Mendes plans to address Aldo’s fence-grabbing with referee
Chad Mendes: ” … We’re definitely going to be talking to the refs beforehand this time, and I’m really going to be working on getting takedowns out in the open.”
Nobody can predict whether or not one action in a fight could have changed the end results, but Chad Mendes believes Jose Aldo grabbing the face in their first fight definitely changed the course of the first round and heading into the second fight plans to address the issue with the referee prior to the bout:
It sucks looking back on it, Mendes recently told MMAjunkie. I’ve watched that fight multiple times, and it pisses me off every time. I mean, that definitely would have changed at least the first round.
… We’re definitely going to be talking to the refs beforehand this time, and I’m really going to be working on getting takedowns out in the open.
A lot of those guys out there, you take them down against the cage, and they’re grabbing it every time, Mendes said. It’s definitely something we’re going to be focusing on.