Mendes tries cagefighting

Chad Mendes has always been a fighter. Now, instead of fighting on a mat, he’ll do it in a cage.

For Mendes, who said Tuesday he’d signed a contract to pursue mixed martial arts, the transition from a one-loss Cal Poly wrestler to World Extreme Cagefighter may not be too extreme, after all.

“It’s one thing to wrestle and be caught in a head wrench, and it’s another to have a guy trying to knock you out,” said Cal Poly wrestling assistant coach Sammie Henson. “But one thing wrestlers have is that mentality. The mentality of a wrestler is already a fighter’s.”

Mendes, an All-American and the Pac-10 Conference Wrestler of the Year, was 30-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country at 141 pounds before being upset March 22 at the national championship in St. Louis by Ohio State’s Jeff Jaggers.

After being named the Cal Poly Male Athlete of the Year on Tuesday night at Embassy Suites, Mendes announced he’d begin training at Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento soon after graduation for a career beginning in September.

The transition won’t be too unnatural for the senior from Hanford, Mustangs head coach John Azevedo said.

“A lot of successful fighters have a base in wrestling,” Azevedo explained. “They know positioning, and if a fight goes down to the mat, wrestlers are going to be in control most of the time.”

Henson agreed Mendes will be served well by a built-in sense of surroundings.

“Being on the mat as many years as Chad has, he’s going to have a constant awareness of where the back is,” Henson said. “He’s going to know where to be in the cage, and how to use it. The cage actually benefits wrestlers – they’re more in tune with their bodies. A wrestler can close distance and tie you up, and you’re in trouble.”

Of course, Mendes’ adjustment will require some fundamental additions particular to cagefighting.

“He’s working on his striking, and the submission part of it, too,” Azevedo said.

To draw extra inspiration for his new pursuit, Mendes won’t have to look far.

Chuck Liddell, another former Cal Poly wrestler, became an Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion, but has maintained a relationship with his alma mater, from donating to attending matches and participating in fundraisers.

“He loves Cal Poly, and he’s had a relationship with Chad,” Azevedo said.

Henson even helped train Liddell leading up to his December victory over Wanderlei Silva.

“Sammie worked with Chuck getting back to few wrestling things,” Azevedo said.

Like the UFC, which is patented to larger competitors, the WEC, formed in 2001, merges jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, boxing and kickboxing, in addition to wrestling.

Mendes, Azevedo said, will likely compete at 145 pounds, the barrier between the featherweight and lightweight classes.

Key in Mendes’ training, Henson said, will be Sacramento’s Urijah Faber, a UC Davis wrestler who went on to become a 145-pound WEC champion and the world’s top-ranked featherweight, boasting a 20-1 MMA record.

“He’s kind of taking Chad under his wing,” Azevedo said of Urijah, the co-owner of Ultimate Fitness.

To Henson, Faber is the perfect mentor for Mendes, who couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

“The guy’s doing right now what Chad wants to,” Henson said. “Who better to go to?”

In light of San Luis Obispo’s growing ties to MMA, both Azevedo and Henson expressed interest in eventually starting a local multi-purpose training facility akin to the one Mendes is bound for.

“We’d like to start a gym where people could come in and work on grappling and submission, and also wrestling,” Azevedo said. “We could keep some guys here who want to go into fighting. We’d like to do it as soon as possible.”

Regardless of where Mendes trains, those closest to him seem to think he has a bright future.

“He should do really well,” Azevedo said. “He’s a great athlete, very powerful and athletic. I think he’s going to do very well in MMA, and hopefully, we see him being a champion in the next couple of years.”

Henson praised Mendes’ ability this past season to stay focused in light of the mounting pressure he faced by staying undefeated for so long.

“I think Chad’s upside is unbelievable,” he said. “Cal Poly’s not an easy school to go to. He did well in school, stayed on track with everything in his life and on top of that was second in the nation. If he can do all of that, he can do anything he wants.”