When undefeated featherweight contender Chad Mendes (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) meets current champ Jose Aldo (20-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the main event of Saturday's UFC 142 event in Rio de Janeiro, it will mark not only the first 145-pound headliner in UFC history, it will also serve as the first-ever main event of the challenger's MMA career.
So is Mendes perhaps a little nervous ahead of his first time in the pay-per-view spotlight?
Hardly.
"It's very special to me," Mendes told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) at Wednesday's media workout session, which took place on the beaches of Barra da Tijuca in Rio. "This is something I'm definitely going to look back on when I have kids, telling them about when I was an athlete back in the day. It's something I'll never forget, and I'm just super-pumped to be a part of history."
It's been an astronomical ride to the top of the 145-pound division for Mendes, who just 27 months ago had yet to fight anywhere other than rural Lemoore, Calif., a town less than 10 miles from his hometown of Hanford.
Now Mendes' face is plastered on advertisements around the world. It's a position Mendes' Team Alpha Male teammate and mentor, Urijah Faber, has long enjoyed, but "Money" said he's quickly adjusting.
"The other day, when the ball was dropping in Times Square in New York City, I got to see my big old poster in the background, and that was definitely something that was very surreal," Mendes said. "Just over three years ago, I was still in college, watching Urijah do all this. I knew that I could be good. I knew it was something that if I worked at, I could be there eventually, but it's crazy to be there this fast.
"I've never done anything like this on the beach. It's crazy to see this many people here just for the open workout. It's cool. You've got planes flying with banners behind it. It's awesome."
If there is a challenge for Mendes
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