Former three-time Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes is coming out of retirement, but not to compete in mixed martial arts.
MMAFighting was the first to confirm the news that the 36-year-old is making a return to combat sports as a bare-knuckle pugilist for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship after signing a multi-fight deal with leading gloveless boxing promotion.
Chad Mendes BKFC bound
Following the news, Mendes took to his Instagram account to talk about his excitement over the change of sports, as well as confirm that his first bout for BKFC is expected to occur in October.
“I just signed a huge deal with @bareknucklefc and I’ll be ready to crush someone on Oct 22 in AZ! I’m super excited to finally compete in boxing! It’s been something I’ve always wanted to try and I’m pumped it all came together.”
The venue for this planned October event in Arizona has yet to be formally announced.
In June, Mendes strongly hinted at a possible return to the fight game with a series of Instagram video posts as he trained with Team Alpha Male boxing coach Joey Rodriguez. In one post caption, “Money” wrote: “It’s hard for me to train this hard and not feel that itch to get back in a fistfight.”
The long-time featherweight contender last competed in December 2018. On that night at UFC 232, he lost by unanimous decision to eventual division king Alexander Volkanovski.
During his run in the Octagon, the Californian twice challenged division legend Jose Aldo during his five-year run as World Extreme Cagefighting and UFC featherweight champion. He also stepped in on short notice in a failed bid for an interim title against another eventual champion Conor McGregor.
