AKA could have three UFC champions in 2015

AKA founder and head coach Javier Mendez recently spoke with Chuck Mindenhall for MMAFighting.com and talked about three AKA fighters who could get (or keep) title shots this year.

If AKA fighter fighter UFC middleweight Luke Rockhold beats Lyoto Machida at UFC on Fox 15 on Saturday, he is expected to get a shot at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 187 on May 23. The life of an MMA coach is one of nearly unrelenting glamor and enchantment. In this case, Mendez had flown across the country for a public workout in Manhattan, the airline lost his luggage (with his sleeping pills), and so he had just 90 minutes of sleep.

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to come here,” said the coach. “But Luke says, ‘You’re my coach, you have to come,’ I said, ‘I don’t want to hold for you because you f—ing kick me in the head.’ He has this habit of kicking me in the head.”

UFC heavyweight champion and AKA fighter Cain Velasquez fights interim champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 on June 13, 2015 at Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.

“That guy isn’t losing,” said Mendez. “Cain’s doing great. He’s on point. He’s looking great, physically, mentally everything’s right. The goal with him, he wants to come out and he wants to make a statement. And that I will say. He’s going to make a statement in that fight. So he’s going to remind everybody why he’s best. I’m being honest with you – Werdum’s going to get destroyed. That’s just the way I look at it, and Cain’s looking at it the same way. We’re either going to stop him or we’re going to hurt him really bad. He’s going to get a worse beating than dos Santos if he makes five rounds, and that’s a fact.”

If top UFC lightweight and AKA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov beats Donald Cerrone, also at UFC 187 on May 23, there will be a rematch with new lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos; Khabib already beat RDA soundly in April. So if some ifs are met, there could be three AKA champions in the UFC.

“Yeah, sure, it’s fun to think of, but it’s not here,” said Mendez. “Someone made a comment that since Khabib already beat RDA, do I feel he’s the champ? I said absolutely not. The champ’s RDA. He legitimately earned that shot. So, no, I won’t feel that until we accomplish it. Because at the end of the year we could end up with still just one.”

On Dec 31, 2015, how many champs will AKA will have, and who will they be?