"I was a very hyper kid and my dad wrestled in his high school years so he got me into it," Mendes says. However, the wrestling that he thought he would be participating in was more of the Hulk Hogan variety rather than what he ended up seeing in the gym. "I actually still remember going to my very first wrestling practice. On my way to the gym I just thought it was going to be like professional wrestling. I was going to walk in and see the big ring with the turnbuckles. But all I saw were wrestling mats, and I said to myself 'What the hell?'"
Instead of DDTs and RKOs, Mendes was performing single- and double-leg takedowns. As he went through his teenage years perfecting his craft on sweaty mats, his peers were involved in all of the cooler sports and were having fun at parties. Despite Mendes' accomplishments, he wasn't really the dude all the ladies wanted and fellas envied. That's more than enough to drive a kid insane--especially a kid who spends most of his time in a singlet.
"There were times when I wondered why I was putting myself through all of this," Mendes says. "Looking back on it now I'm glad I pushed through those hard times. There were times I wanted to quit so I could just have fun."
Mendes paid his dues and became a stud wrestler at California Polytechnic State University with a 64-14 record and Pac-10 Wrestler of the Year honors. Some fellow with a butt chin named Urijah Faber just happened to be watching Mendes' rise closely and befriended the pint-sized powerhouse.
"As a freshman in college I remember wrestling and Urijah was there. He was fighting MMA and training in BJJ with the wrestlers. He kept hurting everybody and nobody wanted to train with him anymore because they didn't know what he was doing," Mendes says. But the competitive spirit wouldn't let Mendes back down from a challenge. "I gave it a shot and rolled with him. He kicked my butt, but right then I knew it was something I wanted to try out. Urijah said he had a place for me after school. The day after I graduated, I loaded all of my stuff in a U-Haul and moved to Sacramento."
Mendes hasn't looked back since.
As a part of Faber's Team Alpha Male, Mendes has rolled through the competition from the moment he decided to be a mixed martial artist. Since starting his career as a professional fighter in 2008, the Hanford, California, project has dominated his foes and currently sports a record of 10-0. In just under 36 months he's gone from rookie to No. 1 contender for the UFC featherweight title--a feat that even Mendes hadn't envisioned.
"I knew when I was in college that I wanted to fight," he explains. "I really thought I’d be good at it, but I never imagined I'd be climbing the ladder this fast. This whole lifestyle is unreal. I get to train with my buddies, travel the world, meet new people and do interviews with MTV!"
All those years rocking that skintight one-piece finally paid off. He's making money, kicking ass and watching his popularity rise. But there are still those skeptics who despise his grinding, ground-and-pound style. As a wrestler, Mendes opts to take his opponents down and work them over rather than the rock 'em, sock 'em robot approach. The haters say that wrestling is killing the sport, but Mendes greets the haters with a middle finger for their troubles.
"If you want a stand-up war, go watch boxing," Mendes says. The name of the game is winning, and Mendes isn't going to go out there and get his snot box rocked for nobody's pleasure. "It would just be stupid for me as a wrestler to try and stand up with a guy who's a great boxer. Of course I'm going to try to take it to the ground and bring him into my world. It's frustrating when people say that wrestling is killing the sport. Those are the fans that don't really know what's going on."
So for those who act like they don't know, here's what's going on: This weekend Mendes will take on jiujitsu practitioner Rani Yahya at UFC 133 in Philadelphia. It's a dangerous fight, considering that Mendes is possibly risking his No. 1 contender status when he may have been able to wait for the injured champion Jose Aldo to heal. But when you're a competitor as young and hungry as Mendes, you have to kick ass constantly and evolve your game.
"I just wanted to keep competing as much as possible," Mendes says while mentioning that the title fight with Aldo was never set in stone to begin with. Because of the uncertainty, Mendes says that a tune-up beatdown would keep him busy: "I feel like I’m getting better and better with every fight."
Damn, so he can get even better? That's a scary thought for the entire 145 pound division. And what makes it worse is that he'll fight anyone at any time. That title shot sounds good, but if UFC President Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva point out some fighter to Mendes and say "Sick 'em, boy!" expect "Money" to tear a hole into the poor sap and come back begging for more.
"If I win this fight I should be the next one in line for the title," he says. "It’s totally up to them though. They are the bosses and I’m just a fighter, so whoever they put in front of me I’m going to fight."
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