of UFC 279 on September 10th. A lot of people that I've talked to said that this is a fight he asked for, but I think a big part of that is just like, I don't care. like if you want me to fight him like i'll fight this dude just so i could be done but when you saw

that that was the fight that was made how did you react to that i mean i didn't really think too much about it in all honesty uh you know nate Nate's a dude that will get in there and honestly fight anybody i don't i don't think he really gives a shit about who it is um you know the fact that he just wants to be done and they're they're basically adding and the name like Nate ideas to this guy. Hopefully, you know, they're, they're probably banking on him to get in there and just destroy Nate. So I don't know, man. We'll see. Nate's a tough son of a bitch. You know, that guy can pull off anything at any point. So, but yeah, I didn't really think a whole lot about it in all honesty. Do you think Nate has, like anything can happen, like you said, but do you think,

like a lot of people just feel like Tom's just going to run Nate over? Like, he's got no chance to win this fight. You don't feel that way, right? Or do you feel like, do you heavily favor Shama have? think Diaz, there's some way Diaz could get this thing done. Yeah, I mean, Diaz has some slick submissions. I mean, both of the brothers do you. I mean, you can't ever just say someone's going to walk through anybody because, you know, we've seen this so many times where you think that and then somebody gets in there, it gets caught with something.

You're like, holy shit, did not see that coming. So, no, I wouldn't say that he's just going to get in there and walk through him. Could have happened, of course. But, no, man, Nate's, I think Nate's tough dude. And Nate could pull out a win. anywhere, you know, he could overwhelm them with output, you know, and, and just completely pick them apart if it gets later into those rounds, you know, obviously those guys' cardio is insane. Those guys can just keep going and going and going and take a punch, take a beating, you know,

and if you're not prepared and ready for that, that shit can sneak up on you later in those championship rounds. And, you know, if you're not mentally tough, that stuff will break you back then. So, yeah, I think anything could happen, but, I mean, I think that can be an exciting fight, man. I'm curious to see what happens there. I actually think it's, I give Diaz more of a chance than most people are giving him as well. And plus it doesn't really matter. Nate's the kind of guy that just needs one moment

and his stock doesn't drop at all. Like he's losing to, he loses to Leon Edwards for almost the entire fight. He lands one shot. Has Leon rocked a little bit and everyone's talking about Nate. No one's talking about Leon winning. It's about Nate having that one moment. He's just got that mojo, right? Oh, yeah. No, that's

the Diaz brother's swag, man. They got it. absolutely well we're going to check out your adventure swag uh the polaris razor chad mendes took a ride it was apparently very exhilarating and you can watch it all on the polaris razor youtube channel once that gets released probably in the next three to four weeks or so as we're talking right now but make sure you to check that out and and check out chat on there and going over 60 plus foot jumps which i'm really excited to see chad thank you and i can't wait to see it they haven't showed me anything yet so i'm like just itching to see what what this looks like

But yeah, thank you, man. It's always a good topic. Always a good topic to you. And I appreciate you having me on. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.