Chad Mendes did something Jose Aldo couldn’t. He finished Ricardo Lamas and did so quickly in the main event of UFC Fight Night Fairfax on Saturday.
The two-time title challenger and current No. 1 contender in the featherweight division found his rhythm early and landed a hard right hand to the top of Lamas’s head two minutes into the first round. Lamas never recovered and Mendes pursued his opponent with a series of follow-up strikes before referee Dan Miragliotta called a stop to the action at the 2:45 mark.
It’s unclear what’s next for Mendes (17-2) at this point but he’ll pay close attention to the UFC 189 main event on July 11 when Jose Aldo looks to defend his belt against Conor McGregor. Aldo is the only man to defeat Mendes – he did so by KO at UFC 142 and by unanimous decision at UFC 179 – while McGregor has become the biggest star in the division.
Mendes will also be eager to see what happens when his longtime teammate Urijah Faber takes on former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in a featherweight tilt in the Philippines in May. If Edgar wins that fight, many feel a potential Mendes-Edgar matchup would determine the next contender in the 145-pound division.
In the the co-main event, “Raging” Al Iaquinta lived up to his nickname, picking up a split decision win over Jorge Masvidal and cussing out the audience after fans at the Patriot Center booed the judges’ decision.
“Are you guys booing me? You better not boo me,” he said during a post-fight interview. “I [expletive] fought my ass off. [Expletive] you!”
The win, although somewhat controversial, was his fourth in a row. Masvidal had a three-fight winning streak snapped.
Also on the main card, The Ultimate Fighter Live winner Michael Chiesa won a unanimous decision over Canadian Mitch Clarke. Julianna Pena, Clay Guida and Dustin Poirier picked up impressive wins too.
On the preliminary card, veteran lightweight Gray Maynard lost his fourth consecutive fight and his future is uncertain.
Here are the complete results from UFC Fairfax:
MAIN CARD
— Chad Mendes def. Ricardo Lamas by TKO
— Al Iaquinta def. Jorge Masvidal by split decision
— Michael Chiesa def. Mitch Clarke by unanimous decision
— Julianna Peña def. Milana Dudieva by TKO
— Clay Guida def. Robbie Peralta by unanimous decision
— Dustin Poirier def. Carlos Diego Ferreira by KO
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Liz Carmouche def. Lauren Murphy by unanimous decision
— Alexander Yakovlev def. Gray Maynard by unanimous decision
— Timothy Johnson def. Shamil Abdurakhimov by TKO
— Ron Stallings def. Justin Jones by unanimous decision
