The improved striking of Mendes
In his last five fights Chad Mendes has tripled his knockout count. Only having two before the Aldo fight and before the coaching of Duane “bang” Ludwig, he has rattled off 4 ko/tko victories in a row since then. In that stint he became the first person to finish Clay Guida with strikes. In the original match up Chad Mendes was very focused on leg kicks. Now that he has the power and technique in his punches I doubt he will be throwing as many leg kicks. Throwing legs kicks kept him on the outside which allowed Aldo to throw his own leg kicks. It also made it harder for Mendes to get the take down. If he can keep Aldo guessing what will be coming on the feet it will open up his wrestling game and he might actually be able to take Aldo down early in this fight. The fans might get the chance to see Jose Aldo’s heavily talked about ground game.
