Top contender Chad Mendes is continuing his media crusade against UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. This time, he's chastising the champ for not promoting their upcoming fight at UFC 179 on October 25.
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Mendes already feels like he holds the mental edge over Aldo and he hopes that will give him an advantage this time around after losing by first-round knockout to Aldo in 2012. But Mendes doesn't appreciate how Aldo is keeping quiet leading up to the bout.
"He doesn't do enough to carry his weight as far as media goes," Mendes told MMAjunkie. "He never does and he never has. Here's a prime example: You hear all the promo stuff and I don't hear him speaking, not one time. I'm here talking, I'm selling the fight, and I'm pushing for it. There's nothing about Aldo. He's got to do something.
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"I can't carry this whole fight on my back. I need some help selling the damn thing. I want to punch you in the face. Do you want to punch me in the face? Tell us what you want to do. That's him being a hermit crab in Brazil"
Aldo doesn't speak English, so that hurts his ability to promote a fight to North American audiences. Still, Mendes doesn't see that as an excuse.
"That's your role as the champion - you've got to sell fights," Mendes said. "You've got to talk about it. You can't just keep to yourself and be a little hermit and stay in Brazil. You've got to talk about it and put yourself out there and let people know about it. That's what makes it entertaining."
Aldo shoved Mendes during a staredown at a media day event in August, though he later admitted it was an attempt to draw more attention to their fight. Mendes doesn't believe him, and believes he will be the toughest test for a champion who's been relatively unchallenged throughout his UFC reign.
"I'm going to be the guy that's going to get in there and test his heart, test his will and push him into those later rounds and really test his skills levels," Mendes said. "It takes a guy like me to take him out of his comfort zone and do something different."
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