UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes

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Gray Maynard Gives High Praise to Jose Aldo

By the time he's done in Brazil, Gray Maynard will have spent a little more than three weeks helping Jose Aldo, the UFC featherweight champion, prepare for his next title defense against Chad Mendes at UFC 142 on Jan. 14.

And while it seems like a no-brainer for Aldo to train with Maynard for this fight, considering Maynard is built very much like Mendes, the idea was actually Maynard's, not the champ's.

"I've talked to him backstage at the UFC's and [the UFC 136] press conference in Houston," Maynard told MMAFighting.com recently. "[He] really seemed like a humble, nice guy. So, I wanted to reach out to him to help."

Maynard has trained with some of the best fighters in the world at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, and more recently at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., but he believes Aldo may top them all.

"I knew he was good, but I had no idea he was as good as he is in every area. Really unbelievable, especially his takedown defense. That goes for all of Nova Uniao [Aldo's home gym] also.

"He's really one of the most, if not the most complete fighter I've ever worked with."

Maynard is coming off a UFC lightweight title loss to Frankie Edgar at UFC 136 in Houston. The loss marked the first of his career. Since then, he's been a bit of a nomad, training at different gyms across the world. He said he is "still in the process of moving" gyms but did not commit to a new home just yet. He's also still waiting to finalize his next fight, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2012.

Interestingly enough, Maynard, who was complimentary of Mendes' skills, believes "Money" isn't quite ready to fight someone like Aldo, even though Mendes is getting his first title shot in his 12th pro fight, while Maynard fought for the UFC 155-pound title in just his 11th pro fight.

"I think Mendes is a tough kid, but I think its too early for him to fight Jose Aldo."

UFC 142, headlined by Aldo vs. Mendes, airs live on pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Countdown UFC 142

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Anthony Johnson Finds New Life at New Weight, Thanks in Part to 'Blackzilians'

Looking back on it, maybe Anthony Johnson should have realized sooner that he wasn't meant to be a permanent welterweight. Maybe the revelation should have hit him during any one of his notoriously drastic weight cuts, but especially when he found himself trapped in a sauna in the days before his fight with Dan Hardy in Seattle last March.

"It was a rough cut," Johnson admits now. So rough, in fact, that he found himself threatening his own coaches with all manner of bodily harm when they wouldn't let him out of the sauna for even a second.

"I only had like five or six pounds to go, and when you're that dehydrated and you've been working so hard, your brain...you kind of get out there a little bit," Johnson said. "My strength and conditioning coach and everybody else were sitting behind the door so I couldn't get it open. I just wanted a breath of fresh air. That was it."

When they wouldn't let him have it, Johnson recalled with a chuckle, he threatened to "put something on y'all that you'll never forget." As anyone who's seen his run of knockout victories in the UFC already knows, that's a threat with teeth. Or at least it would have been if he hadn't been so depleted by the weight cut.

"I was too weak anyway," he said. "That was just my mind...making threats that I knew I couldn't keep."

That was the old way for Johnson. That particular brand of suffering constituted a normal part of fight week for him, which strikes his new coaches as more than a little bit insane.

"With really good athletes like Anthony Johnson, the worst thing you can do is cut weight," said Mike Van Arsdale, who works with Johnson and the rest of the "Blackzilian" squad at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Fla. "You're cutting away your athletic ability, is what you're doing."

According to Van Arsdale, that's why the offer to fight Vitor Belfort at 185 pounds on Saturday night's UFC 142 card in Rio de Janeiro was the best thing that could have happened to Johnson.

"All he's done [by going up in weight] is enable himself to be who he was supposed to be to begin with. If you weigh 220 pounds, you don't need to be fighting at 170," Van Arsdale said. "It's crazy. You're trying to make 170 in the sauna and you end up sitting there at 189 and already depleted. That's why I think this is the right weight class for him."

For Johnson, the decision was simple. He didn't feel like he needed to flee the welterweight division after two straight victories, he said, but he also couldn't bring himself to say no to a fight with Belfort at middleweight.

"Everybody's been talking about me going up to 185," Johnson said. "It came sooner than I expected, but it's here now. What am I going to do? I'm not going to back down from any opponent. I'm not going to let people second-guess me or think that I'm scared of 185."

In Belfort, however, Johnson faces not just a bigger opponent, but one with proven knockout ability in the higher weight classes. In the last couple years he's starched opponents like Yoshihiro Akiyama and Rich Franklin with his one-punch power, and Johnson knows how dangerous he can be in the opening rounds.

But the real difference-maker, according to Johnson, won't be the numbers on the scale, but rather the quality of the time each man has spent in the gym. That's why the decision to join the Blackzilians in Florida was such an important one, he said.

"This is actually a camp that has real fighters and people that really want to win. We support each other through thick and thin. We don't badmouth each other. It's just a good environment with top-notch athletes."

As Van Arsdale explained, it's the intensity of the practices and the quality of the sparring partners that makes all the difference.

"Put it this way: if you're going to spar with [kickboxer] Tyrone Spong, and he's standing right in front of you and there's no way out of it, you're forced to rise up. That's what Anthony's done," said Van Arsdale. "You're going with that guy -- and he's 15 pounds or so heavier than Anthony -- how are you not going to get better at kickboxing? And the same thing when you're wrestling with Rashad Evans and guys from the Olympic Training Center every day in practice, how could you not get better at wrestling?"

Beyond just the quality of talent on the mats each day, it's the support Johnson gets from his fellow fighters that has showed him what he was missing before, he said.

"I didn't have a family like I have now. I had a team in certain teams I was a part of, but this is not a team to me. This is a family."

According to Van Arsdale, both the move up in weight and the move to Florida have already paid tremendous dividends for Johnson, even if he doesn't think the combat sports community fully appreciates it just yet.

"I don't really read a lot of the stuff on the internet, but I was curious the other day and I looked on there and saw that Anthony Johnson's nowhere to be seen in the top ten at 170 or 185, and that's really funny," Van Arsdale said. "This guy is good, man. Ever since he went up a weight class, it's like he jumped up five extra steps. There's no real way to prepare for him now; you just have to go in there and try to catch him with something, and that's hard to do."

And yet, that's exactly what Belfort has excelled at in his career. Even Johnson admits that, based on the footage he's studied, there are few strikers more dangerous than "The Phenom" in the opening minutes of a fight. It's when the fight doesn't end during those first few minutes that he tends to struggle, Johnson said.

"His hands are always the most dangerous part, especially in that first round. ...But I'm sure Vitor doesn't want to get embarrassed, so he's going to come in really good shape. I'm putting a lot of pressure on him. I'm beating the hell out of him."

And the fact that they're fighting in Belfort's home country, where the crowd will no doubt be rabid in its support of their countryman? That doesn't matter to Johnson any more than Belfort's litany of past knockouts, since neither can get in the cage to help him.

"Vitor, to me, is just like everybody else," Johnson said. "He's a human. He's a fighter just like me. He's been around for a while, but so what? That doesn't mean anything to me. I respect him, but this is a fight."

And at least this time around, Johnson won't have to battle his own team and his own weight quite so ferociously just to make it into the cage.

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UFC 142 Predictions

Will Jose Aldo continue to run roughshod over the featherweight division? Or will Chad Mendes pull off a huge upset in Aldo's homeland? Will Anthony Johnson look even more powerful now that he's not killing himself to cut down to welterweight? Or will Vitor Belfort's patented power punches put Johnson to sleep? Will any of the favored Brazilians lose in front of the fans in Rio?

I'll attempt to answer those questions and more as I predict the winners at UFC 142 below.

What: UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes

When: Saturday, the FX preliminary card begins at 8 p.m. ET and the main card begins on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.

Where: HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below.

José Aldo vs. Chad Mendes
The undefeated Mendes has talked in recent weeks about how he's sure he has the right game plan for Aldo, and about how he has the best wrestling credentials of anyone Aldo has ever fought, and he's coming into this fight with a lot of confidence. And if you look at the fight from a certain point of view, you can see where that confidence comes from: Mendes has, after all, used that superior wrestling to take decisions from some pretty good opponents, and even though this will be Mendes' first five-round fight, he may have a cardio edge over Aldo.

But that's my analysis when I'm trying to look for a reason to think Mendes could win. The hard truth for Mendes is that while he's a better wrestler than anyone Aldo has ever fought before, Aldo is a much, much, much better striker than anyone Mendes has ever fought before. Aldo has become more cautious and tentative in recent fights, and so I'm not expecting to see the kind of devastating knockout that the Aldo of 2008-2009 could be counted on to provide. But I am expecting Aldo to employ leg kicks to keep Mendes at distance, perhaps some knees when Mendes shoots for takedowns, and enough punches to bloody Mendes's face. This fight should be another good opportunity for Aldo to show that he's hands down the best featherweight in MMA.
Pick: Aldo

Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson
Johnson's decision to move up to middleweight is long overdue -- while fighting at welterweight he twice came in more than five pounds over. So will he look better now that he's fighting in a division where he can actually make weight comfortably? I think he will, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes because I see this fight as being more about Belfort's power than Johnson's.

Belfort has had five fights since moving down to middleweight in 2008, and in four of them he knocked his opponent cold with punches. In the fifth, he got knocked cold himself by Anderson Silva's front kick. Johnson certainly has the ability to land a head kick and knock Belfort out with it, but I see Belfort catching Johnson with his hands down and knocking him out.
Pick: Belfort

Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio
Massenzio is a good wrestler and a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, and he's coming off a solid win over Steve Cantwell at UFC 136. But he's not even close to Palhares' level on the ground, and I'll be surprised if this fight doesn't end with Palhares cranking on Massenzio's leg, and Massenzio tapping.
Pick: Palhares

Erick Silva vs. Carlo Prater
Silva made his UFC debut at the last Rio show and needed just 40 seconds to knock out Luis Ramos. Prater, who's finally making his UFC debut 40 fights into his MMA career, has a good chin and won't be knocked out as quickly as Ramos was. But Prater took this fight on short notice and really isn't on the same level as Silva, and it would be shocking if Silva doesn't win this fight handily.
Pick: Silva

Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim
Barboza has built up a 9-0 record without ever really being tested on the ground, and Etim has a very dangerous submission game (he's won the Submission of the Night bonus in each of his last three wins). So if he can get this fight to the ground, Etim may just be the first person to beat Barboza. But Barboza is such a lethal striker that I expect him to hurt Etim badly standing up.
Pick: Barboza

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How to Watch UFC 142

The UFC's first pay-per-view offering of 2012 goes down this Saturday night, and it also kicks off a brand new television era for the organization.

FX will air a large portion of the UFC 142 prelims leading up to the pay-per-view, which kicks off at 10 pm ET. Facebook will also air a fight from the card on Saturday night.

Plus, when the entire event is over, a one-hour post-fight show will air live on FUEL TV.

UFC 142 will mark the organization's second trip to Brazil in less than five months. The event will be held, once again, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

Below is a breakdown of where all the fights will air:

Pay-Per-View card:
Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes (for featherweight title)
Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson
Mike Massenzio vs. Rousimar Palhares
Carlo Prater vs. Erick Silva
Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim

FX card:
Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ednaldo Oliveira
Yuri Alcantara vs. Michihiro Omigawa
Ricardo Funch vs. Mike Pyle

Facebook fight:
Felipe Arantes vs. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho

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Jose Aldo Ready to Defend Title in Middle of Night

The UFC 142 pay-per-view will air in its usual 10 p.m. ET time slot in North America, which means the main card will only begin at 1 a.m. BRST local time in Rio de Janeiro.

That also means that by the time Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes step into the cage for their UFC featherweight title fight, it could be as late as 3:30 a.m. BRST. The unusual schedule shouldn't be too much of a problem for the challenger Mendes, who arrived in Brazil on Tuesday, and who trains out of Sacramento, Calif., where it will be approximately 9:30 p.m. PST by the time the fight gets underway.

It may affect the champion Aldo, who lives and trains in Brazil. However, Aldo quickly put those concerns to rest on a recent conference, saying he trained in the middle of the night to get his body ready to fight at that hour.

"It really doesn't make a difference," Aldo said through a translator. "You're always going to be training around the time that you're going to be fighting, so if you're fighting around noon, or be it midnight or three o'clock in the morning, it really doesn't make a difference.

"It all comes down to being well-trained and being prepared to step in there on fight night."

When the UFC last visited Brazil in August the time difference wasn't so great. But since North American clocks were turned back an hour in November, signaling the end of Daylight Savings time, and Brazilian clocks were turned forward an hour in anticipation of their summer season, it created a greater time difference between Brazil and North America.

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Chad Mendes, Anthony Johnson Say Reception Has Been Warm at UFC 142

The UFC 142 fight card is designed to get the fans in Rio de Janeiro worked up to support the local guys, with eight fights featuring Brazilians against foreigners, including local fan favorites taking on American challengers in the main event and co-main event.

But those two Americans, Chad Mendes and Anthony Johnson, said on Thursday morning at the pre-fight press conference in Rio that they've had purely positive experiences from the Brazilian fans they've met, and they're being treated more like guests than rivals.

"Brazil has just been great," Johnson said. "The fans have been great. I'm speechless, really, about this country. I had heard good stories and bad stories about this country but so far all I've experienced is great things, so thank you, Brazil."

Mendes described the open workout on Wednesday in front of Brazilian fans on a Rio beach as one of the best experiences of his life, and he said that while he knows his opponent, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, will have a lot of fans in the HSBC Arena, he doesn't worry about what the fans might say.

"I'm probably going to get booed," Mendes said. "It's here in Jose's backyard and he's the champion. But other than boos, I can't speak Portugeuse so I can't understand what anyone's saying anyway. I'm going to be in the zone and ready to get in there and do what I do."

Mendes said being away from home hasn't diminished his confidence.

"I feel great," Mendes said. "I'm basically treating this like it's any other fight, whether it's in Brazil or it's in the United States. I have tunnel vision, I have that goal of winning that belt. That's something I've trained for and it's all I'm thinking about."

And Johnson said he views the opportunity to step into the Octagon with Belfort as a big step in his career.

"I'm looking forward to the fight," Johnson said. "I can't wait. I definitely can't wait."

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Fighting in Brazil Again, Vitor Belfort Thrilled With How Far MMA Has Come

Vitor Belfort's first UFC fight came at what may have been the promotion's lowest moment. So he takes particular joy in seeing how far the UFC has come.

Belfort, who has been in the UFC longer than any other active fighter, is preparing to fight back home in Brazil on Saturday at UFC 142. But as he discussed the upcoming fight on Thursday, he also remembered his very first fight in the UFC, which came at a time when the entire sport of MMA was on the verge of collapse.

That would be UFC 12 on Feb. 7, 1997. At the age of 19, Belfort was an entrant in the four-man heavyweight tournament originally scheduled to take place that night in New York. But as politicians began to speak out against what they viewed as a savage bloodsport, the New York government told the UFC it was no longer welcome in its state, and the UFC had to scramble to move the event to Alabama at the last minute.

"My first fight, we had to travel all night to Alabama," Belfort said. "We could only fight in Alabama. It was my first UFC. And then after so much investment they were able to remove that stigma in the U.S. and we slowly won over different countries."

Winning over different countries included Brazil, where Belfort said it hasn't always been easy. Although MMA traces its origins to Brazil, the sport has also faced some of the same opposition there that it has faced in the United States. Belfort, who beat Wanderlei Silva at UFC Brazil in 1998 but hasn't fought back home since then, said it's been a struggle to get people back home to accept that mixed martial arts is a legitimate sporting competition, not a violent spectacle.

"We really had to be pioneers, here in Brazil especially," Belfort said.

Belfort said it used to frustrate him when people thought that because he fights professionally for a living, that meant he must also be a thug who gets involved in street fights. He said that in the early days of the UFC, people would ask him if anyone who ran into him in the street should fear him, not understanding that for him, fighting is just a job.

"I remember my first interview they asked me, 'If someone crashes into your car, what would you do?' I stopped and thought, 'If they crash into Pavarotti's car, does he have to sing an opera?' So people have prejudice against fighting," Belfort said.

Now the UFC has reached the point where it can sell thousands of tickets for a major event in Brazil, and Belfort says he believes Brazilians have come to understand what MMA is all about.

"The sport was born in this country and it's been difficult to gain acceptance, but we actually overcame this hurdle," Belfort said. "The sport has a lot to teach people. Martial arts is about physical and moral respect. . . . In martial arts we have this balance. So if someone crashes into my car I will come out of the car, get their license plate and talk about the damage and who has to pay. People relate our sport to aggression and it's not that at all. It's a contact sport but we respect each other greatly and we don't use it outside of the sport."

Belfort said that he's thrilled to see how many people across his home country are enjoying the UFC.

"Children, the elderly, families, women can understand our sport," Belfort said. "There's a lot for our sport to offer."

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